Printer Friendly Forum Posts - $3000 system sounds bad. Why?

Finally got a new system installed yesterday, but it sounds worse than stock. I can't really explain what is so bad about it, it looks like mid bass is absent, middle-high range is too rough and sharp. Rap sounds more or less ok, but dance and especially rock are just awful. Bass guitair is not reproduced neither by subs nor by component speakers properly.

I feel like front/rear speakers should carry more mid-bass or something, yesterday I spent a few hours playing with deck equalizers and settings and can't do much about it. Also mid range has some "metallic" tone in it, especially when playing MP3s with increased mid tones in equalizer, is this a crappy deck feature?

Here is the system in Prelude'92:

Deck: Pioneer MP7800

Front: JL XR650 CS

Rear: Some not-so-good 60w infinities

Subs: 2x10" JL W3v3

Amps: Alpine MRD-M1005, Alpine MRV-F345

You just need to adjust your crossovers and some of the other settings.
it sounds 'metallic' bc you now have aluminum tweeters

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Proper setup and fine tuning can make most systems sound much better. If you paid $3000 for this installation I hope it included some pretty nice custom work? Also, any shop worth its salt who has just charged you $3K should help you tweak things to your liking before you leave...

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Can someone please suggest some "universal" crossover settings for such kind of system. For example rock bass guitar - where is it supposed to be , in subs or in speakers?

Also in my mother's nissan with its stock speakers and stock deck I hear much more mid bass from speakers, especially from rear ones. Are those better speakers or how to explain this? I would rather listen to that stock speakers than to this aluminium disaster.

3k it is not for installation but for everything, insluding install. Custom sub box is the only custom work here.

Again, a proper installation should include proper crossover setting, but as a generic answer, set your subwoofer LP to 80Hz and the main speaker HP to 80Hz.

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That's disapointing. Sorry I would take it back to the shop and make them tune it to your liking. You just dropped 3 grand there. Make em do it right.

Yeah, these guys should be bending over backwards to make you happy on this. Well maybe not backwards, but they should be exhibiting some quality yoga at least.

Three things to check -

Otherwise set your EQ in the headunit to flat on everything, including loudness. That setup should sound good w/o all that crap. If it doesn't it wasn't set up right from the shop.

Also make sure they didn't install bass blockers on the front/rear speakers. Who did the install? Was it a big box store like BestBuy?

Well, I was probably too frustrated when said that it sounds like crap. It sounds ok, but I don't like it. I already downloaded some sample tones, they all are present so it is not some technical issue, just some settings probably, which I can't find. I already tuned all possible deck's crossovers and equalizers and still can't make it sound as I like.

No it is not a big shop, actually I heard a lot of good feedback about them.

I will probably go there and ask them to turn off (or at least make them as wide as possible) amp crossovers so I can use deck crossovers and at least tune them easily

Also XR speakers have some "adjustable midrange presence" according to the manual with "high mid/normal/low mid" options, I will probably ask them to switch it to low mid as well.

What about installing better rear coaxials, maybe it will add some mid bass? Their current sound presence is almost not existent.

Is it possible that the HU X-over is running as well as the amp X-over at competing frequencies?

The only other thought is door sealing. If you didn't do Dynamat or equiv. in the doors it's possible that holes in the doors are allowing the back speaker wave to come around & cancel out the front wave, thereby killing your midbass.

Last thought is are the speakers wired in-phase? Or is the sub wired out of phase?

I think you should still take it back to the shop and have them tune it to your liking and maybe explain some of these things for you. There's nothing worse for a buisness to have a customer walk away unhappy, well at least an upstanding company. Take it back there you have spent good money with them and if it was me you would not leave until you were happy.

boulderguy wrote:

Last thought is are the speakers wired in-phase? Or is the sub wired out of phase?

Good question but it is beyond my knowledge :) I tried to invert sub's phase from the deck (if it has something to do with it) and there is not much difference, but a normal phase sounds a little better so I left it on.

They said that amp crossovers are set to 80hz. The best sound I am getting is when I set sub's crossover to 120hz, speakers' to 50hz (from the deck). So I think if they turn off amp crossovers (or make them wider) it should help.

They need to set the crossovers and deck EQ with an RTA... Sounds to me like somebody at the shop has a "tin-ear" and is trying to tune it by ear, with generic settings, which are a good place to START, but not necessarily a good place to END.

Tell them to do it RIGHT! And tell them you won't leave till you're happy with it.

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

I would be heading right back to see these guys. To me it sounds like alright equipment improperly set up and or matched together.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

agreed go back to the shop...and tell them what its doing, but do you and them a favor..dont be a dick we all have different hearing and like our systems to sound different. and i know from experience you get alot more done when you calmly explain your situation to them and ask them to fix it. i know i have had customers come in and tell me what im going to do...and nothing good comes out of that. ;)

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2007 Acura TSX
SQ setup in the works

Be sure that the damping (Dynamat or equiv.) is installed in the front doors, rear parcel shelf deck (or where the rears are located), trunk lid, and any other places that resonate. Especially the doors for that bass guitar you're missing. If the fronts and the sub are both crossed at about 80Hz, you'll get the most of bass guitar right up front from those mids. Damping is an essential that has to be done before trying to tweak deck and amp settings to get the sound right. And as a wise one mentioned above, the doors have to be sealed tight, and the speaker mounting has to be airtight and solid.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.