So I took the plunge as I plan to keep the car for a while.

I have had fitted:-

Alpine 9853R head unit

Front DLS 6.5 Components

Rear DLS 6.5 Coaxials

In my shiny new, blue, Octy vRS.

The headunit is nice and shiny with lots of toys and I think this is probably where the problems start. There are just so many things to set e.g. crossover, time correction, Media Expander to name but a few.

Having spent the money I am not entirely convinced that the sound is all that it should be. :confused:

So I guess my question is does anyone else have experience of this head unit or of ICE upgrades in the new Octy?

All suggestions gratefully received.

Any pictures of the HU in situ?

I'm planning to upgrade the ICE in my Octy II - starting with the speakers. I have yet to work out how to remove the door panels (not the same as the old model).

I don't have experience of this HU but what do you think is wrong with the sound? I'd recommend playing with each setting one at a time to see what effect it as until you are happy.

The time correction allows you to correct for the fact that the passenger side speakers are further from you - it essence it should make the sound stage clearer. The crossover settings will depend on how your components are wired - do they have their own crossover network? The Media Expander is is just a signal processor which is meant to improve the sound of compressed (MP3) media.

Best to set up the crossovers first, then the time correction and then play with the graphic equaliziers / bass focus. It's a case of "plug & play".

For my old, jaded ears it sounds very hollow and there is way too much high frequency stuff going on.

If you like a will send you piccies of the install. I believe it uses an Autoleads fascia adaptor plus canbus and aerial adaptors. The fascia adaptor gives you 2 DIN apertures to choose from.

I have gone through as you suggest but still end up with this bizarre hollow sound that is not massively different from the standard head unit.

I shall try further but fear I may end up talking to the supplying company.

One possibility is that one or more of the speakers are wired out of phase i.e. the + and - connections are swapped. This will cause a lack of bass and generally crap sound.

I wouldn't mind seeing some piccies in case I decide to change my HU (standard fit Stream) - the lack of MP3 capability is annoying... I wasn't going to pay for the upgraded system.

I had a little play at lunchtime with an assistant. There is plenty of bass.

The problem area seems to be the mid frequency band.

My guess is as it still comes from the mid bass to the side of the seat but is more directional it doesn't like the fact that it is firing almost into the side of my leg/seat. I have spoke to the dealer and if I contact him on monday he will ring Alpine for help.

I was wondering if anyone else has gone down the upgrade route on the new Octy?

How have you got the head unit set up?

Do you have the DSO function on that model , and is it switched off? It made the sound really bad when I enabled it on my Sony

Hi Alex,

I'm not sure what DSO is?

I can play with crossover stuff but I am not sure why as both speakers are full range. I have a choice of 5 band parametric equaliser or 7 band graphic equaliser, currently using graphic. I have something called Media Xpander which makes vocals or instruments sound distinct. I can do time correction for speaker distances.

All in all more toys than Fisher Price.

It might not have DSO on that model , but it sounds like the Xpander is the same thing.

Do you have separate bass and treble as well as the 7 band eq?

Personally I'd leave the media Xpander off , likewise with the time correction but make sure the loudness is on.

The crossover frequencies are only useful if you are running a separate sub so make sure the HPF and LPF are both turned off.

Set the 7 band eq to do a V shape with the deepest Bass at about +4 , highest treble frequency at +3 and the centre band at about -2 with the others set accordingly to make the V if you follow me.

If you have the traditional bass and treble as well then knock each one up one notch.

Thats a pretty decent place to start and you can then fine tune things a bit using the EQ.

My Sony MP80 sounds great when set up correctly but appalling if you have the wrong settings and the digital processing features really degrade the quality.

Thanks for the advice. Looked up your Sony. It looks as though DSO is similar to Media Xpander.

I have drawn further conclusions as well. If I set it up for just me and then add a passenger the sound changes drastically. Methinks speaker placing is a bit poor. What I may end up doing is having 2 EQ settings one for me and one for me and guests. I may also investigate a sub but not really my cup of tea.

I will also see what Alpine/dealer come up with.

The info back from the dealer/Alpine is that if I am struggling they could let me have another head unit for an additional 50 quid that is easier to setup.

That went down well!

Unfortunately I'm still struggling.

However not struggling any more. Standard headunit replaced by dealer and money refunded less a smallish fitting charge.

They actually took back most of the bits as well but that leaves me with an Autoleads fascia adaptor.

Offers please!!!

Dude...

The standard speaker setup from manufacturers include drivers that tend to move more air than any after market brand, i.e., the coaxial woofers. If you will have noticed, the standard setup will have infact sounded better in low freq range than the after market units...

If you want your system to sound great, your gonna need to fit a small sub in the back. After market speakers alone just don't give out enough bass, regardless the specs.