My system sounds like A$$ what am I doing wrong?

[Forty-Ouncer 10+ year member]

Hey guys Ive been having problems with my system ever since I added the Alpine 9813. My system sounds like bum. It distorts real easy, sounds weird.

Now before this deck i had a pioneer deh-5500MP and it sounded kick ass. I mean I could crank it to like volume 50 out of 55(maybe 52?) and it would sound sweet ass with speakers runing from the deck. Now with the alpine I can maybe get it to volume 23 out of 35 but it still sounds weird. The subs are a lot quiter than they were before aswell.

Now I am pretty sure the poor quality in sound is my inability to set up the H/U correctly. But this is a hopeless situation for me. I have started several threads since threads since the summer asking for help setting the EQ curve and x-over settings. But no one will help me. Everyone tells me I have to just spend a day trying it all out. Well I have. Ive spent months just sitting in my car tweaking ever little thing I can and I CANNOT MAKE IT SOUND GOOD NO MATTER WHAT I DO. I am handicapped using this H/U. Yes I have consulted the manual, the manual tells me how to change features but not how to actually use them. for example. It will tell me I can select the bandwidth 1-3, however it does not say what it does, what I should set it to, and so on.

I just really need some people out there to guide me in the right direvction. Honestly I am so frustrated with this thing and am ready to smash it to pieces. Please if you wanna help heres my set up

H/U: Alpine 9813

Fronts: 652i infinity reference series 6.5" 2 ways

Rear: HPC2206 Rockford Fosgate 6.5" 2 ways

Sub Amp: Rockford Fosgate Punch 300S

Subs: 2 Pioneer 10" TS-W255C

I did buy a new amp for my subs so that I could switch the RF to my speakers but thats not gonna happen till I get a new alt and a second battery so for now everything will be runnin off the H/U.

Please any help would be greatly appreciated like I said Ive had shitty sound for like 4 months now I cant take it anymore!!!!

Click to read more...

 

[Shugarra 10+ year member]

I owned a 9815 so I'm just going to assume they are fairly similar.

First and foremost do you have the mx button on? It is my opinion that Alpine artificially muted the sound so they could say they have another super feature. Whether that's true or not you should still have the mx button on all the time. One thing I didn't know for a while is there are 3 different settings for the mx function. I liked the sound best in the factory settings but if you do want to change it just hold down the mx button for 2 seconds and then you can scroll through the options with the volume knob I believe.

The next most important thing you can do is adjust the EQ. Press down the eq button until you see the pre-eq settings. Let go of the button and then press the eq button again and hold it until you see PEQ. This is where you adjust the EQ. To switch through the eq bands you press the same button you use to switch from AM/FM. You can adjust the eq by using the volume knob.

Hope that helps ya out a little bit.

Mike

 

[Jnoble 10+ year member]

I'm sure you've already done this but I would suggest disconnecting everything and rewiring it, maybe even buy knew RCA's. IMO Alpines are the best hus. Unless yours is damaged from shipping or something I've never heard a poor sounding alpine at any setting unless the wires where messed up.

 

[Qckrun 10+ year member]

I'm sure you've already done this but I would suggest disconnecting everything and rewiring it, maybe even buy knew RCA's. IMO Alpines are the best hus. Unless yours is damaged from shipping or something I've never heard a poor sounding alpine at any setting unless the wires where messed up.

I have an Alpine 9813 as u can see from the sig... and yes use the MX function. It makes everything sound alot better. I dont have the problem you have.... as i have cranked up the volume to a near 30 already... and it sounds prefect... maybe cause i have a separte amp runnin them or something but, you may want to disconnect all wires and plug back in.

J Noble... Hey bro u live in Modesto eh? Where in modesto, near Ceres or kinda by the mall? I have some friends that live down there.

 

[Aurorav8 10+ year member]

I only use the MX button for the radio...sounds perfectly fine with a CD in. Sounds like someone just needs to get everything adjusted right.

 

[Jnoble 10+ year member]

I have an Alpine 9813 as u can see from the sig... and yes use the MX function. It makes everything sound alot better. I dont have the problem you have.... as i have cranked up the volume to a near 30 already... and it sounds prefect... maybe cause i have a separte amp runnin them or something but, you may want to disconnect all wires and plug back in.
J Noble... Hey bro u live in Modesto eh? Where in modesto, near Ceres or kinda by the mall? I have some friends that live down there.

Yeah, near Ceres! You know of anything going on around here? I just moved down here from Sac and this place ***** as far as i can tell...

Btw, I just found out today that my MX has multiple settings if you hold down the button too, Yay!! (thanx for the tip whovere that was!) the only reason i went with the 9807 was because i've always had bad luck with motorized faces. I wanted the best alpine i could get with a simple detachable front load cd player. (unfortunatley Kenwood has probably ruined me for the best line of alpines.)

sorry foir the rant, little drunk off the VSOP!!!

peace!

and hell yeah that **** cranks up to 30!! Sounds pretty f'n loud at 23 but i still put it up to 30-33 for the best part!

 

[big_ham]

I have an Alpine 9813 as u can see from the sig... and yes use the MX function. It makes everything sound alot better. I dont have the problem you have.... as i have cranked up the volume to a near 30 already... and it sounds prefect... maybe cause i have a separte amp runnin them or something but, you may want to disconnect all wires and plug back in.
J Noble... Hey bro u live in Modesto eh? Where in modesto, near Ceres or kinda by the mall? I have some friends that live down there.

MX just greatly increases the high and low frequenty at a shallow roll of as that is where most systems lack the most uumph (for lack of a better term). In any well designed system the only adjustments or filters you should need is an EQ. Using sound processing isn't necessary ... except, as Aurorav8 shows, in AM/FM as this is not "pure" sound as is a CD.

However, to have this be true for you, you need to be running an equally clean system with enough headroom, at least 5 bands of EQ (more is ALWAYS better) as well as good RCA's and a solid ground point. If you have only mediocre components you will have only mediocre sound - and as a result, MX may GREATLY improve your listening experience. Just realize it's still far from perfect - it's just better.

People now spend too much money on subs and subamps and not enough on their front stage.

 

[Strecker25 10+ year member]

could the speakers possibly be out of phase? just a thought

 

[brandont 10+ year member]

Your old Pioneer only had 2V preouts, the Alpine has 4V preouts. If the gains are cranked, the amps might be overloaded.

About the EQ, the 1-3 settings are the Q settings. The Q on the EQ bands is the width. A setting of one makes a sharp point, think of a setting of one like you're adjusting just that band itself. If you had a setting of 2 or 3, you will affect frequencies above and below the center frequency you're adjusting.

I have the 9815 as well, it's confusing at first, but unfortunately playing with it is the only way to get it right. Try this, get a piece of paper while you're tuning. Write down what adjustments you're changing. Use them as a reference to fall back on in case you forget something while tuning. One more thing, select one of the factory EQ presets. You can adjust those and save them as one of your user presets. I tried tuning by ear first, then I "modifyed" on of the factory presets, it helped alot.

 

[SirSyko 10+ year member]

I had the 7894, which is pretty similar. To tell you the truth something was messed up with it. The sub didnt play loud enough and the NF level was turned up to 15! The amp was an RF 1000BD and an alpine R 12" The amp gain was also up all the way. I sold that bich on ebay the next week and now have the kenwood. Its perfect. Oh yehh and the MX feature, thats for shitty speakers. If you have good speakers you dont need it on. The more flat your eq is the more realistic your sound will be.

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

This thread is old! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[HawaiianHaole 10+ year member]

First and foremost do you have the mx button on? It is my opinion that Alpine artificially muted the sound so they could say they have another super feature. Whether that's true or not you should still have the mx button on all the time.

I agree, the MX button has to be turned on, becasue without, Alpine has done something to repress some of the sound.

I know all setups are different, but if I turn my Alpine up to 15-16, its almost more than I can take.

 

[eviljin 10+ year member]

The MX boost certain frequencies, depending on the setting, in this case, it is either 1, 2 or 3.

Base on your speakers and amp, try tweaking it this way.....

Fader set to 4 F

MX OFF

Bass Level 5 Type 1 @ 60 or 80

Treble Level 2 @ 12.5

Set all time correction values to 0 (tune this to your preference later).