Car Audio

[91TSi FWD]

Alright, I don't know all that much about car audio, but I just bought a cd player that does not have a midrange controller. It is installed in the car BTW. The stock stereo sounded better just because I could turn the midrange all the way down, this stereo, even if the bass is all the way up and the treble at 0db, has a much sharper tone to it, like when the midrange on the stock stereo is all the way up. My question is, what exactly is an equalizer, I've heard that with one you can adjust the stereo to sound how you want it. Like I said, I don't know much about car audio, I was just wondering if someone could help me turn the midrange down/clean up the sound without spending over $100 on an expensive equalizer or something.

Thanks a lot.

 

[91TSi FWD]

Oops, guess someone can move this to the Non-Performance Mods (Interior/Exterior) section.

 

[Nerfherder]

In order to run a good EQ, you have to run an amplifier. Your low-level RCA input from the back of your deck plugs into the EQ, then runs out of the EQ with your user-mixed signal to the amplifier, which amplifies the signal, and sends it out to your speakers. Your deck is powered with an internal amplifier, so the signal coming from it has power. You cannot purchase an EQ that will mix an amplified signal.

You say that you don't know much about car audio, so I have to ask if you hooked everything up right. A signal full of midrange makes it sound like your speakers are hooked up at opposing polarities. I don't mean to insult your wiring ability. I'm just checking.

 

[Nerfherder]

Well, that makes it easier. Just take your car back to them and ask them to check everything out and make sure it was done right. Tell them you're not satisfied with the sound. They'll make it right or give you suggestions on how to throw more money at it.

 

[91TSi FWD]

A signal full of midrange makes it sound like your speakers are hooked up at opposing polarities.

I had it installed, didn't do it myself. I'm not even 100% sure what you mean here, . Do you mean the spekers may be hooked up to the deck wrong? Like I said, I'm a noob when it comes to audio.

Edit, I deleted my post and quoted you right after you posted :laugh:

Thanks for the help

 

[Attack Eagle]

turn the bass down and give it a little treble. if you only have 2 controls you are going to get some midbass with the bass control. if you normally had the midbass all the way down try setting bass to 0 or 1 and giving it 1 or 2 treble...
and make sure the Loudness (LD or LOUD) is not on as that boosts the upper midbass and midrange and lower treble.

They could have wired out of phase, it happens.

Does fading to the front or rear or from side to side improve the tonality? if so phse problem.

Did it have a factory amp? if not bypassed that could be an issue.
1gs I am not familiar with, but someelse can probably tell you if you will get disorted sound with the factory amp in place.


other than that best bet is to take it back and see if they can find a problem.

 

[Nerfherder]

Each speaker has a polarity marking for each of the two contact posts on the back. One is labeled positive "+" and one is labeled negative "-". Your deck also has a positive and negative wire for each speaker, so if you have a four-channel deck, you have a positive and negative wire for each of the four speakers, giving you a total of four positive and four negative wires. Each of the 4 groupings goes to a designated speaker: front left, front right, rear left, rear right. If, by accident, your front left speaker is hooked up correctly, but the front right speaker has the negative wire going to the positive speaker post and the positive wire going to the negative post, the speakers will be "out of phase." This condition is usually identified as a strongly midrange signal from the speakers that is also lacking bass response.

 

[91TSi FWD]

Here is the exact deck I'm using, http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...Q-C3300U&surfModel=CQ-C3300U&ignoreRedirect=1

This deck doesn't have a loud option, but has S-HDB (Super High Definition Bass), I don't know if that's the same thing or not. I've tried almost every way possible playing with the base and treble and their is still lots of midrange. I usualy have it faded more towards the rear speakers becuase that helps get rid of the midrange to a small degree(hardly at all), but I'm not sure if it goes away a bit because they are bigger speakers in the rear?

EDIT: also, my passenger side door speaker does not work, but its always been like that.

 

[Nerfherder]

You definitely need to get that passenger-side speaker going. With car audio, almost all of your sound is supposed to be coming from the front speakers. It's called sound staging. Your rear speakers are just meant to fill in the void of sound in the rear just a little bit. Your front speakers are the most important, so go drop some more cash on a good front set. We'll have you up to speed on car audio in no time.

 

[Attack Eagle]

its a fancy loudness setting.

turn it off, fade completely to the rear.

balance 100% right and see it you get more bass that balances out the midrange better.
tryit several times so you are not "psyching" yourself out.

if you get improved tonality then you probably do have one of the speakers wired out of phase.

use a battery (drill, 9v aa) to pop the speaker wires (the one with the black stripe is negative)

if with the same polarity the speakers play reversed from each other (one pops out the other in) then they are backwards.

 

[91TSi FWD]

I will be purchasing some new front speakers soon, does anyone know the stock size of the door speakers on 1Ga's? Fading to the rear passenger side speaker didn't make it sound much different. When I had my stock system in the best sound came from the rear speakers.

When I picked up my car from the instalation center, he was telling me that someone had made a mess of things in all the wiring behind the factory deck. He said he had to cut off and re-wire the factory harness, maybe something went wrong when he was doing this.