I just go my system installed yesterday..

4 6.5 Boston Acoustic Pro
2 JL 10W3v2
Custom Box
JL 500/1
JL 300/4
Audio Control "EQ"
Dynamat Over mids

Over all, I'm not happy about how my mids and high sound. I mean its sounds better than stock. But it makes hiiisssing sounds on high notes and I can't hear the music cleary. I want something that sounds 3D with a little but of ECO. Something that sounds LIVE and of course it has to be CLEAN AND CRISP. And something where you can turn up the music and not have a headache from the highs. What do you think is wrong with my set up??? Do my 6.5 Boston Pro's suck or is my JL 300/4 too weak or is it because I'm running everything off a stock head unit????? Need some experienced advise here....

 

Did you install this yourself?
Seems to me that you have grounding/power issues and also perhaps you need to play with your EQ settings....or maybe it is your stock paper-tweeters that need to be disposed of...

If you installed it at a professional shop, you should go back there and complain.

<font color=green>-Rambo</font color=green>
G35c-6MT-DG/Willow/HyperGround/BorlaExhaust/350Z-intake/AVIC-N1-double-din

 

I had this whole thing done and also I took out the stock tweater. The shop I went to said that I need a new headunit. But will the head unit make that much of a sound difference??? Also I messed around with the EQ setting and not to much progress.

 

Not singling you out man........BUT, I have shared my audio insight and experiences multiple times on several threads that people need to understand that switching out just the speakers and amps will only improve the sound quality a little bit....definitely better than stock. For some people, doing the install you just did is enough for their ears and music satisfaction. For others, switching out the speakers, adding LOCs and adding a couple amps is not enough of an improvement....

I have had the benefit of experiencing what aftermarket amps, speaker swaps + STOCK HU and then switching out the HU.......aftermarket HU sounds 1000% better! More control, better power output and having the ability of taking full advantage of great aftermarket speakers' potentials.

Its the same arguement I have been presenting.......you can put Michelin Pilots on a YUGO. This will definitely improve the handling of the YUGO but how can you take full advantage of the Pilots with a 2 cylinder 90hp engine? The same comparison somewhat holds true....how can you take advantage or realize your great speakers and amps' true potentials with a stock HU that puts out ~0.6V per channel (compared to an aftermarket HU that puts out 4-8V per channel)?

What ends up happening is people spend their precious $$ on good LOCs and installation costs only to realize they have to end up spending more money on swapping out the stock HU, more installation costs (unless you do it yourself), wasting the LOCs you spent good $$ on, after not being satisfied on the speaker/amp/LOC install sound quality.

I learned the hard way too by initially not doing the stock HU swap. Now I have good LOCs laying in a box in my garage which I spent good money on and wasted $$ on that LOC install. Do it right the first time!

Just my $0.02. I just hate seeing people waste money on installing LOCs and having to eventually do the HU swap with MORE $$. (Again, for some people LOCs are enough.......)

docron1 aka joe

 

LOCs really aren't that expensive, and in his case, the LOC was "free" - it's built into Audicontrol's EQs. The output of the stock HU can sound quite good with some equalization. So if he goes with an aftermarket HU he'll be out nothing for trying the Bose HU first.

To me, his complaints sound more like staging and speaker placement problems. Check the crossover that came with the Bostons and see if there's a tweeter attenuation setting. You may find that, like me, you prefer the sound with the tweeters more attenuated due to the factory tweeter locations. My set also has a crossover slope setting that lets you select between -12 db or -6 db for when the tweeters are farther apart. You also want to verify that the phase is correct. Incorrect phasing could be what's giving you the headache. I'm going to also try out what I've seen done in some other high end installs, which is to put a tweeter near the mid driver to get better imaging and coupling, and then put another set of tweeters in the factory locations, but at a higher crossover setting to lift the stage up.

I hooked up my aftermarket HU from my old car to my gear (all in the trunk, temporary install) for comparison, just to see. I decided there wasn't nearly enough of an improvement to warrant running out and the high expense of replacing the factory HU, losing the factory look and feel, having to buy the SWI-X for steering wheel controls, and coming up with a solution for the stock nav audio. Maybe my Ven4 LOCs work better than what you had. Hard to say.

-- Rob

 

Ditto to djrobx.
The factory head unit is fine. I have almost the exact same setup as the original poster, and I'm really happy with my Boston fronts & sub and PPI amps. (500.1 for sub and 300.4 for fronts.)

Take the car back to the shop and have them check it out. It should sound clear and punch hard with what you have in the car. I think the installers are trying to get you to needlessly spend more $$ on a head unit/install.

If your tweets are up high, you may want to have them relocate them with the mids. And, as djrobx suggested, see if you can turn the tweeters down on the crossovers.

 

Yeah I agree with djrobx and bun, having a similar setup to bun (PPI 600.4 powering BA 6.5 Pro components in all doors and a PPI 500.1 powering a PPI DCX 122 sub) Sound is clean and clear. Most passengers who hear it are amazed, and can't believe I'm running the stock h/u (some who don't know anything even ask, what kind of h/u is that?) The BA xovers have a 0, -2, and -4 setting for the tweeters.

Another member and myself have had issues with our amps, if there's a switch/button on the amp (mine says -12 att) that you are supposed to press for high level inputs, make sure its pressed. When it wasn't pressed, our systems would play and hiss extremely loud at low volumes. Just something to check out.