$50 PC speakers sound better than $1500 car system

[simon21 10+ year member]

This is very frustrating. I spent a lot of time and money to make my car system sound good, and just when I thought that I was almost there, I bought a pair of $50 PC speakers and they sound much better than my car system, and I didn't even have to spend time tuning it!! My PC speakers are more clear and fuller and they sound much more natural than my car system. What's going on here???? Is it that much harder to make a car system sound good? Am I doing something wrong?

My car system:

Alpine 9813 Head unit

Boston Acoustics FS60 front components

Polk Momo 6X9 rear speakers

JL e6450 Amp

Polk Momo 12" sub (soon to be replaced by Ascendant Audio Atlas 12)

My PC speakers:

Altec Lansing VS2121

Click to read more...

 

[cjjackson85 5,000+ posts]

You probably fuked up the install...

 

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

Ehh... take it for what it is, you are listening to those pc speakers at relatively low volumes in a quiet setting, its not too hard to have that sound decent. Put those in your car and see how they sound... This is the fun of car audio, its not easy to be going 65 down the highway while having your music sound as good as a home setup.

 

[jimmclrk1 10+ year member]

Simon21 has a PM.

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

Tis true...

SO jmac outa retirment already?

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

No, he's just found a reason to post again. N00bs who aren't looking to buy new super equipment to show off for their high school friends, but people who are looking to improve their install to make what they already have sound better. =) I happen to be proud of all of them! Yeah, I'll shut up, I shouldn't put words in his mouth.

So what kind of vehicle do you drive, Simon21? You could be better off taking out the 6x9s. First off they're oval which *can* but doesn't necessarily affect SQ. Even worse is the fact that you are running two different types of speakers, which can negatively affect SQ. Even worse is the fact that you are running two different types of speakers, probably imaged against each other like in stock locations.

You also didn't mention if you have amplified the front components. That helps a lot. Also see if you can find a way to improve your imaging. Kickpanels, or even just a small MDF baffle over your stock speaker location to point them closer to where they need to be can offer a dramatic improvement.

But just a word, your car will probably never sounds as good as those Altecs, the cards are stacked in their favor.

 

[traksta15 10+ year member]

good to see ya jmac............

 

[simon21 10+ year member]

Thanks guys. You guys know so much. It must have taken you a lot of time to learn all this. I think I'll be able to tolerate it if I just replace my speakers. Any suggestions to some good 6.5 speakers that would sound good in a honda accord?

 

[stones 10+ year member]

Psychoacoustics.

You can have a weak mid and high with a strong subwoofer and get an RTA readout that peaks starting at 30hz with a hump at 80 then dipping way down into the 500 hz range then coming back up around 2500 to 10000. This will sound powerful and nice.

10db-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       * 
                    *   * 
                 *        *
              *             *
           *                  *  
       *                        *
    *                             *                                            *  *
 *                                  *                                      *          *             * *  
0db---------------------------*---------------------------*------------*------*-----*---------------
                                          *                             *                     * *
                                              *                      *                             
                                                 *                *
                                                     *  *  * *
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20KZ                 100HZ                                                                                    20KHZ

(its also the same curve one of my systems had and I recieved full points for SQ)

This is kindof what im talking about, the bass is very powerful and defined in comparison to the rest of the frequencys.

If you amplify the volume of the mids and highs you flatten out that nice curve. You give your system the illusion that it is weaker or less full, this is also how a flat RTA curve sounds.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     ** *
  *                   *                 *  *             *                                  *  
*           *     * *       *     *  *        *  * *      * *          *  *   *          *
0DB--------* *-------------*------------ *------------ *---*-----------------------------------
                                                                             *



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20hz            100hz                                                                                   20hz

The problem with having everything in a +-5db range is that it basically sounds shitty.

If you look at any Bose mini system you can see how they use this theory to get a low power system sounding really good, they concentrate on making the bass much more powerful then the mids and highs while keeping them blended enough to make it sound natural.

 

[stones 10+ year member]

Cut back on the mids and highs and concentrate on getting a fat bass curve.