Clarion CZ500 sounds awful. Need help or advice

[killeraxemannic 10+ year member]

I recently bought a Clarion CZ500 with the HD radio tuner box from a friend for $100 who was going to a nav unit in his car. I installed it in my 2001 Honda Prelude and it sounds pretty awful. The highs are there and the bass is there and it gets plenty loud and is fairy clean but it just doesn't sound good. It appears it only has 3 settings. Bass, Mid, and Treble control as well as the crossover point adjustment for each. I have done my best tuning it to my liking but I can't get it to sound as good as the factory radio did. From what I have been reading my car has pretty decent factory speakers so I don't think the speakers are too much of an issue. My last radio in my last car was a middle of the line Pioneer (DEH-P7400HD), and my other car has a budget Pioneer in it (DEH-150MP) and I am pretty sure they both sounded much better than this Clarion unit and give you way more control over the sound. I just don't understand why it doesn't sound good and lacks EQ features as It was a $225 unit when it was new.

I am really not sure what to do at this point. I could get new speakers for my car and hope it makes it sound wayy better, or I could buy a new Pioneer unit similar to the one I had before. If I buy a new unit for this car I could put this one in my other car that already has upgraded speakers in it but I don't think it will sound as good as the cheapo DEH-150MP Pioneer that is currently in that car. I just don't know what to do with this unit as it's really disappointing me.

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

its only 140$ new 225 is the inflated manufacturer's price that no one ever pays. Check to see if your speakers are out of phase or not. If anything just sell that and plop your old radio back in for the time being.

 

[killeraxemannic 10+ year member]

I think my Pioneer was around $140 and it had a lot more features. I would expect more from a $140 unit. Putting the factory radio back in isn't an option because it doesn't have sub outputs and my amp doesn't have line level input. If I am going to take this radio out it's going to be replaced with a new Pioneer or Alpine unit. I just don't want to do that if I can make this unit work better as I already have it installed and paid for.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

It's a parametric EQ, which does a lot more to shape the sound than most people realize because you're not just clicking over to preset bands and going up or down with the levels. The frequency is the center point, the Q is the width of frequencies around that center point which you will be adjusting. The smaller the Q value the broader the change. Try bringing a band down a couple of notches, such as around 6-8K on the treble, or around 1-2K on the midrange.

Also, make sure you're listening to a familiar good sounding CD while adjusting the EQ. If you can't make that sound good you will never have a chance of making the radio sources sound good.

 

[killeraxemannic 10+ year member]

It's a parametric EQ, which does a lot more to shape the sound than most people realize because you're not just clicking over to preset bands and going up or down with the levels. The frequency is the center point, the Q is the width of frequencies around that center point which you will be adjusting. The smaller the Q value the broader the change. Try bringing a band down a couple of notches, such as around 6-8K on the treble, or around 1-2K on the midrange.
Also, make sure you're listening to a familiar good sounding CD while adjusting the EQ. If you can't make that sound good you will never have a chance of making the radio sources sound good.

I will give that a shot. It seems like it only has 3 options for the band for each. I have some music on my flash drive that I have listened to many times before so I do have good sources to tune from.