Wonder if anyone has any ideas..

Fitted new HU at weekend, working a treat however sound quality it 'tinny' i.e sounds like it is in mono.

All speakers are working, and can crank it up loud but it just doesn't sound right. Fiddled with bass and treble but makes little difference.

BTW I have upgraded fronts to infinity 6010's - sounded pretty good on stock HU before..

have you tried running just off the infinitys alone?

if not try that, then run off the standard speakers alone.

Did you use the iso block connector, and is it all connected properly, its worth double checking.

I cannot describe just how bad the standard speakers are..........

Just pulled it all out and checked connections, all looks good.

No ISO block just switched red and yellow.

Just put a cd in to see if it was a bit rate issue with music on Ipod, seems a little better but not as good as I was expecting :thumbdwn:

Radio reception is a bit poo too, will need to get power ariel booster

there is a guide on here somewhere that shows how to connect the wires properly, i forget how, look it up and check yours against it.

disconnect any factory speakers ideally (including rear tweeters in rear doors) as these help ruin the sound if you are running a more powerful stereo (again a guide is on here to do that).

You dont need lots of speakers for good sound, i have component mb quarts up front and some rear standard sized parcel shelf speakers. My factory tweeters in the rear were disconnected and i am happy with my setup.

Ideally if you listen to the radio you want a booster as you stated.

Booster fitted, radio now working properly (£4quid off ebay). however sound is still not to my liking, I can't put finger on it, so I spoke to a nice chap at Alpine and he said it is possible the unit could be faulty but like myself did not think this was the issue.

He did say that people that had gone Alpine said the sound quality difference was like night and day, it is different I will give it that lol... Anyways did say it could be returned if it was not to my liking.

There is not an equalizer on board and just has gain, treble and bass so I think part of it could be down to poor bit rate on my Ipod ( I need to check).

Had a mate sit in yesterday with his I-phone and he was quite impressed at sound quality so it could just be me, but did admit it sounded a bit tinny at low volumes. I'll try some more high quality music through it and see how I get on.

Cheers.

Sounds like it could be out of phase, try swapping the +/- around on the speakers and see if it's any better.

Just been reading re phase- It does sound like a similar effect i.e no bass however I am just using standing ISO connector and it was OK before switching units.

Found few simular posts on web and it points to buying a sub

Think I will pop down to Alpine approved dealer and get their opinion.

yes thats a good idea babs,

the other thing is to check the levels of the onboard hi/lo pass filters to make sure they are not turned down/up in the wrong direction as this can cut all your bass too.

Booster fitted, radio now working properly (£4quid off ebay).

lucky bid? cant find any more that cheap, if there are more do you have a link? thanks.

How did you keep the booster wire in place. Mine was a little loose and I am worried its come off as the radio was a bit poo this morning. Going to take my glove box out to see if it has. I really hope it has otherwise its doing a crap job, lol

I got mine from ebay aswell. I think it was dynamicsound00 or something similar

Have you tried a CD, if so what was the sound like?

What bit rate have you recorded you MP3s in (should be at least 256/AAC).

Just been reading re phase- It does sound like a similar effect i.e no bass however I am just using standing ISO connector and it was OK before switching units.

Found few simular posts on web and it points to buying a sub

Think I will pop down to Alpine approved dealer and get their opinion.

Sometimes it doesn't appear to make any sense! But it couldn't hurt to try it

Have you tried a CD, if so what was the sound like?

What bit rate have you recorded you MP3s in (should be at least 256/AAC).

Most music sounds perfectly acceptable at 128kbps. I've had stuff encoded at that level playing through 10kwatt PAs and sounding fine! Certain genre's don't like the low bit-rate though.

I tend to encode at 196kbps at a minimum.

Most music sounds perfectly acceptable at 128kbps. I've had stuff encoded at that level playing through 10kwatt PAs and sounding fine! Certain genre's don't like the low bit-rate though.

I tend to encode at 196kbps at a minimum.

And thats the key, they sound fine!

Background noise components on a CD is -132 dB, an MP3 encoded to 128bit will keep all of its tones intact, the same as the CD, but the background noise rises to -85 dB. this degradation will be audible. Nevermind the base distortion and artifacts.

Of course this depends on the song being ripped as well!

And thats the key, they sound fine!

Background noise components on a CD is -132 dB, an MP3 encoded to 128bit will keep all of its tones intact, the same as the CD, but the background noise rises to -85 dB. this degradation will be audible. Nevermind the base distortion and artifacts.

Of course this depends on the song being ripped as well!

Mostly, it's the very highs and the very lows that get cut the most in my experience.

I've got a lot of stuff ripped at 320 and lots ripped at 128. I can tell the difference. But between 320 and 192... not really!

Found some old stuff that was converted from at 64kbps WMA to 128kbps MP3, God that sounded terrible!

Mostly, it's the very highs and the very lows that get cut the most in my experience.

I've got a lot of stuff ripped at 320 and lots ripped at 128. I can tell the difference. But between 320 and 192... not really!

Found some old stuff that was converted from at 64kbps WMA to 128kbps MP3, God that sounded terrible!

lol, thats what i call poor quality....64k, your whole album on floppy.

Tend to rip everything to lossless myself. Iv used the daughters IPOD ripped to 192/256 and the difference varies from song to song. Its very much what your willing to put up with.

I'd only use 128 for aeroplanes and gym workouts otherwise it sounds like your listening from a baked bean can.

It also depends on the quality of your speakers

I spent a bit of time playing with the settings on my Alpine today, made the system play a bit more to my liking.

My god the setup in the Octavia is sh##. The slightest hint of bass, and the whole door pulses in time with the music :(