So disappointed

[joebobjones]

My wife had a 2000 Lexus Rx300 which had an outstanding sound system (better than even the Mark Levinsons that are in their current vehicles). The 5 inch sub mounted under the passenger seat was just awesome, once I found the sweet spot in the head unit's base setting. To make a long story short, she recently traded it in and I was forced into the world of having an after market system put in my 2013 Altima because I just couldn't stand to go back to the hum drum world of factory stereos (excepting her RX300). I had an Audison Bit Ten installed, Hertz HDP5 amp, Hybrid Audio Legatia six inch midranges and one inch tweeters, and two six inch Hybrid Audio Imagine subs mounted under the front seats. It sounds awful. The female vocals are harsh, the kick and tom drums have no thump to them, and there's just a general lack of richness in the music. It's so bad that I actually find myself turning the volume down, which is unheard of for me. My wife hears the exact same defects, so it's not just me.

My question is, does this sound like something that could be fixed with a DSP adjustment? I can't believe all those high end speakers could sound this bad on their own. Any thoughts would be appreciated. By the way, I had this system installed by a reputable dealer that does installs for high end cars. I've even seen pics of Lamborghini's in their shop, so I have to assume they know what they're doing.

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[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Does the shop know you're not happy?

 

[dbjunior 10+ year member]

Sounds like phase issues on tweets and mids the rest should be timetable but might not be needed after the phase corrections. Just swap the positive and negative on one mid this should fix the midbass and midrange if not most likely need door treatments. Doing the same with one of the tweets should help on harshness as well.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Improper DSP tuning is the number 1 suspect, you'll need to play with an RTA and get everything tuned in properly.

How are the driver placements? Did you do any accoustical treatments to the doors? You need to realize that even though its old, lexus vehicles sound deaden their cars well because they are a higher end luxury car. Altimas are not as solid. Vehicle acoustics play a big role in sound quality too so in order for you to achieve that same warmness you'll need to acoustically treat the doors, layer the interior with CLD and MLV, especially the roof to control the highs.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. By the way, I had this system installed by a reputable dealer that does installs for high end cars. I've even seen pics of Lamborghini's in their shop, so I have to assume they know what they're doing.

even on the ghetto side of town, there are dealers with pics of lambos, ferraris and skylines, they just rent the car for a day for publicity purposes. But yeah man tell them to do a better job with tuning, sounds like they just threw it all in there, made sure it works and gave you back the car. Without proper tuning which takes around 4-8 hours.

 

[joebobjones]

Trumpet, not yet. I'm supposed to take it back in for a DSP retune after the break in period. I'm just wondering what kind of improvements I can expect.

 

[joebobjones]

Jeffdachef, thanks. They did put sound deadening material in the doors, but nothing else. The midranges are in the front doors, and the tweets are in the corners of the dash (facing upwards towards the windshield). I was afraid somebody was going to tell me that the Altima interior was probably inferior to the Lexus //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Hopefully the DSP retune will improve a lot. I'll discuss with them how much time and effort they're going to put into it. Thanks.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

If the DSP retune wont get rid of the harsh vocals with the heavy SSSS sounds, you might need to change the position of the tweeters to either on axis or off axis because as of now, the tweets are bouncing off the windshield and that can cause some peaks

 

[joebobjones]

If the DSP retune wont get rid of the harsh vocals with the heavy SSSS sounds, you might need to change the position of the tweeters to either on axis or off axis because as of now, the tweets are bouncing off the windshield and that can cause some peaks

And that's exactly what it's doing (among other things). I'll keep that in mind when I talk to them.