Ive had a JVC head unit for two years. I spent about $130 on it. I really only have it to play mp3s. The sound from the factory head unit puts this to shame. The sound on the jvc is somewhat 'muddy' for lack of a better word. When I listen to the same mp3s in a different player like my ipod everything sounds cleaner, I can hear stuff I couldnt hear on the jvc and like its higher fidelity. Ive played around with the EQ countless times. I listen to metal (Fear Factory, Lamb of God, Bodom, etc) so im looking for good clear high frequencies and I want my 10''s to hit with the kick drums instead of turning the bass guitar into loud mush.

So far the only advise ive gotten is to get an alpine head unit next time. Would it be more worth my while to get an EQ like this Kicker KQ9?

 

i suggest to turn your bass to zero trebile to 6 put loud on and have your amp only 3/4 the way up. a good buy is at walmart for some tweeters i bought some and hooked them up in each corner of my sedan it has a clean as* sound i can max my stereo and it dont destort my last hatch i put a jbl tweeter in each top corner of inside car you will be amazed on how the sound quality is.

 

Do you not have aftermarket speakers? If not that could easily be your problem. Factory speakers almost always work best with factory radios

 

and yea upgrade your door speakers and rear speakers

 

I used to do this for a living so bear with me...

Go to best buy or wherever you go to buy speakers. Listen to each pair. decide what sounds best to YOU.

Install them. If you have a way to angle the speakers angle them so that the fronts hit both your ears at the same level. You probably wont have this option.

I assume youre getting an amp for the speakers? If yes...

Make sure your subs are hooked up.

Now heres where youre going to have to work with me. From a sonically speaking standpoint, Dave Matthews Band (Under the table and dreaming) and Pearl Jam (Ten) are both almost perfectly produced and will give VERY accurate sound reproductions.

I konw you dont listen to that type of stuff but just put the cd in.

Start with:
-the subs and rear speakers off (volume down on the channel that the rears are on on the amp

-on the deck - loud off, no EQ, volume down.

-Bring the volume up on the deck so that you are listening to the front speakers as you normally would.

-Now bring in the rear speakers by turning up the channels volume on the amp until you can just barely hear the rear speakers. This is where the volume should stay. Your soundstage comes from the fronts. Your rears are just 'fillers'.

-Now turn the channel's volume up for the sub until the sub kicks and you can feel it. It shouldnot override the rest of the audio. It should be a feeling that accents the rest of the song.

-Now go into your menu on the deck (youll have to read the manual, or just find it yourself.)
-turn on your crossover for the speakers and set it to around 120hz. This should cut some low end below 120hz out of the front and rear speakers so that the kick drum/bass/bass guitars are accented by the subs.
-If you have an EQ try boosting the midrange somewhere between 240hz and 500hz for a fatter sound (you will get more low end from the guitars) and boost a little between 1.5kHz to 2.5 kHz for some presence - thats where guitars are usually placed in a mix. boost between 80-100/120Hz to bring out the kick drum if you wish. that will give the low end some more punch overall as well. 50-80Hz boosted will bring out some low bass guitar. Bring these all up in moderation.
-Do all that, now turn the volume way down. Roll up your windows and listen. Now go and tweak the EQ settings until you find something you like. If it sounds good low, then it will usually sound good high.

-For the love of god, keep the 'LOUD' function off. This is designed to boost the lows and highs while listening at a low volume. All that will do is mess with your EQ settings and make it sound muddy all over again.

Try that and then report back. I hope that helps a little!

 

Setting the crossover to 120 Hz is really high.....set it to around 60-80 Hz (if you even get an amp for the fronts)

 

sorry youre right. set it to 60-80. I was typing and working at the same time and have been up for three days. Its a long story.

my mistake. 60-80 HZ it is.

 

The headunit is probably fine, and you just need better speakers. I recommend Kicker components up front and midbass drivers in the back. Alpine would be good too. I like the Kickers because they were relatively inexpensive and sound great.

 

Yeah I imagine I will go with some kickers. Ive got OEM in the front, pioneer 6x9s in the back and 2xpioneer 10s in the trunk ran by a jensen 400 watt amp. Im thinking of taking out the subs for more trunk room if I can get a good kick drum sound out of the rest of the system.

 

I listen to a lot of metalcore and post-hardcore, and the Kickers sound great. It's really nice to have the components up front and the midbass drivers (basically components without the tweeter) in the rear. You hear the cymbals and snare coming from the tweeters for the most part, and then you hear most of the guitar notes mainly from the other speakers. (of course higher tones will come out the tweeters instead though). Even if I turn the subwoofers all the way down (which I normally leave turned up halfway so you can hear the double bass drum and bass guitar tracks nice and loud), the system still sounds great.