From Pioneer to Alpine and not impressed with sound

[schmeal]

Hello all,

New member here and I'm having issues getting good sound out of my new Alpine CDE-163BT head unit.

First off I have 2 300zx's.

One is a convertible with DEH-P9400BH with 2 C2-600X speakers. The sound quality is great in my opinion. I'm very happy with this setup.

The second car is a coupe 2+0 which I put the Alpine CDE-163BT with C2-600X's in the front and C2-650X's in the rear. I also have the KTP-445A connected to the head unit. The response of this setup is a joke compared to the convertible. I thought I would get better sound with the alpine but no matter how I EQ it, it can't hold a candle to the way the convertible sounds. Any opinions?

Thank you.

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[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

How is it better compared to the other?

Gotta ask yourself what you did to make the one car sound great to get the other one that sounds crappy to make it better.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Agreed, all things equal head unit should not be coloring the sound, so what precisely is lacking?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Agreed, all things equal head unit should not be coloring the sound, so what precisely is lacking?

its not as much as coloring the sound, its more of a matter of how well and clean it processes the audio into an audio signal. All my harshness issues went away after swapping to an 80 prs on both bad and good audio files. Speakers that sounded like garbage before actually sounded great from swaps. Its not a different colored sound its just better reproduction of sound.

HOWEVER this case, its A DIFFERENT CAR. So the acoustics is completely different OP you need to work on the install AKA speaker and tweeter positioning and crossover points first and formost.

 

[marc2112 10+ year member]

prolly need a more powerful amp..

 

[schmeal]

There's little to no bass response. I'm not an expert at EQing, but the sound is a lot fuller in the car using the pioneer head unit. Using the "Loudness" function on the pioneer gives me good bass and a full sound.

The car with the Alpine sounds like a weak factory stereo. This considered both cars have the same speakers in the doors, and the Alpine with the inline amp should have more power.

I even used the Alpine app to try other EQ settings which don't do much. The only difference between these two setup pretty much is the head unit. Now I'm considering swapping the two heads, or getting a sub for the Alpine car.

As for the acoustics, the door speaker install is identical in both cars. I used the same speaker with a factory speaker bracket, and some dynamat.

Do you think the Pioneer is pushing a lot more power?

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

prolly need a more powerful amp..

Your just guessing.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

There's little to no bass response. I'm not an expert at EQing, but the sound is a lot fuller in the car using the pioneer head unit. Using the "Loudness" function on the pioneer gives me good bass and a full sound.
The car with the Alpine sounds like a weak factory stereo. This considered both cars have the same speakers in the doors, and the Alpine with the inline amp should have more power.

I even used the Alpine app to try other EQ settings which don't do much. The only difference between these two setup pretty much is the head unit. Now I'm considering swapping the two heads, or getting a sub for the Alpine car.

As for the acoustics, the door speaker install is identical in both cars. I used the same speaker with a factory speaker bracket, and some dynamat.

Do you think the Pioneer is pushing a lot more power?

You still dont get it. Car acoustics will never be the same. One car will have bass response easily while another will not have midbass even if you do some of the craziest deadening job.

Pioneer's not pushing more power or anything its just EQ boosting a lot of frequencies with loudness feature thats all. Same if you boosted 40 to 200hz on the EQ by a lot.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Do you think the Pioneer is pushing a lot more power?

Could be. It also might be as simple as you accidentally wired up a woofer out of phase. Use the balance to shift to just one or the other and if they're just as loud with only one playing try switching phase on the other and see if that helps.

As others suggested different vehicles are different. My last Jeep 97 Grand Cherokee Laredo always peaked at 54-55hz. My new one 97 Grand Cherokee LTD peaks @ 43hz. Rather dramatic difference and with identical equipment. Acoustics in a vehicle is a funny thing.

Or it just might be that you like that Pioneer's default EQ/boost settings.

 

[kr15 5,000+ posts]

Intstall, acoustics or HU settings.

The 9400 is a solid unit, but in no way should it be an immense upgrade in drop-in over the 163.

My brother has the 163 and with below average drivers, his car sounded pretty good once we dialed the tuning in.

 

[schmeal]

Thanks for the suggestions all. First I'll recheck if the speakers are hooked up correctly. I assume I can just use a multi-meter to check if polarity going into the speakers is correct.

As Jeffdachef said, if everything is connected correctly and individual acoustics aside, I guess the EQ boosting is what makes the convertible sound better. Since this isn't possible on the alpine, what are my next options? Remove the alpine power pack and replace it with a 4 channel amp? A sub? I plan on keeping the coupe and selling the convertible so I'd like to get sounding good. Thank you.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

its not as much as coloring the sound, its more of a matter of how well and clean it processes the audio into an audio signal. All my harshness issues went away after swapping to an 80 prs on both bad and good audio files. Speakers that sounded like garbage before actually sounded great from swaps. Its not a different colored sound its just better reproduction of sound.

HOWEVER this case, its A DIFFERENT CAR. So the acoustics is completely different OP you need to work on the install AKA speaker and tweeter positioning and crossover points first and formost.

if i would sy that Id get bombardied by *******..
fact of the matter is op amp and DA converters as well as circuity have a unique foot print. the science is there people just refuse to believe it.

i had a pioneer 840 and went to a kenwood x991. it instantly sounded more realistic. then i got a pair of lunar 40x2s on some cheap *** CDT CL62s it was straight up amazing how much more detail i heard. it was like going from 8 bit to 16 bit sound. the CDT tweeters where dull at first once i put the kenwood and lunars it the transient response was so much better it was like going from a cheap *** pair of pioneers to a competition worthy component set.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the suggestions all. First I'll recheck if the speakers are hooked up correctly. I assume I can just use a multi-meter to check if polarity going into the speakers is correct.
As Jeffdachef said, if everything is connected correctly and individual acoustics aside, I guess the EQ boosting is what makes the convertible sound better. Since this isn't possible on the alpine, what are my next options? Remove the alpine power pack and replace it with a 4 channel amp? A sub? I plan on keeping the coupe and selling the convertible so I'd like to get sounding good. Thank you.

its more than likely the acoustics of the car are completely different..

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the suggestions all. First I'll recheck if the speakers are hooked up correctly. I assume I can just use a multi-meter to check if polarity going into the speakers is correct.
As Jeffdachef said, if everything is connected correctly and individual acoustics aside, I guess the EQ boosting is what makes the convertible sound better. Since this isn't possible on the alpine, what are my next options? Remove the alpine power pack and replace it with a 4 channel amp? A sub? I plan on keeping the coupe and selling the convertible so I'd like to get sounding good. Thank you.

I'd say get a subwoofer. Have the mids on a high pass filter and let them do their job properly and let the sub do its job properly. Time align and focus on clarity while the sub focuses on the boom.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

if i would sy that Id get bombardied by *******..
fact of the matter is op amp and DA converters as well as circuity have a unique foot print. the science is there people just refuse to believe it.

i had a pioneer 840 and went to a kenwood x991. it instantly sounded more realistic. then i got a pair of lunar 40x2s on some cheap *** CDT CL62s it was straight up amazing how much more detail i heard. it was like going from 8 bit to 16 bit sound. the CDT tweeters where dull at first once i put the kenwood and lunars it the transient response was so much better it was like going from a cheap *** pair of pioneers to a competition worthy component set.

well you started off with a pretty sh*tty pioneer lol