Factory car radio question

[49erinnc]

In my experience, if I pull a factory radio and put in an after market head unit, while leaving everything else factory, the sound isn't as good. This is assuming you leave all the factory speakers in and add no additional amplification or speakers.

I pulled my after market HD/Sirius-ready head unit from my old car. My new car doesn't have cassette or AUX IN. So, to keep Sirius, I have to either use a stand-alone satellite unit (Starmate 4) with FM Adapter (less interference but still not ideal) OR I have to pull the factory unit and replace it with my after market receiver. The latter saves me money since I have the equipment on hand. But I just worry about losing sound quality since I won't be doing any other sound system upgrades on this car.

Anyone else notice that factory units sound better than after markets, when paired with factory speakers? If so, why?

 

[purbeast0]

hrm i dunno I haven't ever had that problem before. the only reason I could think that would happen is maybe your interior speakers are REALLY bad, and that the amp in the aftermarket radio is putting too much power to them, making them muffled or distorted.

i really dont know though.

 

[LS20]

ive always gotten better sound from stock speaker with just a new HU. maybe youve had experience with bad HUs or they were badly tuned

 

[49erinnc]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
hrm i dunno I haven't ever had that problem before. the only reason I could think that would happen is maybe your interior speakers are REALLY bad, and that the amp in the aftermarket radio is putting too much power to them, making them muffled or distorted.

i really dont know though.

That could be the case. This car has really good factory speakers so maybe I won't notice a difference when I put in the after-market receiver. I can't really say that my past cars have been equipped with good factory speakers. Most sucked but they did sound a lot better with the factory head unit in.

 

[kumanchu]

some factory HU, like the factory equipped bose cars, are "tuned" to the car. some of them put the rear speakers out of phase, and also run small factory amps.

these systems can sometimes be overdriven by an aftermarket HU because the amps in the bose systems are expecting a 1v input (yeah AWESOME right?) and most after market HU's put out somewhere between 2v~8v.

some honda's were/are equipped with an "acoustic feedback" (i think its called) system from bbe. pretty neat stuff because it monitors clipping and distortion of speakers, and makes the sound from the speakers sound pretty clean. I think it also functions as an eq for the speakers because they tend to have wierd crossover points. Replacing the HU's in cars with these types of systems could potentially sound worse as well.

another problem you may be having are bad wiring harnesses, or cheap aftermarket HU's.

generally, the better aftermarket stuff sounds better than stock.

 

[49erinnc]

Originally posted by: kumanchu
some factory HU, like the factory equipped bose cars, are "tuned" to the car. some of them put the rear speakers out of phase, and also run small factory amps.

these systems can sometimes be overdriven by an aftermarket HU because the amps in the bose systems are expecting a 1v input (yeah AWESOME right?) and most after market HU's put out somewhere between 2v~8v.

Informative. Thanks.

So, assuming this is the problem, is there a way to lower the output on the aftermarket HU? This car has a Monsoon system and I'm pretty sure the speakers are amplified. I'm putting in a really good aftermarket HU but I just fear the voltage is going to have a negative impact on the sound quality when paired with the factory speakers/amps.

Edit: I want to say that my HU actually has settings you control on the display where I can manually alter the voltage but I could be wrong on that. I'll have to check the manual. But I figured maybe there was an in-line option for reducing it as opposed to settings.

 

[Mermaidman]

Originally posted by: 49erinnc
This car has a Monsoon system . . .

Is it a Pontiac? I have driven many rental Pontiacs with the factory Monsoon system and they hurt my tender ears--Way too much bass! Don't blame you for wanting to replace it. (Sorry I don't have anything constructive to offer.)

 

[kumanchu]

Originally posted by: 49erinnc

Originally posted by: kumanchu
some factory HU, like the factory equipped bose cars, are "tuned" to the car. some of them put the rear speakers out of phase, and also run small factory amps.

these systems can sometimes be overdriven by an aftermarket HU because the amps in the bose systems are expecting a 1v input (yeah AWESOME right?) and most after market HU's put out somewhere between 2v~8v.

Informative. Thanks.

So, assuming this is the problem, is there a way to lower the output on the aftermarket HU? This car has a Monsoon system and I'm pretty sure the speakers are amplified. I'm putting in a really good aftermarket HU but I just fear the voltage is going to have a negative impact on the sound quality when paired with the factory speakers/amps.

Edit: I want to say that my HU actually has settings you control on the display where I can manually alter the voltage but I could be wrong on that. I'll have to check the manual. But I figured maybe there was an in-line option for reducing it as opposed to settings.

it's been a while since i was into the car audio scene, and i think the monsoon systems were being installed in cars when i lost interest. i _vaguely_ remember that the monsoon amps at the time are spec'd for a 4v signal. cheaper hu's tend to put out 2v, better ones tend to put out 4v, and the really nice ones put out 6~8v. in anycase, you shouldn't have a problem with the outputs.

are you going to be installing this yourself or are you going to pay someone to do it for you?

 

[JulesMaximus]

I noticed that going from factory speakers to aftermarket speakers I lost quite a bit of bass but midrange and highs were much cleaner. Adding a sub and amp made a huge difference though.

I went with a Bluetooth HU with all kinds of inputs/outputs. I recently added a Sirius tuner and I love it!