What limits my car audio? Speakers, or sterio unit?
- Thread starter superman22x
- Start date
Most audiophiles will tell you right off the cuff a car or truck is the worst place to try to set up a stereo sound system. Odd shapes, seats in the way, lots of glass, and pressed for space can make getting good sound a tough job. Add a lot of sound absorbing materials to keep the road noise out are working against you also.
Half Evil
Golden Master
- Messages
- 16,076
Superman, take out your deck, and it should say on the back. If not, are there RCA outputs on the back? If so how many? A picture would be best.
As for the speakers, you're sending them a clipped signal and they are distorting. Pretty much the deck is telling the speaker to increase the volume to a level where the power is not sufficient. So it clips in and out with the power. Also, after market stereos do more then double the power of stock stereos, and stock speakres are not made to keep up with the power, which is also why you will over throw them and bottom them out.
First thing is first, you cant amp stock speakers. You'll blow them.
If you have the cash, get a nice set of speakers. That will eliminate over powering them. So then you need to worry about under powering them - which is turning it up more then it can really do. For this you will need an amp. You can do temporary fixes with the deck, like turning down the bass (because that just eats power) and other such things, but in the end you'll be most happy with an amp.
Get a 4 channel amp, and you're going to want to set the front to high pass filter, and the rear we'll probably want to set to flat.
Let me know your budget and what you want, and I will help you out the entire way thru. I'm not on here very much, so PM me if you like and ill give you my cell number. When you wana figure things out you can give me a ring.
As for the speakers, you're sending them a clipped signal and they are distorting. Pretty much the deck is telling the speaker to increase the volume to a level where the power is not sufficient. So it clips in and out with the power. Also, after market stereos do more then double the power of stock stereos, and stock speakres are not made to keep up with the power, which is also why you will over throw them and bottom them out.
First thing is first, you cant amp stock speakers. You'll blow them.
If you have the cash, get a nice set of speakers. That will eliminate over powering them. So then you need to worry about under powering them - which is turning it up more then it can really do. For this you will need an amp. You can do temporary fixes with the deck, like turning down the bass (because that just eats power) and other such things, but in the end you'll be most happy with an amp.
Get a 4 channel amp, and you're going to want to set the front to high pass filter, and the rear we'll probably want to set to flat.
Let me know your budget and what you want, and I will help you out the entire way thru. I'm not on here very much, so PM me if you like and ill give you my cell number. When you wana figure things out you can give me a ring.
OP
OP
superman22x
Golden Master
- Messages
- 7,904
Well, it wouldnt be til mid summer or so when I am working a lot more, but around a $100 or so maybe... Not a whole lot I know... but, it will help some.
Yeah, mine does have 4 RCA output ports, I will get some pics one of these days. If it makes a difference, I looked at how far the volume settings can go, and on the sterio it can go to 60, and it gets fuzzy around 20.
Yeah, mine does have 4 RCA output ports, I will get some pics one of these days. If it makes a difference, I looked at how far the volume settings can go, and on the sterio it can go to 60, and it gets fuzzy around 20.
TBH it could be the speakers, the amp or both.
if you have a decent head and not great speakers then you'll find that the speakers will distort the sound, this can manifest as a fuzzy sound like a loud fart, or a rattle.
if you have decent (but stock) speakers that are rated much higher than the amp then you'll find that the problem is with the amp, there isn't enough headroom, and you'll notice from the distortion that will manifest as a fuzzy sound like an overdrive distortion
alternativly... I don't know about your setup, but if your CD player is external to the head unit, or you're attaching an Ipod you might find that the levels of output are too much for the amp to deal with, thus a large signal in is amplified so much that the amp clips the signal at the preamp stage and then feeds mess into the power amp.
this will manifest as a much harsher distortion sound like an actual distorted effect.
you say that the head is an aftermarket, is it a good aftermarket or one that was one of the cheaper ones or on sale or something. music equipment is definitly one of those things where you get what you payfor.
If the stock head/amp is good then there is nothing wrong with it.
if the stock speakers are good then there is nothing wrong with them.
in that way I've been quite lucky with my car, (I don't like the music to be that loud) but for the volumes I listen at the 50W speakers in each corner are more than good enough) and the head is matched quite well at 45 watts front and 45 watts back as well.
but even that sounds crappy when it's cranked up.
if might be that you're in the same position as me, (and I find this quite likely) that in order to get a decent sound at high volumes you'll have to do one of the following...
get a 4 channel amp and 4 new speakers that are just better than the stock ones.
or get a mono or stereo amp, some high pass filters and low passfilters and some subs.
(i'll probably go wth the subs as I can hear that the speakers and amp cope happily with the higher frequencies and just fart on the lower frequencies).
and as for that argument that says paper speakers are no good...
i disagree, and I'm sure that a lot of major speaker manfuacturers will have my back on this one as well.
(I mean if paper is so inferior how come companies like celestian are still using paper cones?)
if you have a decent head and not great speakers then you'll find that the speakers will distort the sound, this can manifest as a fuzzy sound like a loud fart, or a rattle.
if you have decent (but stock) speakers that are rated much higher than the amp then you'll find that the problem is with the amp, there isn't enough headroom, and you'll notice from the distortion that will manifest as a fuzzy sound like an overdrive distortion
alternativly... I don't know about your setup, but if your CD player is external to the head unit, or you're attaching an Ipod you might find that the levels of output are too much for the amp to deal with, thus a large signal in is amplified so much that the amp clips the signal at the preamp stage and then feeds mess into the power amp.
this will manifest as a much harsher distortion sound like an actual distorted effect.
you say that the head is an aftermarket, is it a good aftermarket or one that was one of the cheaper ones or on sale or something. music equipment is definitly one of those things where you get what you payfor.
If the stock head/amp is good then there is nothing wrong with it.
if the stock speakers are good then there is nothing wrong with them.
in that way I've been quite lucky with my car, (I don't like the music to be that loud) but for the volumes I listen at the 50W speakers in each corner are more than good enough) and the head is matched quite well at 45 watts front and 45 watts back as well.
but even that sounds crappy when it's cranked up.
if might be that you're in the same position as me, (and I find this quite likely) that in order to get a decent sound at high volumes you'll have to do one of the following...
get a 4 channel amp and 4 new speakers that are just better than the stock ones.
or get a mono or stereo amp, some high pass filters and low passfilters and some subs.
(i'll probably go wth the subs as I can hear that the speakers and amp cope happily with the higher frequencies and just fart on the lower frequencies).
and as for that argument that says paper speakers are no good...
i disagree, and I'm sure that a lot of major speaker manfuacturers will have my back on this one as well.
(I mean if paper is so inferior how come companies like celestian are still using paper cones?)
kyleman999
Daemon Poster
- Messages
- 538
Dont cheap out on head units. My experience, the better quality head unit you get, providing you wont be running any external amplification to your speakers, the better the sound will be. Because the cheaper head units obviously use cheaper pre-amps.
In my volks the stock speakers are kick-ares for mids and highs... they lacked major bass. So I popped in a sub and amp. Perfect !
In my opinion, if your an average guy that enjoys his music more than others, but isnt ready to spend a good chunk of cash. Stick to a good quality head unit, and if the speakers dont do it for you. Get some decent speakers around the range of how much your head unit is pushing.
In my volks the stock speakers are kick-ares for mids and highs... they lacked major bass. So I popped in a sub and amp. Perfect !
In my opinion, if your an average guy that enjoys his music more than others, but isnt ready to spend a good chunk of cash. Stick to a good quality head unit, and if the speakers dont do it for you. Get some decent speakers around the range of how much your head unit is pushing.
