Wifes car stereo could sound better

[iowabucks]

Hey everyone, my wife has an 05 Grand Am and i replaced all the stock stereo equipment a few years ago with decent but not top notch stuff. It has a Sony CDX-GT510 hu, Kenwood KFC-6960ie 6X9's in the rear deck and KFC-1080ie 4" door speakers.

First thing i did was go over all the EQ settings with the manual and couldn't find anything new there.

It doesn't sound too bad but i have always thought it should be better. If you fade/balance to one speaker at a time, i think it sounds terrible, all of them. But all 4 terrible speakers at once sounds acceptable. I got it from Crutchfield so i got the harness for the car. I soldered all the connections and used heat shrink everywhere. I have tore the car apart today to physically verify pos/neg connections to make sure they were not out of phase and everything is in line there.

I was laying in the trunk (no small feat for me @ 6'3" and 250lbs) and i noticed that (while unconnected) from both the positive and negative speaker wires it was showing power. Should i be seeing 12v on the negative wire too? Well, it was actually a test light and it lit up when i grounded both wires seperately. I know the basics about wiring but thats about it.

Why would one speaker at a time sound so weak with almost no range?

Hopefully i can figure out if it's just a lousy stereo or if there is something keeping it from reaching it's potential.

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[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

We need more info. "It sounds terrible" could refer to install quality, component quality, faulty wiring/signal chain, a lack of sound deadening, etc etc.

My first thought is, it needs an external amp to really gain the advantage of your aftermarket speakers. Right now the system probably distorts badly at medium to high output, and 90% of this distortion is coming from the crappy little amplifier inside the deck. But this is merely a guess, like I said, we haven't really been given enough info to give much good advice here.

I have no idea what wires you are referring to checking in the trunk. Speaker wires going to the rears? If so, they will reverse polarity many times a second, which should answer your question.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

a test light can read a signal on both wires since both positive and negative have a signal - just out of phase - just like bridging an amp. it's how they were able to boost the output power of the head unit.

you have two things working against you - the head unit amp and the speakers. nothing is really that great, but not everyone can afford a few grand for a stereo.

the reason more sounds better is that you get more volume with less power. the head unit has a ton of distortion just in the amplification. i have never been happy with speaker powered from a head unit, the distortion is very audible.

you will be limited with how much better you can make the system without an external amp. i agree with the above, external amplification is probably your best next move.

 

[Skittles619 10+ year member]

Agreed on the 4 chan amp making a HUGE diff in SQ.

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Yup, external amp is gonna be needed. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[Vossy 10+ year member]

+1 for external amp

 

[Johnny Law.Lulz 5,000+ posts]

We need more info. "It sounds terrible" could refer to install quality, component quality, faulty wiring/signal chain, a lack of sound deadening, etc etc.
My first thought is, it needs an external amp to really gain the advantage of your aftermarket speakers. Right now the system probably distorts badly at medium to high output, and 90% of this distortion is coming from the crappy little amplifier inside the deck. But this is merely a guess, like I said, we haven't really been given enough info to give much good advice here.

I have no idea what wires you are referring to checking in the trunk. Speaker wires going to the rears? If so, they will reverse polarity many times a second, which should answer your question.

Yes.

a test light can read a signal on both wires since both positive and negative have a signal - just out of phase - just like bridging an amp. it's how they were able to boost the output power of the head unit.
you have two things working against you - the head unit amp and the speakers. nothing is really that great, but not everyone can afford a few grand for a stereo.

the reason more sounds better is that you get more volume with less power. the head unit has a ton of distortion just in the amplification. i have never been happy with speaker powered from a head unit, the distortion is very audible.

you will be limited with how much better you can make the system without an external amp. i agree with the above, external amplification is probably your best next move.

Yes.

Agreed on the 4 chan amp making a HUGE diff in SQ.

Yes.

Yup, external amp is gonna be needed. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Yes.

+1 for external amp

Yes.