I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

[jonboy74]

Hi.

I have had my Roadster for a couple of months now, I bought it with an aftermarket head unit (SONY CDX-RA650) , infinity speakers in the doors and a small alpine active sub behind the passenger seat (SWD-1600).
It sounds terrible, to the point that it never gets used (no sound quality at all). I have to say in all honesty, it's the worst sounding setup i've ever heard in a car.
I really need to get it sorted out, but I am a bit clueless on what to do, so I was hoping someone could reccomend a person/company not too far away from me to have a look at what can be done about it.
I would prefer a passive sub (every active one I've heard doesn't sound nice at all) and good sound quality at low to mid volume.
I would prefer to keep the cost realistic. I do not want something that will make my ears bleed, just something that will be a joy to listen to.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

John

[Gavin]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

Doesn't sound like a bad system, probably just needs tweaking and setting up properly.

[jonboy74]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

I thought that when I bought the car (I paid extra for the ICE to be left in). I should have listened to it beforehand though (DOH!)

John

[RichG]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

The components sound fine, go and have a sit down in the car, write down all the settings and post them up

[jonboy74]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

I sat down for about an hour one day trying to get it to sound "okay". I did get it sounding better, but still nowhere near sufficient. It sounds a little better with the sub turned off. If you can imagine someone playing the drums on a tupperware container, then thats the nearest I can describe the sound from the sub.
The sub is also woefully under powered, it distorts at suprisingly low volume when set to low frequency.

John

[RichG]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

Sounds like the sub is wired to the speaker output, rather than a sub pre-out, or that the gain is set way too high on the sub.

I have a JVC head, Infinity co-ax speakers, and the SWD-1600 and it's a great little set up!

[Gavin]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

I'd get the sub on a sub pre-out, and if the head unit can do it, set cut-offs on the door speakers at around 120Hz and the sub to cut in at 120Hz (a lot of HUs can do this).

It sounds to me like a badly set up system rather than bad components.

[putzie]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

sounds like some thing is wired up wrong or you have a menu on the head unit to control what the head unit puts out in sound and might of tweaked something you dont understand to me like a low pass filter out level ect?

[jonboy74]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

I'll go and have a look now. I think the sub is connected correctly as the sub control on the head unit changes the volume of the sub only.
I may be some time, as i'll have a read of the manual to see if i can set the speaker outputs to the frequency suggested.
Thanks for the comments

John

[Gavin]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

You might need to check the gains on the sub too, as they may be set too high for the outputs on the head unit. Some head units output at 1v, 2v or 4v... if it's higher than the sub expects you'll get buzzing.

[jonboy74]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

Thanks for all your suggestions.
I have been out for a drive to test the settings etc.
I have got the sound to be acceptable at mid-high volume. The sound at low-mid volume is still terrible though, almost all treble, a little bass/mid range coming from the sub, but nowhere near a full frequency range.
I think I would still like a passive sub, and an amp to power it and the door speakers.
The set up now is plenty loud enough if cranked up, but I tend to prefer quality over volume in my old age

John

[m1pui]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

I have got the sound to be acceptable at mid-high volume. The sound at low-mid volume is still terrible though, almost all treble

I've said this regarding the infinity speakers for ages now but, due to them being the common option amongst smart owners, I almost always had my alternative suggestions shot down and ignored. They're very harsh sounding although it can often be lessened by playing with the crossovers and trying other mounting positions for the tweeters.

The other challenge you've got, is that Sony have really took their foot off the pedal in recent years and have relied on their name to sell their car audio range, resulting in fairly poor sound quality (relative to what they used to make) headunits which often are lambasted for their lack of bass, unless you use the LOUD setting which in turn spoils any midrange.

Personally, if you've got the budget, I'd consider changing it all! lol. If not, it's just a case of what budget do you have and where to start!

I'd start with changing the Infinity's and adding an amp to what you replace them with. The headunit will probably offer enough adjustment, and if you can't dial as much in/out as you like out it's always something which can be replaced in the future.

My suggestions would be
Hertz Deici 13cm comps £68.49
Rainbow SLX 230 £97.99 (The next speakers up in the range are the same as these but come with a better crossover SLX230 Deluxe £126.99)
Mounting depth's are 52mm & 54mm respectively, which I believe should fit straight in.

These are fairly compact 2 channel amp's which would suit
Alpine MRP-T222 £63.49
Blaupunkt Velocity VA275 £82.99

I can't really comment on the active sub you have, but I was quite impressed with the Blaupunkt one I had installed into a Ford Ka a while back. But if you wanted to go with a passive sub, you could get a 3/4 channel amp and use it as a one box solution to power your components and a sub.
Apline MRP-F242 £82.99
JBL GTO-504 £87.99
Alpine MRP F300 £131.99

There's quite a few companies making shallow mount subs which are said to work well in small enclosures, so ideal for something like a Smart.
Pioneer TS-SW841D £82.99

Although going from what others have installed, you're not really restricted to something shallow mount. There seems enough room to get a regular sized 10" sub in there. Pioneer do make a 10" version of that shallow mount sub I linked to above if space was an issue.

*The prices I've posted are all from the same online store, I would recommend any of the products I've suggestions but the prices may be cheaper elsewhere but I've dealt with CAD on several occasions and never been disappointed*

[StevRS]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

Get all the speakers amplified (always over amplify then reduce output accordingly - you don't want your amp or head unit running much past 75% output) and use decent cables. IIRC the Infinity speakers should be used with crossovers - are they? They're easy to make so don't spend money on them. Also, NEVER use the standard speaker wiring. Ideally you want to spend 10-15% of the price of the kit on cabling.

The sub you mention is absolutely fine, but it'll never sound like a massive sub that you would find in any boy racer's Corsa because you haven't physically got the room - sound is air movement and the smaller the membrane moving the air the less air you move.

Rip the wires out, get an amp in and spend a good couple of hours setting it up and balancing it properly. It may help to put the sub behind the passenger seat if it's doing your head in too

[jonboy74]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

Ok. Sorry to dredge up this old thread, but I will post an update.

After looking at the speakers i the front I realised that I was mis sold them by the previous owner, they are unbranded 3 way speakers.
Im a little pissed off to be honest, why lie about something like that??
Anyway, I looked for some new door speakers with the intention of getting an amp for them at a later date if needs be.
After looking around and getting advice I plumped for the Alpine SPR-13S component set. http://www.alpine-electronics.co.uk/...akers/spr-13s/
All I can say is WOW.... The change in sound quality is like day and night. I only fitted the mids as I thought I would see how the dash mounted tweeters coped, they are fine with the set up I have now. I can finally listen to music at low volume again (and high when I need to).
I will not get a seperate amp, as I am worried that the car might suffer with the sound vibrations (the rear view mirror is starting to dance to the beat)
The only down side is that I had to break one of the lugs on the door cover to get them to fit properly, and had to re-drill the door to accept the new screw positions (only 3 of the 4 screws will take)
The best £109 spent on a mod yet.

John

[headless]

Re: I need help with ICE selection and fitting in my Roadster.

you have to snap off the lug on any speakers you get for the door on the roady, and mine only have 3 screws holding them in, with no problems, just had to use the double sided foamy pads on the speaker grills to stop them vibrating with the extra power of the better speakers.
:bag: