Hi,
I recently went to a local car audio installer looking to upgrade my car stereo. I gave them a rough budget and went with what they recommended. I have a brand new 2014 GMC Acadia. They replaced allow of the speakers with JL Audio products and added a JL Audio sub.
Here is what they installed:
JL Audio TR650-CSi up front
iJL Audio TR600-CXi in the back
JL Audio CP106LG-W3v3 sub
JVC KS-AX3205D DRVN Series 5-channel car amplifier 50 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms + 300 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms
We are using speaker level inputs to the amp.
The amp has plenty of power. There is more volume than I really need, and it is very clear and clean sounding even at very high volumes. My problem is I am less than impressed with the overall sound. I would say it is much louder than the factory stereo, and still clear at high volumes, but really does not sound as good as the factory stereo. It certainly sounds better than the factory pioneer stereo in my wifes equinox, but not as good as the bose system in a friends Yukon. I think that just about anyone that listens to it feels the same way. It simply sounds hollow for lack of better words. Maybe the correct term is bright? The highs are screaming loud and the lows are there, but I don't know how to describe this.
When I picked it up it was even worse, but after reading a bit and spending a couple of hours, I was able to get it much better by properly adjusting the crossovers, gains, filters and EQ. Still though, I'm not really sure what to do with it from here. All of the components I have purchased get top notch reviews. Including the inexpensive JVC amplifier which was a big concern for me. They told me they have installed a ton of them and everyone is happy. For me, and for what I wanted to spend, I think the 5 channel JVC seemed like a good fit. There is plenty of power, and I didn't want to get into upsizing all of the wiring in the doors and such.I certainly do not need more power, just better sound. I told them I would pay the extra for the JL 5 channel amp, but 75 watts/ chan seemed like more power than I needed and they steered me away.
What do you think? Do you think it is the amp? Could I have gone with the bigger better amp and simply tuned the thing down by keeping the gains low? All I wanted was BETTER sound and a LITTLE louder than the factory stereo. If I knew what the end result was going to be, I would have kept the factory system . I just don't know where to go from here because I'm annoyed every time I get into my brand new vehicle.
Any advice you have to offer would be greatly greatly appreciated!
Thanks for listening.
Matt
