Better Sound Quality?

[TonK]

My infinity References handle 60 watts rms. And my old Eclipse put out like 12 rms x 4. And it still sounded good?

I have a POS JVC on my factory speakers in my Civic and it sounds good...

I have a very nice Panasonic on my factory speakers in my CB7 and it sounds good as well...

But I have the same ear that the audiophiles on this site have...

We can tell the difference between an underpowered speaker using a head units power and that same speaker being powered at 80w RMS with a quality amplifier...

People have different tastes, there is no right or wrong way for you to have your stereo installed unless it crosses the proverbial line of common sense...

[SteveB]

the HU puts out an RMS of about 20watts per channel...if the nominal wattage on your speakers is ~80wRMS, then you are giving them 1/4 of the power that they need
can you imagine how your sub would sound with only 1/4 the power...hmm..

I have no idea if you know how music is electronically reproduced from what you say in that post.

Frankly, if you do, you aren't communicating it at all.

[headbussaboi]

Get this and be done with it:
http://ikesound.com/product-product_id/2657
Very nice amp.

[GSteg]

one more question is it better to buy one four channel amp, or 2 two channel amps, to power the front speakers bridged together, and the rears bridged together on one, and one 10" sub on the other?

Either (2) 2-channel amp or (1) 4-channel amp. You also got to make sure that if the amp can support your subwoofer's impedence load.

[ckyskater733]

OK, lets try to work with what he has...

Obviously the amp isn't a monoblock since he says it has a lowpass switch on it...

Why not use 1 channel for the mids and highs and the other chanel for the subwoofer?

Come on guys, THINK!

Use 1 channel on your amp to run the 10"

Use the other channel to run the mids and highs...

the sub is probably bridged and getting the right amount of power. if he put a channel on the front speakers, the sub would most likely be serverly underpowered.

just get a nice alpine amplifier and you should be set. id get a 2 channel and run it to the front only. IMO, rear fill is pointless. or just get the 4 channel if you want all speakers to have more power.

[mondojackal]

I have no idea if you know how music is electronically reproduced from what you say in that post.

Frankly, if you do, you aren't communicating it at all.

yeah, im sure i know how music is produced...if you aren't feeding a speaker its nominal wattage, it isnt going to perform as well as it could..

[Abeerdrinker]

Sounds to me as if one of you speakers if not more speakers are wired wrong. When you have the wires crossed speakers still play but distort quicker or even sound dull at hight volumes. Or maybe one of your speakers is grounding out to the body. It can happen when the speakers ground out via the screws when they are replaced with a aftermarket speaker.

I dont care what anyone says capacitors suck arse when it comes to blocking out sound. I rather use a front or trunk placed cross-overs then use those. They kill levels of sound to much

[Thomas_LX]

Capacitors to block out sound? What?
If the speaker were grounding on the chassis, they usually go dead, at least in my experience. I have seen so many cars where just the sub is playing and people are like... WTF? I think that he just needs to tweak the settings. There is no reason why your system would sound BAD the way it is. It could certaintly sound BETTER with the things people have told you here, but I don't see it sounding that bad.
You may want to look into Crossovers,(see above^^^) commonly known as BassBlockers which are basically Mechanical High Pass Filters. Does your deck have a High Pass Filter? Turn it on and crank it up... they will reduce distortion and the music should sound a lot more crisp. I run mine at 125Hz...
Crutchfield Bass Blockers

[GSteg]

Capacitors to block out sound? What?

You may want to look into Crossovers,(see above^^^) commonly known as BassBlockers which are basically Mechanical High Pass Filters.

bassblockers are capacitors

Capacitors are used as crossover (look inside a passive crossover). It can high pass or low pass depending on the db slope and how you wire it.

[Thomas_LX]

Hmm... I have never heard of them described as capacitors. Well, now I know.

[cjv998]

Good point a few posts up. Maybe when you installed the new head unit you reversed a wire somewhere, and your speakers are out of phase. Before you return anything, I'd double-check (and maybe even triple-check) all of the wiring on the back of the HU. That makes sense to me. I don't see any reasone why similar head units outputting similar wattages with similar EQ settings should sound that different (I don't think we're comparing apples to oranges or anything, I'd put Aiwa and JVC in the same group as far as quality of HU's). If he bought a new HU that sounds worse than the previous one, I'm not sure recommending all sorts of crossovers and all fixes the problem necessarily. I mean, yes it'll sound better, but if it's something like speakers out of phase or something, crossovers won't fix that (unless you switch the wiring there too ). Anyways, here's what I'd do:

1. Check wiring on back of HU very carefully.

2. If everything is good there, check all the settings on the HU (filters, etc) because something could be set weird from the factory. I mention this because when I re-wired my Alpine deck, it sounded terrible at first (and with my speakers, that takes a lot ). Turns out the deck sounded terrible because it had the sound processing setting turned on where it tries to make it sound like a church/concert hall/whatever. Turned that off, and it sounded much better.

3. If you like the HU, maybe you just got a defective one? Possibly consider just exchanging it for a new one and see if that one sounds better.

(Everything below follows the assumption that the sub is currently connected to a 2 channel amp. If not, get a 2 or 4 channel amp depending on your budget.)

Oh, and btw, if you do want to buy an amp, I'm not sure what your budget is, but I'd consider either a 3-channel amp, or a mono-block and another 2-channel (that way you can use the mono block for the sub, the 2 channel you have (the one currently powering the sub) on one set of speakers, and the new 2 channel on the other set). Or if the budget is tight, just get one monoblock, and use that for the sub, use the 2 channel you have for front speakers, and leave the rears hooked up to the HU for power. Either way, I'd consider getting a mono block for the sub. Mono blocks are usually cheaper than 2 channels anyway, and this way you can use the 2 channel you have for one set of speakers up front. Alpine makes good amps, I have an MRV-F345 4-channel and MRD-M300 monoblock, and I'm quite happy with them.