Why does my new car stereo sound so crappy?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Paradiddle, Aug 1, 2012.

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  1. Paradiddle

    Paradiddle Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Recently I replaced the factory radio in our 2002 Honda Civic with a new Kenwood KDC-52 CD player/stereo receiver so we could have an Aux input to plug my iPhone/iPod into. I figured that any "upgrade" in car stereo equipment would sound better than the factory-installed radio. Well, it's been a few weeks now and I'm pretty sure that the sound is WORSE than the factory radio. iPod (with SendStation digital out pocket dock), iPhone, CD, it doesn't matter what the source is, they all sound equally crappy (muddy mids and highs, no clarity or instrument separation, etc.). I've tried fiddling with the settings and haven't been able to get much improvement. Perhaps I just can't remember that the factory radio was also crappy, but after 5+ years of driving and listening to a lot of music in that car I trust my instincts. Is there any reason why a factory-installed car stereo would sound better than an after-market brand? I know the model I chose is the bottom of the line (I'm just not a firm believer in spending a lot of dough on our car stereo), but I didn't think the sound could possibly be worse than the factory one. What am I missing here? Would a different stereo be more revealing of the quality of the factory-installed speakers (which are still in there)? Am I going to have to replace those, as well? Ugh...
     
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  2. woody

    woody Forum Resident

    Location:
    charleston, sc
    Some car stereos have a built in equalization to attempt to overcome the inherent inadequacies of the small car speakers. That would probably be unlikely on an '02 Civic, unless maybe it had an upgraded factory stereo. You might try searching for the factory radio model and seeing if that might be the case. It could be your new head unit is less powerful than the stock unit but that seems unlikely.

    There will be an improvement replacing with new speakers, especially if you can find some efficient speakers.
     
  3. quadjoe

    quadjoe Senior Member

    I think that sometimes the factory radios and speakers are designed to work together for "optimal" sound from that system, and changing the head unit may require you to change the speakers as well, I'm sorry to say. I have a 2007 VW Passat with the Dynaudio sound system, and it is the best I've ever heard in a car (I would guess the Mark Levinson systems that come in high-end cars would trounce it, but I've never heard one.)

    Years ago, my wife and I purchased a 1992 Chevrolet Caprice Classic which had the Delco Bose audio system in it, which, in spite of what people on this forum usually say about Bose, sounded really good (best I had heard to that time.) We had the car for 12 years (it was a really, really reliable car, believe it or not) and after about 7 years the Bose head unit quit working. The Chevy dealer wanted $1200 dollars to replace it, and the service tech told me that the way the Bose system was made, that it was impossible to determine if the head unit was the problem or the speakers. If we also had to replace the speakers, that would be another $1200! So, we replaced the Bose unit and speakers with an Alpine head unit, and Rockford Fosgate speakers which killed the sound of the Bose. Sorry for the length of the post, but the short answer is that you may need to replace the speakers to get the optimal sound from your after-market receiver. It is also possible that it just isn't a very good one, sometimes you do get what you pay for.
     
  4. evad

    evad Well-Known Member

    Location:
    .
    Did you check out the reviews on the web? See if others have the same feedback.

    Post a link to the unit if you don't mind.
     
  5. Taurus

    Taurus Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, Texas
    :thumbsup:
     
  6. duse

    duse Senior Member

    Location:
    SC
    I had a 2001 Tundra which probably had the best stock system I have owned. Then bought a 2007 Tundra and could not stand it. I purchased a pair of 6 1/2 Polk speakers and a two channel Rockford Fosgate amp installed and have been very pleased. The stock speakers in the Tundra were actually paper. I spend enough time in my vehicle that I want at least sound that does not make me want to get out of the truck. I now have it. Sad that you may have to replace more, but at least you'll not cringe when you get in the car. Alpine used to make Honda stereos, but I think those days are over.
     
  7. Digital-G

    Digital-G Senior Member

    Location:
    Dayton, OH
    It's been my experience that changing the speakers and adding an amp will give much better results than simply changing the head unit. If you went with a bottom of the line aftermarket model then your change was more-or-less lateral in terms of sound quality (i.e. you really didn't upgrade the sound, only the features).

    Specifically, I would guess that the unit is underpowered, delivering 10-15 watts or less. I would add an amplifier before I invested in speakers. Chances are it will sound better than what you started with.

    For the record I had a mid 90's Civic and can attest that the sound system was abysmal. The Accord was leaps and bounds better.
     
  8. Paradiddle

    Paradiddle Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Here it is: http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainment/In-Dash_CD_n_DVD_Receivers/1-DIN_CD_Receiver/KDC-152

    Thanks for all the feedback. I was indeed wondering if the factory radio and factory speakers were "optimized" to work well together. At least the car audio shop is within walking distance of my house...maybe I can fit new speakers into the budget in the next few months.
     
    Civicsounds likes this.
  9. tribby2001

    tribby2001 Forum Resident

    You will most likely get the most bang by replacing the stock speakers.
     
  10. duse

    duse Senior Member

    Location:
    SC
    It is extremely easy to put speakers in your car yourself, especially a Civic, where you will have plenty of online resources available to you. I had an '89 CRX, and there were two screws to take the speaker covers off. On the Tundra, I had to take the entire door panel off, but it was not that difficult. Wiring an amp is a different thing. I had a shop do that for me because I was not that comfortable. It probably was not that difficult, but I decided against it. Bottom line, you might be able to purchase some better speakers if you don't have to pay the labor to do it. Good Luck!!
     
  11. evad

    evad Well-Known Member

    Location:
    .
    You may just want to put the original unit back in and use a cassette jack for the iPod, etc. My car's sound system sounds fantastic but does not have an Aux input - so I am using a cassette jack. Not the most convenient, but the sound is fantastic for the car. :hide:
     
  12. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    Also it depends of the car - some cars just have better acoustics, usually the bigger ones. The materials of the interior are also important - if you are surrounded exclusively with plastic, you can hardly expect some audio heaven. Long time ago I had a very old Mercedes, manifactured 1968, very simple and spacious interior, mainly leather, wood and metal (and glass of course, one of the main reasons hi-end sound to be impossible in a car - too many glass everywhere), and very ordinary cassette player with just two rear speakers - the sound was very acceptable for a car, it sounded very natural (still far from a real hi-end sound of course, but miles ahead from the sound of all plastic cars I had since then)
     
  13. Doug Sclar

    Doug Sclar Forum Legend

    Location:
    The OC
    I used to build my own car stereos and amplifiers which were very advanced for their time. This was in the 70s and early 80s.

    Since those days I've gone with factory stereo uints and even bought my last 2 vehicles based upon the audio systems that they came with. At this point in my life I prefer having something I don't have to futz with.

    My Lexus does indeed have the Mark Levinson system and I run a Squeezebox system in there. It sounds pretty good. I took it to a stereo shop (Al & Ed's) to have them install some 12v outlets, one under the passenger seat and the other in the trunk.

    They told me that they weren't impressed and could put a much better system in my car, if I was interested. I passed. Ironically they didn't even listen to it. I only took it to them to have the outlets professionally installed so I didn't have to do it myself.

    I'm pretty sure they might have meant a system that could play much louder. I really doubt that many after market system will outperform the Levinson system, mainly because the system design was integrated with the design of the cabin.

    My 97 Dodge Grand Caravan has a pretty good factory Infinity system as well. It was also a premium system, but I knew it was a keeper after only a few seconds of listening to it. That both shocked and delighted the salesman. He couldn't believe somebody would buy a car largely because of the sound system, and that I could make that determination that quickly. :laugh:

    The only problem I had with it was that it didn't have aux inputs. That wasn't such a big problem in Dec 1996. When I got my portable XM radio, a few years later, I used a cassete adapter. The fact that it was a non ideal interface was workable since the sound quality of XM was poor regardless.

    That said, I did eventually decide to replace the dash unit with a Pioneer DEH700B, perhaps 5 years ago. The darn thing was under $200, and for another $80 I got an XM module which sat under my seat. That module also has another set of aux inputs on it, in additional to a set on the back of the in dash chasis. That allows me to easily connect a SB system, or whatever, to that system with no wires hanging out of the dash unit, which is a nice bonus. I also have an 1/8" aux input for my phone or whatever.

    The thing actually sounds about the same as the factory system, but I'm pretty sure it's using the car's internal amplifier system. I know very little about how the system is configured, and I'm just fine with that. I paid Best Buy $100.00 to do the installation and they gave me a lifetime warrantee on the job. That means if I ever have any problem, they will do all the labor for free. I'll hold them to that and couldn't pass up a deal like that.

    Even though the Pioneer has low level outputs, they installed it using it's speaker outputs. I asked the kid installer about that and he said that's the only way they could retrofit it, as that is how the other unit was wired. I'm a bit confused as to why the original designer would have ran high level speaker outputs if they were going to feed amplifiers. All I know is that it sounds pretty good for what it is.

    Btw, the Pioneer did fail a few months after I got it. It would go into some type of protection shutdown, usually when it was hot, and would bounce on and off. It was very annoying, and if I turned the volume down I could find a place where it would still work. I had bought it online, and not at Best Buy. I bought another one and Best Buy had to replace it for free, as that was the terms of their installation. If anybody ever touched their work, the warantee was voided.

    This one has been fine, but it has also done that 'bouncing' a few times but very rarely. I'm still thinking it does that if it gets too hot. Anyhow, it's rarely as much of a problem as it was with the first one.
     
  14. acdc7369

    acdc7369 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    the stereo in my car is a joke
     
  15. Ere

    Ere Senior Member

    Location:
    The Silver Spring
    If you check you might find the factory speaker cones are made of cardboard. Those in my 06 Element were.
     
  16. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I'm also a big fan of the Mark Levinson system, Doug. I had them in two different Lexuses over the years, an LS-430 and an LX-470. Surprisingly good sound for a factory stereo system.

    If they're still in business... :sigh:

    I agree with the others above that some sneaky OEM stereos have built-in EQ to try to optimize them for a certain kind of crappy speakers. Once you replace the head end, the speakers no longer get that EQ, and they'll sound thin and weird. That happened to me once, and I replaced the door speakers with some modest-priced Infinitys, and I was very pleased with the results.
     
  17. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    Once you upgrade the speakers, you won't believe how much better your stereo will sound. When you see the factory speakers after they're removed, you'll see why.
     
  18. My 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE has a JBL-equipped CD/AM-FM/DVD system that sounds like a dream...best sound I've ever had in ANY car I've ever owned. Cost me a pretty penny to include it, but I expect to hang on to this baby for at least 10 years, so..:winkgrin:
     
  19. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    Pretty happy with my Bose Studio on Wheels in my Infiniti with CF player, connection for an iPod player, hard drive, 6 disc changer, 10-speakers with Burr Brown Digital Audio Converters.
     
  20. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    'cause you got a crappy stereo?
     
  21. vinylkid58

    vinylkid58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Victoria, B.C.
    Exactly! The stock radio probably cost more to manufacture.:shh:

    jeff
     
  22. Gary Freed

    Gary Freed Forum Resident

    The early 2000's were great years for the Eclipse Fujitsu-10 Line. Honda pretty much had an exclusive with Eclipse for all their OEM car audio. If you researched it, most Honda Radios were also set up to take an AUX from behind the dash board. All you need is a cable and an adapter interface that fits the radios AUX; Todays aftermarket car audios are more about features than sound until you get into the above $500 range for just the head unit.

    To get the best sound out of any aftermarket head unit you should also look into an external amplifier as others have commented.

    The head units that I use do not have a built in amplifier, just a preamp.
     
  23. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    I was surprised to find out that to replace my 2005 Camry's "stock" stereo involved $450., and exchanging the broken one for a "refurbished" one.
    I ended up just ordering a stereo from Crutchfield, and having Best Buy install it. I am happy with it.
     
  24. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    And I have the JBL upgraded sound system in my Toyota Prius, and it's the worst car stereo I've ever heard. So there you go.

    One thing I believe is true: car manufacturers have gone out of their way to make it as difficult as possible to replace the in-dash stereo, particularly by relegating so many controls (air conditioning, security, GPS, etc.) into the on-screen display. It was bad enough in the 1970s and 1980s... it's damn near impossible today to replace the in-dash stereos in many mass-market cars.
     
  25. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Many Volvos have Dynaudio speakers and stout amplifiers in them. And sound really great. While my old 960 head unit went fluttery on the cassette, the replacement Sony head unit is superb.
     
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