Advice on new install

[GimmeTheSound 10+ year member]

I purchased a new Clarion ProAudio DXZ835MP HU and had Circuit City do the install last night. I have infinity 605cs 6.5 components in the front and Infinity 6X9's in the rears. No amps or anything...

Well to my disbelief the new HU sounds like crap. The stock unit infact sounded better at higher levels compared to the Clarion. I don't know what it is but at high levels the sound is distorted and the bass is making pop sounds instead of a deep smooth sound. It almost seems the speakers cannot handle the HU or they are friggen blown but I find that unlikley because they sounded fine with the stock unit in and can handle 300watts. Do you all think CC did a lackluster installation, shall I take it back and have them listen or is the Clarion just a POS?!

Any advise would be greatly helpful. I sure as hell did not expect the sound to be so crappy

Does anyone have this same unit and can let me know that is not the case?

Thanks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

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[eengrms 10+ year member]

They may have the polarity swapped on one of the speakers, that can cause the sounds you are hearing. Open up the dash and disconnect each speaker one at a time until you find the problem. It's possible you "underpowered" your speakers for so long with the stock deck that you actually blew them- it is possible, unlikely but possible. What does it sound like at lower volumes? If the bass in non-existant at all volume levels my first thought is probably correct. I would take it back to CC and demand that someone with at least a high school education look at it. Why did you have CC do it anyway? Putting in a HU is easy.

 

[bean 10+ year member]

polarity has absolutely nothing to do with. What you need is an amp.

 

[bumpin_blazer 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by eengrms They may have the polarity swapped on one of the speakers, that can cause the sounds you are hearing. Open up the dash and disconnect each speaker one at a time until you find the problem. It's possible you "underpowered" your speakers for so long with the stock deck that you actually blew them- it is possible, unlikely but possible. What does it sound like at lower volumes? If the bass in non-existant at all volume levels my first thought is probably correct. I would take it back to CC and demand that someone with at least a high school education look at it. Why did you have CC do it anyway? Putting in a HU is easy.

don't give advice on something obviously you know nothing about. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/nono.gif.eca61d170185779e0921b0faa9704973.gif. alright first things first, 1 clarion isn't a piece of shit but it isn't top end or nothin. 2 you can't blow speakers by underpowering them!!! anyone will argue that point to you and proove you wrong. hell i ran my canton comps off a crap RF 30watt rms per channel amp for over 6 months and they are still in perfect condition. 3 your infinity speakers are NOT 300watts rms they are 30-90 rms and therefore should be ran with NO more than 75-100watts rms. here is my suggestion for you first off yes take it to CC and ask them maybe they did wire something wrong, 2nd save yourself like 90 bucks and order a US Acoustics 2100xl and run those suckers carefuly off that amp but run that amp and comp. combo. that is my personal suggestion and i would say do that asap. and if his polarity is wired wrong then yes it has somethign to do with it that can cause a sub to be out of phase causing that not smooth sound of bass that he says he is hearing. also what is your high pass filter set at?? along with what is your low eq setting at?? if you tell us it's at like +6 and your hpf is turned off i'm not surprised you are hearing that sound.

adam

 

[GimmeTheSound 10+ year member]

Thanks for the replies.

As far as I know, I remember setting all the ranges, frequencies, filters, ect... to the default levels. That was one of the first things I checked so I'm sure that is not the case. I guess I will take the biatch back to CC since I did pay for them to install, they should atleast do it right.

It just pisses me off but I'm glad you guys gave me somewhat of a peice of mind and ruled out the HU as defective. Didn't want to have to go through shipping it back and that jazz...

Late

 

[bumpin_blazer 5,000+ posts]

make sure your hpf is set at 125hz that is my recommendation anywho. i know on my canton comps i have my 940 premier set at 125hz but i also have a 13 band eq built in so i have almost all bass going strictly to subs not to my componets.

adam

 

[GimmeTheSound 10+ year member]

Thanks again, Blaze.

So, I have been tweaking with the built in EQ and I have found without any EQ enabled the sound is a little better when it comes to the pops and crackling but without any EQ's the sound is just "there". Doesn't sound real good, no clarity, bass, space and all that. What do you think my next step should be? Get a small 2 or 4 channel amp? What should the desired Wattage be? How about adding a sub? All i want is to seek the sound i desire and so far i have yet to find it. Still searching...

Thanks

 

[bumpin_blazer 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by GimmeTheSound Thanks again, Blaze.

 

So, I have been tweaking with the built in EQ and I have found without any EQ enabled the sound is a little better when it comes to the pops and crackling but without any EQ's the sound is just "there". Doesn't sound real good, no clarity, bass, space and all that. What do you think my next step should be? Get a small 2 or 4 channel amp? What should the desired Wattage be? How about adding a sub? All i want is to seek the sound i desire and so far i have yet to find it. Still searching...

 

Thanks

yo man if i was you i would just get a 2 channel amp and power then comps correctly. don't worry about rear output it isn't needed to be honest. if you have a solid front stage you don't need rear fill. anyway if i was you i would look into getting something like a us acoustics 2100xl amp. they can be had from the zeb.com for like 109 plus shipping. great great amp i have one now and it puts a blaupunkt 250.2, RF 600.4, RF 200.4, and JBL 80.4 to shame. this amp is freakin awesome to say the least. if you want more help you can hit me up through email at incubus_65@hotmail.com or IM me on aol.

adam

 

[eengrms 10+ year member]

Originally posted by bumpin_blazer don't give advice on something obviously you know nothing about. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/nono.gif.eca61d170185779e0921b0faa9704973.gif. alright first things first, 1 clarion isn't a piece of shit but it isn't top end or nothin. 2 you can't blow speakers by underpowering them!!! anyone will argue that point to you and proove you wrong. hell i ran my canton comps off a crap RF 30watt rms per channel amp for over 6 months and they are still in perfect condition. 3 your infinity speakers are NOT 300watts rms they are 30-90 rms and therefore should be ran with NO more than 75-100watts rms. here is my suggestion for you first off yes take it to CC and ask them maybe they did wire something wrong, 2nd save yourself like 90 bucks and order a US Acoustics 2100xl and run those suckers carefuly off that amp but run that amp and comp. combo. that is my personal suggestion and i would say do that asap. and if his polarity is wired wrong then yes it has somethign to do with it that can cause a sub to be out of phase causing that not smooth sound of bass that he says he is hearing. also what is your high pass filter set at?? along with what is your low eq setting at?? if you tell us it's at like +6 and your hpf is turned off i'm not surprised you are hearing that sound.

 

adam

Talk about somthing you obviously know nothing about... Did he say he had a sub connected? You discount my post and then go on to say polarity could be an issue. Yeah I could have been wrong, but at least I tried to help him unlike most people here who come for a quick fix and don't bother to try and help anyone else. Get off you high horse and realize it's about helping people, and not trying to knock down other people. So if what you say is the absolute truth, then why should he need to get an amp? His speakers should run just fine without it. It is so obviously a wiring problem of some sort, or blown speakers. The only way it couldn't be is if he is just expecting more out of them than he should get.

 

[GimmeTheSound 10+ year member]

Thanks for the help eengrms.

I plan on taking my truck back to CC and have them look\listen to the problem hopefully on Friday. I will definately reply back with an answer. I am nearly 100% positive it is not an issue with the speakers being blown as they cranked and sounded great with the stock unit in. I've been hearing alot of places that it most likley is some sort of wiring issue and not the HU itself. I just know **** well this should sound better than the crackling and popping at higher levels.

I will keep you posted and thanks.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[taylor 10+ year member]

OKAY LISTEN AGAIN... head units put out like 15 watts at the most of undistorted power....h/u power is distorted dirty power.......you need a small amplifier to clean that sound up, even something that puts out 100x2....your distortion will dissapear with an amp....i know your h/u says 50x4 in big proud letters, but in reality it's like 15 watts.....and it's dirty power.....any speakers in an audio system should be ran off of amplifiers, a h/u just plays cd's, thats it......never use and bass or treble setting on a deck or bass boost....nothing....it plays cd's thats it.....if you want to tweak your sound buy the appropriate eq for yourself whether that be indash 7 band or a 30 band trunk mount eq....

BLAZER WAS ALSO RIGHT TOO!!!!!!

 

[GimmeTheSound 10+ year member]

Taylor - I see what your saying but answer me this... Why did a stock unit which probably put out no more than 20 watts a channel (according to you this would be maybe 5 max) sound so much better at a higher level than my new 53 x 4 HU?

I'm TOTALLY not trying to argue with you man, or to flame in any means; just trying to learn the in's and out's of my new addiction! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Thanks

 

[taylor 10+ year member]

could be just improper x over settings, what are the bass settings at on your deck???

 

[1Timer]

This is your problem my friend. I've had this problem before. You had your HU installed by some overzealous 18 year olds who wanted to test how loud your system could go and ruined your speakers. If you checked the wires and the polarity is correct then thats your answer. (unless your speaker wires are running to close to a power line or you have something in your dash that is messing up the signal in the wires). IE, touching a ground or etc.

Just walk it back to the store and tell them they ****ed it up. Act all pissed. Make a scene and they'll fix it for free. Customer's always right, and customer's a real ***** if he ain't.

 

[GimmeTheSound 10+ year member]

Currently, I have all bass, treble, mid settings set to 0, and all frequencies, gains... ect are at the default level due to the distortion at higher volumes. No matter what I have any thing set too there is distortion. I'am however giving it the bass boost at lower stable levels just to give me that xtra punch and give me somewhat of an improvement over stock.