im new here, some question on my system..

[hitthelights23]

hey everyone. im new here and pretty new to the whole car audio thing-so cut me some slack if my questions are very noobish or obvious.

anyways i drive an 04 vw gti and just had my first system installed.

i have;

2 10" JLw3 subs

a JL 500/1 amp running the subs

4 clif design component speakers with a 4 channel clif design amp running those.

a pioneer 770 head unit

anyways, im having a few problems so far and thats where i hope you guys can come in..

1)whenever my system is on i am getting a lot of engine noise-its a very high pitch squeeling sound (very annoying) and it gets louder the higher the engine revs.

2)im having a hard time trying to get vocals and guitar leads to sound through clearly. they arent cutting much at all. i am running my subs VERY low and this is still the problem. the snare on the drums also is very weak sounding. being a musician, i have tried tweaking the eq extensively but cant seem to nail it.

3) i would like the system to sound good even with the subs off. when the subs are turned off everything is extremely tinny and thin sounding (assumably because there is zero bass coming through the speakers)..i think there is a way to direct some bass through speakers aswell on the back of my clif designs amp..anyone know what this feature is called?

anyways, thanks in advance for help

-josh

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[Slammed 5,000+ posts]

for noise......check your wiring

Perhaps your RCAs are at fault...also check your grounds

Dont only check your trunk area, examine behind the cd unit

As far as the speakers sounding bad...you might need another amp to push them. Another idea is purchasing an active crossover //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[hitthelights23]

for noise......check your wiring
Perhaps your RCAs are at fault...also check your grounds

Dont only check your trunk area, examine behind the cd unit

As far as the speakers sounding bad...you might need another amp to push them. Another idea is purchasing an active crossover //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

thanks. i did get a noise surpressor installed which helps a lot but there is still a noticeable noice when the volume is low on the head unit.

its also not that the speakers sound bad..they just are very shrill sounding even with the highs dialed in very low. my main problem is getting the vocals to cut..they sound very low in the mix when listening to cds

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

hey everyone. im new here and pretty new to the whole car audio thing-so cut me some slack if my questions are very noobish or obvious.anyways i drive an 04 vw gti and just had my first system installed.

Who installed it, if you don't mind saying?

i have;
2 10" JLw3 subs

a JL 500/1 amp running the subs

4 clif design component speakers with a 4 channel clif design amp running those.

a pioneer 770 head unit

I know next to nothing about Clif Design's gear but the 770 and the JL equipment were nice choices. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

anyways, im having a few problems so far and thats where i hope you guys can come in..1)whenever my system is on i am getting a lot of engine noise-its a very high pitch squeeling sound (very annoying) and it gets louder the higher the engine revs.

Normally this is indicative of poor ground connections somewhere. It could be at the amplifier, at the head unit (or both), it could be lots of things, actually - but generally indicative of a bad ground somewhere.

2)im having a hard time trying to get vocals and guitar leads to sound through clearly. they arent cutting much at all. i am running my subs VERY low and this is still the problem. the snare on the drums also is very weak sounding. being a musician, i have tried tweaking the eq extensively but cant seem to nail it.3) i would like the system to sound good even with the subs off. when the subs are turned off everything is extremely tinny and thin sounding (assumably because there is zero bass coming through the speakers)..i think there is a way to direct some bass through speakers aswell on the back of my clif designs amp..anyone know what this feature is called?

At a guess I would say that these issues are due to an improper crossover setting on the amp and/or on the HU (does the 770 have built-in crossovers? I don't know...) Just a first impression after reading this post makes me want to think that a high-pass crossover somewhere is set TOO high and isn't allowing any midrange or midbass through to your components.
A low-pass crossover allows only low frequencies to pass through sending only frequencies BELOW the tuning point to be passed along to whatever speakers are connected behind it. A high-pass crossover does the opposite - it allows only frequencies ABOVE to tuning point to be passed along to whatever speakers are connected behind it. To me it sounds as if a HP crossover is set too high which would result in your getting a tinny, less-than-full sound being passed along to your components.

 

[hitthelights23]

thanks prowler!

i got it installed at a local place named hw motorsport..its is a crappy place but at least i got a good deal. i will defiantely need to check over the wiring i think or have someone check it over as they dont seem like the most honest guys in the world.

that was some good info about the high-pass and i will have to look into that one a lot more.

would the engine noise definately be wiring related? if so im gonna make a scene at that place and demand they go back a rewire everything.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

would the engine noise definately be wiring related? if so im gonna make a scene at that place and demand they go back a rewire everything.

If there wasn't noticeable inducted noise prior to having HW Motorsports do whatever it is that they did and now it's there I would say it's pretty unlikely that it could be anything OTHER than a wiring-related issue. I say thumbs-DOWN to them for not tracing the problem down and correcting it before you were given your vehicle back after the work was performed.
In my previous post I said that the noise issue is NORMALLY indicative of a faulty ground connection. More often than not this will hold true ~ but not always. I fought bad alternator whine in an '87 Crown Victoria I had once. Grounded, re-grounded, and re-grounded again everything in my setup to no avail. The culprits ended up being RCA interconnects with bad ends on them (they were Wal-Mart generic equivilents) After those were replaced with some better interconnects my noise problems immediately ceased.

On a brand-new install, however, my first guess would still be a poor ground somewhere.

Good luck getting it sorted //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsup.gif.3287b36ca96645a13a43aff531f37f02.gif

 

[hitthelights23]

If there wasn't noticeable inducted noise prior to having HW Motorsports do whatever it is that they did and now it's there I would say it's pretty unlikely that it could be anything OTHER than a wiring-related issue. I say thumbs-DOWN to them for not tracing the problem down and correcting it before you were given your vehicle back after the work was performed.
In my previous post I said that the noise issue is NORMALLY indicative of a faulty ground connection. More often than not this will hold true ~ but not always. I fought bad alternator whine in an '87 Crown Victoria I had once. Grounded, re-grounded, and re-grounded again everything in my setup to no avail. The culprits ended up being RCA interconnects with bad ends on them (they were Wal-Mart generic equivilents) After those were replaced with some better interconnects my noise problems immediately ceased.

On a brand-new install, however, my first guess would still be a poor ground somewhere.

Good luck getting it sorted //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsup.gif.3287b36ca96645a13a43aff531f37f02.gif

thanks again for the help! im gonna have a nice old rant with them this weekend..should be fun!