Just installed Hu, Sounds Worse?!?!?

Just installed Hu, Sounds Worse?!?!?

i just finished installing a Kenwood mp3/CD HU with the Socshe kit.

thing is the stock speakers sound worse with this HU then with the Stock HU.
Bass response is terrible but Highs seem a tad clearer, is this normal?

im planning on replacing the stock speakers anywawy, but shouldnt an aftermarket HU make the stock speakers sound better not worse?

The stock speakers are made of 'paperboard' (heavy paper) - sorry for my english again - Only one solution: change them!

The stock speakers cannot handle the 'extra' power that your aftermarket HU is putting out.. change the stock ones with aftermarket ones. You can also lower your BASS a little (on the HU) and turn off the XBASS or BASS BOOST whatever you have.

Those paper speakers can't handle power...

I used to run my stock speakers with my pioneer HU, and it sounded much better than with stock HU. But i already had a sub and an amp so all the bass went through the sub. Turning down the bass would be ur best solution for u.

As mentioned above, you should lower your bass boost and/ or "loud" features. I just recently intstalled a new aftermarket HU in a Windstar, and i found that the sound was very muddy with all those features on.

Just play with the eq settings "to taste".

Actually most of you are wrong... the paper speakers will sound BETTER because they are more efficient speakers... the key to good sound is in the POWER, not the speaker. Anyone who doubts me I challange you to pick any speaker of your choice, then give me a speaker valued at under $30.00 and I bet I can make it sound as good as or better.
Take the bass out a bit on the deck and that will improve the sound quality... if that doesnt work add a sub. Mids arent meant for bass anyways. IF you want high end sound adding speakers will actually make the sound WORSE, why is this you ask? because now you are underpowering the speakers severly. Aftermarket decks claim 50-60 watts per channel, while in reality they are closer to 15 watts per channel. Your average good speaker requires close to 100 watts to perform at peak while 40 watts of Clean (amplified) power is required to maintain good sound.

Short answer - DO NOT get speakers first, save up and purchase either A) subwoofer and then set the high pass crossovers built into the deck to keep the bass out of the mids, or B) purchase a small 4 channel amplifier and a set of decent (not high end, just decent) speakers. You can pick up a nice alpine Flex amp for $130 and Alpine fronts and rears for about $50 a pair... thats the best way to do it, otherwise you will just piss yourself off more when you buy new speakers and find out they sound worse than they do now.

:shock: WOW. The key to good sound is linearity, something paper cones just don't have.

Ok smart ass... take a peak at these....
http://www.bostonacoustics.com/ca_product.asp?ProductID=217&CategoryID=14

Boston Acoustics Z series speakers... their highest end available, and one of the best speakers on the market... Retail at $1000 a set... wanna know what the speaker is made of? Thats right... paper... I personally run these in my car and it is the cleanest sound possible. Wanna know who else uses paper cones? Bose does, in ALL of their speakers... going to call them crap too ? Paper woofers are the single BEST way to reproduce natural sound. Once again, do some research before you open your mouth.

And the surrounds are....?

That's my setup!
I got a 850W 4 channel amp with 4 decent aftermarket speakers, the sound is amazing... Clear and loud enough for my ears!

But I keep my point on the 'paper' speakers... I didn't like the sound they had.

Rubber... whats your point? Stock are foam, and very good speakers also use Foam, including Bose and other companies... Bose uses the CHEAPEST drivers possible, but coupled with good technology they are one of the better sounding speakers out here and have one of the best quality reputations on the market... thankyou come again

Thats all you need... I wish people would understand that bigger or more expensive isnt always better!

Linearity!

Is there a gun smiley anywhere in here? I need it right about now

Give up I take it. Good. Stick to what you know.

My point to you is paper woofers can sound, and always will sound better than their counterparts. You can make any point you want, but there is nothing wrong with foam surrounds. Many companies use them, the only downside to them is the fact that weather will get to them in an automobile. If it wasnt for that simple fact, im sure ALL companies would use them! They provide a much more realistic sound than rubber, but the durability is not as good.

By the way, if you hadnt noticed... Car audio requires common sense, book smarts will get you no where in this industry. Use all the big words, formulas, theories etc, but when it comes down to it, ALL of the top installers use common sense, not book smarts.

I think that includes you. Because..

You have got to be kidding me. BOSE and High Quality does NOT belong to the same sentence. LMAO. Go to Pro Audio forums and tell them that.. hehe

That is like going to an LS6 forum and saying.. oh my B16 has more displacement..

Bose is pure marketing. PERIOD. Perhaps you've never heard of B&W and Vandersteens? These would STOMP on Bose anyday! Bose is like a mom & pop brand..

Regarding the Paper vs. Polypropylene argument.. listen up: The STOCK speakers' cones are made of Low Quality paper with whizzer cones. The ones on BA's are NOT the same kind of paper cones that the stock speaker uses (polypropylene)? FYI These are TOTALLY DIFFERENT materials.

Any speaker of my choice? MB Quart QSD 216. Now go get your $30 speaker and prove me wrong. What do you want to compare to? Midbass transition? Transient response? BL curve? Sensitivity? Linearity? Tonal Accuracy?

So just because a driver has a higher Sensitivity (1w/1m) it means it sounds better? You have to consider the tonal accuracy, imaging, and other factors here. Sensitivity ALONE does not mean it's a better driver.

And please, stop calling people names. I believe we are all adults here, so can we carry on mature and productive conversations?

I do acknowlegde that YOU DO know some Mobile Audio tweaks, but please stop the namecalling.

Got it man? :twisted:

Ok ...

I did not anywhere say bose was the best, however it is a high quality name and they do have very good sound. If I had my preferance I would use Definitive Technology as they very much impress me... just me though... Back to the point I was showing how Bose uses paper woofers with foam surrounds... not stating they were the best so dont stray here..

Go ahead and stick them to a factory corolla deck and see how they hold up to a nice Nakamichi or Alipine deck with stock speakers... They will get torn up and anything past 1/3 volume will be straight distortion.

Not saying it is... I WAS SIMPLY STATING FROM THIS ARGUMENT THAT STOCK SPEAKERS ARE NOT BAD, AND THE FIRST STEP IS TO ALWAYS UPGRADE THE HEAD UNIT. STICK ON THE DAMN TOPIC!

Once again did I compare what kind of paper it is? or where its freakin made? or what the ingredients in the pulp are? No, I purely stated that they use paper based woofers.

Now for anyone else that wants to whore this topic READ WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN, i DONT CARE WHO HAS THE BEST BRAND, OR WHO YOUR FAVORITE IS, THE POINT IS AFTERMARKET SPEAKERS SOUND BAD WITHOUT POWER AND REPLACING THE STOCKS WILL NOT SOLVE HIS SOUND PROBLEM.

Then please dont whore the topic... keep it to the TOPIC. dont pick apart what im saying and try to outsmart me like im against you or something...

Jeebus man, take it easy. lol I'm not saying that you are personally against me and I'm not post whoring. I am just stating that you should refrain from namecalling and labeling all of us Rolla owners "newbies" (esp. in Car Audio..)

later :twisted:

hey than for the replies all, and cant we all just get along

anyway what i was gonna do was just buy a decent pair of pioneer speakers to replace the stock, rev components for the front and rev 6x9s for the back.

hows that sound, this should definitly sound at least a little better then stock right?
i definitly dont wanna go nuts with all this, i wanna keep it really simple. thanx again all.

They shouldn't sound worse. I also installed the Kenwood MP3/CD HU before the speakers. All I could say is "BRAVO"!! It really improved the sound quality a lot.

ok im on a bit of a budget so

should i replace the front first with components or just replace the 6.5s? will there be that much of a difference with components over just 6.5 if i dont use an amp?

or should i just replace the rear first for a bit more bass?

thanx for your time all

It will be more helpful if you tell us what's your budget first.

I have a headache... no advise from me tonight

Well.. no one needs them anyways... hehe

In all seriousness, (this to the thread starter) and in Layman's term- Change to an Aftermarket HU, and change to aftermarket 6.5"s up front. How difficult is that?

The correct way of doing that is by having an amplifier run your frontstage. Since you're in a budget obviously, just power them with an aftermarket HU.

The end. No more comments.

later :twisted: