Cascade Crew

aaron_sK

The BMW exhaust was too loud for the radio, so I didn't bother listening to it. Now I have a normal thinking-person's exhaust on it and the radio sucks balls. Laughing

It is hard for me to describe, but it seems "peaky" in the mid to high range. Listening to a song the bass will be practically inaudible, the very high parts will be flat, but the mid and higher notes of the lead guitar and vocals will be ear-piercingly annoying.

The headunit is an older Alpine with no real equalizer (just the basic bass/treble adjust). Adjusting it doesn't ever seem to affect the problem, it just makes it more boomy/tinny. Rear speakers are Boston 6.5" co-ax's in the package tray. Front are 4.75" Eclipse co-ax's behind plastic kick panels.

I don't need a great stereo. I primarily listen to FM radio and I just want something that doesn't give me a headache after five minutes. Would I be better to replace the speakers, or the head unit, or could something not be hooked up right? I'm way outside my skillset on this one, guys.

jchaussee · Member Joined: 14 Nov 2010 Posts: 1318 Location: renton

Many times the aftermarket speakers do not sound good unless they have an amp hooked to them. But I am no expert. I just know that we put top of the line hertz speakers with a top of the line pioneer DVD stereo and it didn't sound as good as I expected for the price untill we got an amp

RSFreak · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:05 pm Post subject:

Newer head unit with an EQ would probably help alot.

Al Hasse · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:16 pm Post subject:

Jeremiah is probably right, you may just need to amp the speakers. Head unit may have a label that claims 50W X 4 (Peak), but nominal is more like 12WRMS (Continuous). Does the head unit have preamp out (RCA leads)? You may also have a bad wiring job from head unit to speakers, if wired out of phase with each other, they can cancel each other and sound muddy, more pronounced with bass.

Coaxial speakers normally do quite well with the highs given a good input, but you're limited by size for any deep bass. A decent 200WRMS amp (50W X 4) should do well for you and no break the bank...

Alphius · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:51 pm Post subject:

It's the deck.

aaron_sK · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 10:05 pm Post subject:

Pulled the head unit out tonight. Very poor wiring job (twist and tape and only a few of them even got the tape Rolling Eyes

). No improvement upon fixing that. Polarity was all correct so if there is an issue it is at the speaker.

I have several other nice name-brand head units laying around the shop that I can try to see if that is the issue.

I also have two amps I could install (Rockford Fosgate and an Elevation 300x4) but I'm lazy and weight reduction and I'm lazy. Razz

jchaussee · Member Joined: 14 Nov 2010 Posts: 1318 Location: renton

Why you want to cover up the sound of that fine German engineering is beyond me, bit at least its just fm and not doing the injustice of theadded weight of a compact disc.

BluFbdy · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 6:06 am Post subject:

Well first off Boston and eclipse tanked years ago lol if they are from the good days they're probably worked by now, ohm out all the speakers the sound your hearing seems like distortion, its a mixture of the speakers and possibly the head unit, when you say old is it like pre2000? You could amplify the system, its not entirely necessary though. Plus if you throw an amp on a setup with pre existing problems you may just dry the speakers lol normally when speakers can't reproduce the sound it cones down to a shotty voice coil or a really shotty signal, the twist and tape jobs are ugly and can fry your harness but generally if the wires have good contact it won't effect the sound

aaron_sK · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:17 am Post subject:

BluFbdy · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:53 am Post subject:

That would be a good starting point lol

aaron_sK · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:19 pm Post subject:

Ran the DOA power antenna up and unplugged it, better reception but still the same problem.

Swapped deck with a known good unit (Al's old Panasonic deck, actually Wink

). No change in the speakers, but the deck is much nicer so that's a plus.

Pulled all four speakers. All ohm between 3.4 and 3.7. I assume that means they are 4ohm speakers? Shrug

Rears were out of phase and had a very poor wiring job. Also, no one ever bothered to screw them down. Laughing

Fixed all that and no change.

Front driver speaker has a torn surround where the cone meets the frame. I'm thinking I'll just replace all four speakers with something not crappy, versus trying to amp these POS units. Problem is that requires me to spend even more money on this silly car. Rolling Eyes

BluFbdy · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:29 pm Post subject:

Hifisoundconnection.com good place for cheap parts, if you wanted to go real cheap you could use boss speakers, they're nothing spectacular but with a known good deck and speakers in that condition it doesn't take a guru to tell you where the problem lies lol pioneer speakers are also decent, and you can pick them up at Walmart lol

Alphius · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:04 am Post subject:

sonicelectronix.com also seems to have some good deals from time to time. That's where I buy most of my stuff and they ship really fast too.