HU or speakers?

have a quick question. i notice the system on the truck is just a "soft" system, meaning it just plays inherently soft, you need to really turn it up to enjoy your music. the thing is, if i turn it up anwhere past half, on songs with good treble, its going to start cracking and hissing. is this a HU issue or is it the speakers? i really do like the headunit, and am all for adding some alpine type x or focal components and a multi channel amp if it is indeed the sepeakers.

 

Both.

The stock HU won't drive aftermarket speakers worth a crap. It's been detuned so it won't blow the stock speakers.

The stock speakers will sound better with an aftermarket HU until they blow....

 

^x2 both. If you want to keep the headunit you have some options, but the headunit doesnt put out enough power

 

Not just power... the EQ curve is fucked up.

I was never unhappy with the bass, but I seriously wondered if there were actually tweeters in the doors until I opened it up.

The Polks didn't sound any better. At highway speed, the system sounded horrible, even though it was "loud" enough.

 

the stock head unit puts out about 12w of power to your speakers. aftermarket head units put around 50w of power. so theres a huge difference and that will make your speakers sound 10x better and i ran my stock speakers for about 2 years with no problem of them blowing on my aftermarket head unit and then i got aftermarket speakers and its not any louder but they sound better when the volume is up. its much more clear and the treble sounds amazing. anyway if you only want to choose one i would have to say upgrade the head unit

 

Stolen from a a TW audio guru

 

wow. after reading that. really makes me miss my alpine setup i had in my old xrunner. pxah701 (sound processor), dva 9861 (dvd-sq deck), mrvf 450, (mids/ high amp), type x components. its sad that alpine does not make the sound processor anymore. it seems i recent years they went completely mainstream. saddens me, because before i always thought of them as the cream of the crop.

 

has anyone actually tested the stock head unit for power output?

besides the on screen EQ, does the stock head unit have this "non-defeatable EQ" ?

i really don't want to change out my head unit, but do want to replace the speakers and possibly add an amp.

 

Check out jl audio cleansweap

 

Head unit first, you will be amazed how good those speakers will sound.

Right before they blow.

 

you do realize that most "blown" speakers get that way because of massive distortion and not over-powering?

stock vs. aftermarket head units are not that far off power-wise. there is only so much amplifier you can stuff in a double din area.

 

Isnt the stock unit 12x4 and most aftermarkets are 50x4?

 

maybe instantaneous peak power @ 10% distortion

take a look at a 200w amplifier and compare it to your deck....not even close to the same size. the head unit also usually houses a tuner, CD/DVD player and screen. you just can't cram that much into a double din space and have room for any kind of cooling

most aftermarket head units MAY output 15-20wpc RMS. this is a step up from the stock deck, but not enough to get excited about.

earlier someone mentioned that after replacing the stock with a new deck the sound was clearer but not louder, this makes perfect sense.

it takes roughly double the wattage to gain 3db of output [sound significantly louder]. a meager 50% increase in power will only help lower distortion and gain some headroom.