My sound is distorting at high volume.

Right now I've got an Alpine MRP-240 powering Powerbass components and Directed 6x9s, with an EFX amp/2 10-inch Scosche subs, but I didn't want to change out the stock 6-disc in-dash cd player alone because I like having the multiple disc capability.

My roomate had a similar problem in his truck, which had some crappy Sony crap when he bought it, and he switched out the cd player to a high-end panasonic and now it sounds fine.

I have been playing around with the gain levels on my amps a lot to try to fix this problem but have not had any luck.

So...mostly I was wondering if anybody knew of any nice 6-disc in-dash players that might fix this problem/if anybody had any other ideas as to why my sound might be distorting.

 

It could be a classic case of underpowering. Grab an amp and power the speakers with it. You wont have that problem again.

 

Well I cranked the gain up to just below the max, and it seems to have helped the distortion that I was getting before, but now if I turn the cd player volume way up it sort of sounds like the tweeter on the rear right 6x9 is rattling...or distorting...in any case its making a noise that it shouldnt be. And with the gain up so high now I am worried about overheating the amp and eventually frying it.

My 6.5s are 75w RMS/150w peak
and my 6x9s are 40w RMS/80w peak.

If I'm trying to avoid underpowering them, then would it be a better idea to run them off an amp that pushes about 75w per channel, or I've heard some people say to get an amp that is double the RMS so you dont have to push it as hard, but then my 6x9s would be beyond their peak. And even with 75w per channel that's almost peaking for them so would that mean I should think about upgrading those as well to accomodate for the extra power?

Any thoughts would be helpful.


...as a side question, what does it mean when channels are bridged?

 

Bridged means setting your amplifier in "mono" operation and effectively doubling the load placed on it. Basically, it makes the amp work harder and produce more power.

It's not the CD player that is causing distortion. Like Remmy said, it is 99% probable that you just have the thing turned up too loud. Believe it or not, your components aren't meant to be played wide slap open. If anything, turning the gains down will alleviate some (if not all) of the distortion.

Here's a tip. Turn the volume up until just before it starts to sound like ***. That is as loud as your stereo is. It's kinda like a redline, it's just not gonna make anymore power once you go past a certain point, so why go there?