New stereo - Poor sound quality

[W.O.P.R]

Hi all,

I have just fitted a new stereo to my 2001 skoda elegance 1.9tdi to replace the standard symphony stereo that was in it before. I ordered a Sony XAV-62BT but received a JVC KW-AVX740 (no stock on the sony apparently) so I said I'd try the JVC anyway and see how it goes....

The stereo itself doesn't seem to bad however the first thing I have noticed is the sound quality doesn't seem as good as the standard stereo which I find a little disappointing when you have paid £300+ for a head unit. The other thing is the FM Radio reception is not very good even though the standard one was fine.

Are these common issues or do you guys think the Sony would be a better option? Are the speakers in these cars designed only to work well with the factory head units or...? I don't really want to take the option of replacing all the speakers too.

Any advice would be well appreciated guys.

Dale.

[mbames]

For the radio reception side, you will need a power injector to supply power to the amplifier in the base of the aerial. The standard HU does this automatically.

Most people saying changing the HU makes a marked difference even with stock speakers. Therefore I would suggest that maybe the alternative HU you were supplied is a bit naff...

A quick win can be to disconnect the tweakers in the rear doors.

[pauldazzle]

Stock speakers are not great but ok. As mbames says disconnecting the rear tweeters helps things a bit. Ariel booster from Halfrauds etc should sort the reception issue out

Out of the box your JVC EQ will be set flat so it's worth having a play around with the EQ settings, & if it has a loudness setting turn it on. When I bought my VRS it had a Sony Xplod HU that I've got to say was the worst sounding piece of junk I've ever heard. I'm a sound engineer, & no matter what I tried EQ wise on the Sony it was horrid. I replaced it with a Pioneer DEH55BT which sounded great. Oddly though the Sony HU in my Mondeo ST TDCI sounds very good!

Edited 19 August, 2011 by pauldazzle

[W.O.P.R]

Cheers for the replies guys,

Since I typed my post I have since tried using some 320K MP3's on a flash drive and had a play with the EQ and I have got it to sound ok now, your probably right about the tweeters though as it does did sound very 'top endy'. I've done bits of sound work in the past in radio studios etc and have a very fine ear which is why I noticed the difference so much straight away. The other thing that is a problem is audio over bluetooth on an iPhone4 is just horrible so that feature is useless straight away so it'll be the Aux In for Spotify.

mblames, you mention a power injector for the aerial amp, does this mean that the stock head units provide a power feed straight down antenna cable or is there a separate power cable on the wiring loom that is not connected to the new head unit?

Thanks guys, quality forum I love my Skoda apart from the limp home issue which I don't know how to solve yet but apart from that!

[mbames]

mblames, you mention a power injector for the aerial amp, does this mean that the stock head units provide a power feed straight down antenna cable or is there a separate power cable on the wiring loom that is not connected to the new head unit?

The standard HU had a built in power injector, so when you switch away from the Skoda HU, you will need place one of these units inline, between the new HU and the aerial cable running to the back of the car.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&sugexp=eppshb&cp=18&gs_id=1u&xhr=t&q=vag+aerial+booster&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1153&bih=796&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3912752019005255333&sa=X&ei=tXpPTqD1LYnOhAfMnYzZBg&sqi=2&ved=0CHkQ8wIwBg

I attached the blue power cable from it to the "electric" aerial feed from the HU, so it is only powered when the stereo is actually on.

[rk696]

You can also cut a bit of foam out behind the front speakers to let the speakers 'breathe' a bit better. As they are at the minute, there is hardly any air space behind the cone, so the speaker can't produce much bass. Cut out a bit of the foam lining behind it, and it can use the whole door as an enclosure. Sounds a lot better.

[Oet]

change the speakers, they are paper and chea as chips, better speakers will help and are a requirement imo (i do like a nice stereo setup :p)

[W.O.P.R]

Cheers again guys,

I have managed to get it to sound ok now and have ordered the inline aerial power injector so we'll see how that goes. Does anyone know the speaker sizes in the front and rear? I think I may end up changing them...also any recommendations? In my last car I had JBL which were quite good.

DC

[snow_muncher]

As Oet states, its the paper speakers which are naff, not the headunit.

Considering the cost of your JVC HU, I'd be thinking of something like the Focal 165A1 might be good starting point.

The best advice is really to try to buy with your ears - find a decent retailer who has good range within your budget (not always easy).

The other thing you should invest in, is some sound deadening and removing the plastic liner on the doors so the sound can port into the door cavity

[VRS Mike]

I bought an aerial booster off of eBay for like £5 and its awesome. As said the stock speakers are GASH, I've replace all mine and added a 12" sub and am finally happy with the sound quality. The stock speakers offer no bass at all, you end up turning them up too loud to try and get some and then it sounds even worse.

My whole system cost about £270 and sounds good to me

£120 Alpine head unit

£30 front speakers

£20 back speakers

£100 12" active sub and install kit