audio setup FUBAR

[AlphaAssault]

Ok, so bear with me as i explain this set-up (everything was like this when i bought the car except the head unit. the alpine one with the car was broken... then got stolen ):

head unit is from my old 1992 Galant. its the big premium unit or whatever; with the tape deck, equalizer, and ***audio input*** jack.

the 2 dash-mounted speakers are gone.

the 2 door-mounted speakers and the 2 rear-mounted speakers are still there, but aren't stock.

there are cables for a sub behind the rear seats, and there is a little black box behind the head unit. the speaker wires to the head unit are split and go into this box at one end, with 2 audio jacks like you would find on a tv on the other end. there is nothing plugged into those audio jacks.

now, the problem im having is that the sound quality, while livable, isn't great. the bass has to be turned all the way down (via the equalizer on the head unit), otherwise the back speakers begin to crackle a bit. if i turn the bass all the way up on the equalizer, the back speakers cut out completely. i can jack the volume up with no problem, its the bass that knocks them out. i would like to be able to listen to songs with the *normal* bass setting without the speakers acting up. anyone have any ideas on whats going on here?

 

[kenamond]

If you're not looking for loud, I'd recommend picking up reasonably-priced components, including an amplified head unit (25W or so) and new speakers all around. It's not going to be very difficult to wire something like this, and it will sound a lot better. It's exactly like wiring a home stereo. You might be able to find a used head unit that's actually pretty good for as cheap as $50. On my 2g, it was just a matter of finding which wires went to which speakers, removing the old speakers, putting new ones in, connecting the stock wires from the old speakers to the new, and connecting the right wires behind the head unit (either from the stock wiring harness or running your own) to the head unit. They usually sell install kits for just about every make and model, and these have a plug that matches the audio harness on the DSM, so you don't have to cut wires in the harness. The other end of the cable can then be spliced as needed to the wires on the back of the head unit.

Another option is to buy whatever you can afford and ask the audio store to install it for you. It's not rocket science to someone who's done one or two before.

 

[AlphaAssault]

Im pretty competent with wiring; ive wired up a few head units before. ive never done a custom job with subs though, because im not one of those people that likes a lot of bump in the trunk. i know the speakers in this car are good, so they arent the problem. it that they crackle/crap out under even moderate levels of bass. i was thinking that, when this car had subs (before i ever owned it) that the back speakers never saw ANY bass. it was all wired to the subs. now that there are no subs, the rear speakers are getting too much power and cutting them out. thats my theory anyway. i just wanted to know how to get working properly again. the front 2 seem to be fine, as far as i can tell.

 

[kenamond]

Im pretty competent with wiring; ive wired up a few head units before. ive never done a custom job with subs though, because im not one of those people that likes a lot of bump in the trunk. i know the speakers in this car are good, so they arent the problem. it that they crackle/crap out under even moderate levels of bass. i was thinking that, when this car had subs (before i ever owned it) that the back speakers never saw ANY bass. it was all wired to the subs. now that there are no subs, the rear speakers are getting too much power and cutting them out. thats my theory anyway. i just wanted to know how to get working properly again. the front 2 seem to be fine, as far as i can tell.

Well, the black box behind your head unit sounds to me like a crossover. That just filters either highs, lows, or everything but highs and lows, depending on the crossover. For example, you use a high-pass crossover on tweeters, band-pass crossover (lets mid-range through, but blocks lows and highs) for midrange speakers, and low-pass crossover for subs or mid-bass drivers/speakers. If that crossover is a low-pass (for the subs that aren't there anymore) and they're going to speakers that have built-in high-pass crossovers, then you might be filtering out all of the signal at some point. Do the wires coming out of that black box go anywhere? If they do, you might try bypassing it and see what happens. I'm not familiar with the details of the 1g stereo wiring, but there may be hidden, stock crossovers somewhere you can't see as well.

At the same time, it might be that the head unit has a problem.

Anyway, I'd shitcan the head unit and all the shoddy speakers and put a decent system in with separate amps for main speakers and subwoofers...but that's just me. FYI, having great bottom end on your sound spectrum doesn't have to mean bump. I'm not a bump fan, either, but when you have the full spectrum of sound, rock and roll, country, whatever sounds better. I replaced my stock system within a couple of weeks of buying my car (ordered it from the factory in '96 ). I don't listen to "bump" music, but I have $2k in my stereo and wouldn't want anything less.

 

[AlphaAssault]

so you think the head unit is the primary issue, correct?

 

[draculia]

The "black box" is a line level adapter. It converts the signal to the speakers into a signal used for an amp. These are used to add an amp to a stereo that doesn't have rca outputs.

The rear speakers are blown which is why they're crackling with bass. Low volume and/or low bass will be fine, but anything above that will just sound like shit. The previous owner was probably turning the bass up to make his subs louder, but didn't have any type of signal processor to cut the bass on the speakers, which over time blew them.

If you just want a normal steroe, pull the line level adapter out, you don't need it. Remove all the other junk associated with the previous owner's subs. Replace the rear speakers, and any others that are missing or sound terrible, and enjoy. The head unit is fine if you're fine with it. Because it sounds like the previous owner was a knob, go over all the wiring to make sure that it is acceptable, I have seen some incredibly stupid wiring jobs in the past.