759alexander

Hi there, I have a 1999 subaru impreza with a sony headunit and after market infinity speakers all round but the sound quality is crap! My partners standard system in her MG sounds much better. Mine sounds tinny and distorted. Anybody else had this problem? Any ideas or tips?

Thanks folks. Alex.

DJ_Jon

iTrader: (7)

Sound proof the doors, it will make a massive difference.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Speakers not matched to headunit?

You did, OF COURSE listen to the speakers BEFORE buying, didn't you? Didn't you?

Wagon wheel eater

sounds like the positive and negatives speaker lines could be the wrong way round if everything else is up to scratch ... ?? have you tried using the fader/balance to isolate each speaker and see if its one speaker in particular ? sometimes it also worth setting up the equalizer/bass settings etc on the speaker most likely to distort (ie any not boxed or sealed well?) if you can set up the treble/bass etc to sound ok on the worst speaker then the rest should sound good up to the volume you have set it for...
I guess it could be your headunit but not too likely from what you describe... I have a v loud scoob and I need a an amp to hear anything over the rumble, and i struggle to hear any music whilst booting it ...
I hope this helps matey

stuartaw11

Where do you live Alex? I run a car audio shop in Leicester, if you can get to me I am happy to check your system, I have the same car with nakamichi speakers, not expensive less than £100 a set, but it sounds ok, the acoustics of these cars are not great but can sound decent with a bit of work

awdx4

Hi, as Wagon wheel has already mentioned, incorrect polarity in respect of speaker wiring might be a factor. The cones of the speakers are supposed to all push in the same direction at the same time. If one or more are out of phase they tend to cancel out the delivery of bass, as one pulls and another pushes. It's a bit like how one sound can be used to partially eliminate another if the noise cancelling sound is used to alter the air pressure wave from the primary sound source.

I'm currently looking into improving the sound in my 06 Impreza, so it's a topic that's been floating around in my head for a day or two. My own idea is to replace the factory head unit, fit dedicated long throw bass drivers in the lower front doors and maybe uprate the tweeters in the door handles, fit coaxial duel cone full range in the back doors and place a couple of active subs under the front seats, as there are some compact high output units available these days.

The equipment you've mentioned already having, might not be the best there is but ought not sound totally crap, hence the likely-hood of some kind of issue with how the speakers are hooked up. If the impedance of speakers is high, say 8-16 ohms per cone that might also make the head unit struggle to achieve high, clean volumes. If the impedance is too low like when multiple 4 ohm speakers are wired parallel rather than in series, the poor old transistors in the head unit are likely to spill their guts when the volume is cranked, after initially sounding quite impressive at the lower volumes.

Good luck

Tim