I am surprised my new sound setup doesn't sound better...

[dsc106]

2005 Honda CRV

Alpine ILX207 head unit

Morel Tempo Ultra 602 front speakers (I did tweeters in the door, not on the dash)

STP sound deadening

AD Designs p400.4 mini amplifer under seat, should be plenty of power to drive

left stock rear speakers (they were in the original premium audio package of the car... I know, still stock factory crap even so, just describing)

no sub

But I swear, in my last car (4 door sedan) I did cheaper hertz speakers with no amp and I thought they sounded better from my memory (it's been a while though, perhaps I have gotten pickier listening to my good audio gear at home).

But overall, the sound doesn't seem as rich or detailed, seems compressed in terms of DR, and overall just sounds "OK".

I should add - I do NOT trust the shop that did the install, lots of sketchy behavior. My questions:

1. Is there anything a shop can do in order to achieve upsells in terms of tuning or setting the amplifier to make my system not sound as good?

2. Is there anything I can do in particular in my EQing to fix this? (I have played around with a bunch of settings and seen so improvement, but nothing that wows me)

3. Do I really just need to swap out my rear door speakers, and/or add a subwoofer? I am not sure if that would solve my dissatisfaction with seeming richness, detail, or DR of the speaker setup though

4. I know this is impossible to dissect via online forum, but, is it possible my expectations are just too high for my Morel Tempo Ultra 602 speakers?

5. I hate to ask, but is it possible the shop may have put in lower end speakers than I paid for? I have the box for the Tempo Ultra 602 and it's sad I have to feel this way, but, is it unheard of for a install shop to give you a box but insert a pair of lower end morel speakers?

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[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

It's hard to understand what is lacking here. If it is midbass then the door speaker install should be revisited and prolly Don correctly. (Most low volume shops rarely use deadener or even do high end installs)

If it is just lacking bass then a sub is the quick answer.

Eq and time alignment can fix imaging and harshness and even make up for a lack in mid bass in some cases.

What are your cross overs set at on the amp and the radio.

They should be set at 60ish hertz maybe 80hz if you want your miss to be more protected

 

[Jcsaudio]

Check the basics such as the polarity of the speakers. AudioControl has a good app for this for your phone. Check each tweeter and woofer and stock speaker you have separately. If that is not right you’ll lack bass and sound qaulity. Is the time alignment set right? Is there some weird EQ being used? Could also be a woofer that isn’t sealed to the door too.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

the shop did a godawful install and tune thats it. The equipment is fine. Just the place had zero clue on what they were doing.

I would have called them out on the spot and said, this sounds like sh*t... Fix it.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

Question is do you know what's wrong?

 

[staan]

i'm guessing the "sedan" you had had parcel shelf mounted speakers which will have better bass response than the front and rear door locations your using now in that suv. If i were you i would properly treat the front doors, put the rear doors back to stock power and bridge the 4 channel to the front speakers and add a sub and another amp.

 

[Falco78 10+ year member]

the shop did a godawful install and tune thats it. The equipment is fine. Just the place had zero clue on what they were doing.
I would have called them out on the spot and said, this sounds like sh*t... Fix it.

Clean your inbox man!

 

[mahc 10+ year member]

You should forget the under seat install and go active with a more powerful full size 4 ch amp. Morel speakers need power to shine. Definitely think about getting a nice sub and maybe a dsp down the road.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

no sub

Is probably the biggest problem. My guess is the shop set HPF for the mids up around 80-90hz so you wouldn't blow them up and you're just missing everything below that.

From there it's also possible the locations/aiming of the mids and tweets are poor, in which case some digital processing might help but really the only true answer is dumping a boatload of time or money into custom mounting.

Barring some rookie mistake like wiring a speaker out of phase or something one of or some combination of the above is what's going on.

Also, yes you're probably very spoiled by having a good system in your home where just having a good listening position makes worlds of difference.