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Hello, Everybody! Lovely Forum.

I got this problem with my stereo setup upgrade, on my 7Gen Civic. It’s been haunting me since the day one.
I’ve got Alpine CDA-9807 - MP3,WMA car stereo and Pioneer TS-A6990R 6”by9” 5way speakers. My problem with this is that I'm not quite satisfied wit the sound I’m getting, it’s not that good overall. I mostly play good quality MP3’s, but regular CD’s from the store don’t sound as good as I expected either. So what’s your people thoughts on this situation. What problem this might be? Solution?
Thanks.

 
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Well, when you say "not that good overall", what do you mean, specifically? Not enough bass? Distortion? Hiss?

Do you have an amp, or are you running the speakers off the head unit? What about your front speakers -- did you change them out, or are they still stock?

 
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The sound is not good when volume isn't too high,not too clear, kinda muddy,bass is only heard when loud,the sound is simply not there - it' very hard to explain,gotta hear it. It's just not a clear sound. It's busy. Sorry for confusion. But there are no hiss,distortions or anything like that.

I don't have any amp or sub. Front speakers are new as well.
Thanks.

 
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Oh! I almost forgot. The display on the stereo is totally invisible in the daylight. Now that's a damn pisser! I can't see sh*t! No more Alpine for me I guess.

 
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Well, that's it. You need an amp. Simple as that.

 
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Could You pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaseeee explain why ?!!!

I really don't know that much about car sound. I thought good brand name stereo and speakers would do just fine. Was I wrong ?!!! I'm not in all that loud booming music. Thanks in advance. I appreciate any help!

 
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Well, I had been explain this a few weeks back. Your OEM stereo pushes out X quantity of watts out to the OEM speakers. Normally, an aftermarket HU pushes out a lower number of watts and/or aftermarket speakers need more watts to function correctly. The amp serves as a "power up" connection to make the speakers get more/the correct number of watts needed for them to function properly. If you have any other questions, ask diskreet. He's pretty knowledgeable in this stuff. I'm not, lol.

 
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^^^^ agree... you need a amp

 
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aftermarket headunits do not push the amount of wattage that is stated... if you find an amp the puts out 45w X 4 and can you try to fit that into a head unit while not having to worry about heat... because heat causes resistance, and there is not that much room to cool where the head unit goes, the amount of watts will go down regardless of how much power the head unit is putting out, the heat will greatly reduce it... the other factor is that head units have a higher thd or total harmonic distortion then amps causing the louder, the scratchier... so an amp will help, but if you want clearer sound, i also encourage components due to the fact they are tuned to handle frequencies so it uses power more effiecently, even if it is less power, it will sound clearer when you turn it up

 
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Well diskreet ain't here so I will have to torture You with my lame questions!
"Normally, an aftermarket HU pushes out a lower number of watts" - Really?!!! Are You sure?!! I had no idea. I thought aftermarket HU will be better by defolt. Athough I've noticed that stocks always sound somewhat clearer and stable on low volume than my new setup. Now it's like when I listening to my music it sounds like it's heard from somewhere else, lilke from the short distance, kinda like when you hear music out of the window or listening to the sea. It's heard but it's not there. I'm trying my best explaining. LOL!
Thanks for Your advice and explanation, it's been very helpful !

 
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What components,kcm? Could You please clarify, cause I have no idea what You mean by that. Thanks man!

 
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Any recommendations on the good amp, BTW ?

Sorry for being such novice, Y'all!

 
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componets are a type a speaker that consist usually of a tweeter, for the highs, a woofer, for the mids, and a crossover, to split the orginal frequncies from the amp to each one of those type of speakers... they some times have three way componets but two way componets are still really good... they usually tend to be lower rms and max wattage, but because of the crossover it is used much mor efficiently... when i first converted over to componets, i was like wtf, i did not expect that much of a differnce... but first get the amp if you dont want to spend that much, the components if you want it clearer more than it is after the amp installation and if you dont mind spending much more

 
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yeah thier all right if you went with just straight speakers, i think 5-way is a little much unless you have an amp... if you dont want an amp i would go with 3-way then a sub (which would have an amp) but this is for 6 by 9's its whatever you think sounds best (^ if this stuff doesnt make sense sorry, been drinking)

 
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lol
Thanks for clarifying at the end... lol

 
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Yes, yes. At least my stock audio is a 30Wx4 Alpine with some good quality Pioneer speakers.

An aftermarket Alpine HU usually delivers 22Wx4.


And yes, that's what 04s have. Don't really know about other years or models, but that's for 04s at least. lol

 
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Hum... just noticed. Alpine HU to Pioneer speakers... you have exactly the same combination you had as when you got the car off the lot.

 
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Uhmm... I just noticed this isn't Automerging... what the hell happened to that?

 
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Ok, I did some looking around. Your speakers have a power rating of 80 W RMS. The H/U has a rating of 50x4 which is most likely peak so they have an RMS of 25X4. So like everyoone else has said the reason you are not getting the best sound is because you are under powering your speakers. The reason the stock one sound good is beacuse the factory speakers are running with enough power.

So when looking for an amp look for a 4 channel that gives you around 80 W a channel such as:

Alpine MRV-F345
Alpine MRP-F250
JL 300/4

There are alot of amps that will fit your needs. You just need to figure out what you want to spend.

 
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You mean I had? I got 02Civic LX Coupe. Well I know my stock speakers were Pioneers(I thought they were crappy though), but my stock stereo was just some POS cassette player. I had no idea it was Alpine. Gotta check that out, it still lays somewhere.
As for setup, I didn't know jack when I started shopping. All I heard was that Alpine and Pioneer were really good, like benchmarks of the industry or something. So I Thought I can't go wrong with them, besides they sounded really nice in the store and Alpine HU was so easy to manipulate. Well it didn't turn out as I expected at all. Quolity was not much better than stock or my walkman hooked up to it. Huge letdown!!! I didn't even know what to blame HU,speakers,CD's and MP3's quolity or all of it,or even myself. Real damn JEOPARDY when it comes to car audio, I tell You what!!!!! I'm gonna try that amp though see how that goes...
This whole audio upgrade thing was one big major pain in da Azzzzzzz,long story, I don't even wanna remeber it. Horrible experience. Oh well You live, You learn...
Thanks to all people for the help. It's been great!

P.S. I still need recommendations on the amp though. What's good out there for about $150-200 budget?

 
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Well I checked my old stock HU, and it doesn't say anywhere that it's an Alpine. It says Honda on it. Nevertheless it's got better display than my damn "can't see anything in the daylight" Alpine HU. Anything I can do to see the display better?

 
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if you go on ebay you can find an Alpine 345 for 152. that would be a good amp for you.

but I think the auction ends soon

http://electronics.search.ebay.com/a...0QQsacatZ18795

 
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Thanks for the advice James. Don't mean to be stubborn but I don't buy any electronics online, and def not used or new from ebay, too much pain to return it, if something goes wrong. I'm gonna be buying brand new amp from the store, or crutchfield at least. And also why are You insisting on Alpine amp?Quite frankly I'm afraid to deal with this company after my experience. I'm not a square, and usually like to give company second chance, but this is car audio we talking about, you know it's such pain to go back if something is not to your liking. Isn't there any good non-Alpine amps out there???! Or it must be Alpine, and Alpine only????

 
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mmmm, well IDK man. At least 04s are Alpine. Donno if it says so or not.

 
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Uhm... there's Infinity?

 
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So Alpine and Infinity are it? Nothing else when it comes to amps? How about Kenwood,Polk,Panasonic...anything at all ??????

 
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Dude, I am a n00b to audio, lol.

 
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you might just have gotten some crappy speakers... pioneer doesnt make speakers as well as they make HUs... you might have been better off getting speakers from someone else, like kenwood, infinity, alpine etc

also, you might just have to adjust the different high, mid and bass levels from the HU, i know that when i first got my new component speakers and HU i freaked cuz it sounded horrible but once i got them adujsted right it wasnt bad.... go read your manual and figure out how to adjust them



oh, and i have a pineer HU and kenwood 3 way components...

 
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I recommended alpine only because it was easy for me to quickly search for prices and specifications. There are many more options out there but like I said befor.... it all depends what you want to pay for it.... but keep in mind that most of the time you get what you pay for.

Polk, Kicker, Infinity, Apline, Rockford, are all decent and will fine with any of them. But again, to power them properly you will want to be putting at least 60 w to them. If you want a 4 channel amp its going to be difficult to find onw with that kind of power in your budget.

A couple of other things I need to know. Are you planning on using the amp to power the front speakers as well, and also, what are the front speakers?

As for not being able to see the H/U in the day I have heard that the angle of the dash makes the H/U hard to see. I am in the process of installking my system but havnt put in the H/U (Alpine) yet so I'm not sure. There is a DIY on moving tit down into the lower part, apparently that helps.

 
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That's ok!