13 replies to this topic

[vx220-MT]

I know the vx wasn't designed with sound quality as a top priority . . But I really would like to get the stereo to sound half decent. My car has a Kenwood Stereo and Blaupunkt speqakers. I just replaced them with some "really quite expensive" Inifnity speakers expecting to find a nice difference in sound and maybe a bit of bass, Guess what . . ? No difference at all. So has anyone (without huuuge expensive mods) managed to get a half decent, less tinny sound? Thanks people.

[crsnwby]

My sound is topps and done on a budget...

Your sound is tinny cos the speakers are behind you and level with your ears but theres nothing we can do about that.. so see the below..

I got myself a Pioneer 9800BT from ebay... see here

Its a US unit but only difference is the FM frequesncy goes up in half's instead of quater's... I only got this for the Bluetooth phone stuff my old Alpine 9836r was fine..

Then got some Alpine SPS-17C2's see here

But if u got infinity it should be fine...

But because of the noise in the cabin to get a good sound needed to ramp up the bass and let the speakers do the highj frequencys only so its loud and basy so I can hear it properly with the roof off..

sooooooooo..

I bought this

This is the new model to mine but its the same size etc and price just looks different..

Its held in place behind the seats against the plastic by industrial velcro on the back 2x strips and on the bottom 2x strips.. its never moved and now the sound is perfect...

One thing to note is you need to bypass the low frequency on your speakers and let only the sub do it. so when its loud theres no distortion from the speakers as they can handle being on full blast doing only high/med sounds and the sub does all the bass..

I can now pootle around oblivious to the fact that the cars making all sorts of mad noises as i just turn the stereo up....

No dynamat no noting as wats the point wen the whole car vibrates anyway....

Hope that helps..

Edited by crsnwby, 14 March 2007 - 04:07 AM.

[cyberface]

I'm no audiophile and don't listen to irritating R&B or some of the sh*t the local Novadose and Corsa crew boom out of their cars. However I listen to IDM / electronica / ambient so need a reasonable car sound setup. When I bought the car I replaced the OEM VDO duffer with a JVC SD-card touch-screen unit. This unit sounds great, unfortunately the massive premium I paid for SD cards was a waste of time since it doesn't read anything over 1 GB cards, and I've got 2 and 4 GB SD cards specifically for it Have reverted to MP3 CDs, which work acceptably well. The sound is actually very good, even up to high speeds (remember I have a hardtop). I will check to see if the speakers have been changed - I have an OEM setup (no front speakers) but the sound is much better than I expected. Perhaps the previous owner put some special kit in the rear speaker holes, or filled them with Dynomat, or something. But absent of needing to pound the ground at cruises, my kit is perfectly adequate for listening to stuff like Aphex Twin, Autechre, Arovane, Banco de Gaia, Boards of Canada, Black Dog / Plaid, FSOL, Kruder & Dorfmeister, the Orb, Sven Vath, System 7, etc. (just a limited selection) All these artists work well with my setup - quieter more ambient stuff like Global Communication can be drowned out too much by the engine, but that JVC head unit does a hell of a good job with some of the weirder sounds...

[MrSimba]

I put some Infinity reference speakers in and Dynamat'd behind them and inside / outside of the mounts, and run it off a JVC Exad unit and its made no difference at all! It really needs a small amp and sub but I'm just not sure if I want to go that route in the VX but I am coming round to it slowly...

[Code Monkey]

I am tempted to go down the sub route, installing something behind the seats and small speakers in the front coin pockets, but..... since removing the rear panel and the soundproofing behind it, I have been using a pair of in ear headphones and my walkman mobile phone. I possibly will install some stereo equipment not least because of getting hold of high end kit is so easy but short term sound at 90mph is clear from the headphones. question is given it is really my handsfree kit for my phone is it legal?

[Sid]

Im also looking to improve my sound... I got some Vibe speakers fitted at my local car audio store, which makes a great difference I am now looking at an option of putting a small (slim) amp behind the seats, which would fit nicely. www.bassjunkies.com is a good site to check for audio equipment!

[dobin]

I know the vx wasn't designed with sound quality as a top priority . .

But I really would like to get the stereo to sound half decent.

My car has a Kenwood Stereo and Blaupunkt speqakers. I just replaced them with some "really quite expensive" Inifnity speakers expecting to find a nice difference in sound and maybe a bit of bass,

Guess what . . ? No difference at all. So has anyone (without huuuge expensive mods) managed to
get a half decent, less tinny sound?

Thanks people.

best bet is 2gt some tweeters fitted in the front(use for treble),speakers behind the seat can then be used for mid range and then get a decent bass tube fitted behind the seats with independent control which i fitted on the centre console and then use the head unit to get the sound disturbution setup spot on.(then if the bass gots 2much just adjust the bass tube,u shud never av 2touch your head unit setup again).

Ive use this method on a few vx's/elise's and it works a treat whether your travelling on the motorway/a roads etc, and it doesnt cost that much,a pretty decent bass tube wont cost more than £200.

[pugwhizz]

i binned (well, its under my bed) the old gear and replaced with: 6 year old Sony HU (was top of range in its day) 75 quid infinitys in orginal locations Ipod + connector Sound was immensely better than standard.

[Jive]

read my thread here.

[CheesyPuff]

You could also try the old trick of reversing the polarity of one of the speakers (reverse phase), this can sometimes do wonders for the sound as it stops the two speakers cancelling each other out. Two identical sound waves basically work against each other so you cant hear them, by reverse phasing one speaker they dont but instead reinforce each other. Try it it normally works when two speakers use the same enclosure (i.e. the boot) in our case the space behind the plastic thingy, its quite a common trick that even some large amplifiers can do to make them sound better. Darren...

[NOBLE]

Check if you have a VXT that the speaker wires are not back to front. Mine were. Also I have 4 speakers. Lil ones front a large back yet I only had two sets of wires in the block. Should it not have had 4 wires?

[DEKKER]

I added 2 active pioneer subs , 1 behind each seat ,and the difference is amazing. Cost from local car hifi shop £200 each , cost on ebay with 12 months waranty £119 each. I kept the stock rear speakers but fed them only the higher frequencies.

[Kernow220]

It's amazing the difference a good head unit can make. I have replaced the VDO with an Alpine unit and the sound is much richer and clearer. Also on Ebay some guy is selling front speaker plates that sit under the dash which will give you two more speakers to play with. My previous VX had a Kenwood active sub and a Gemini amplifier which gave a really loud, clear sound but the fitting was a bit ugly with cables running along the side of the sill. Having compared the two I'm happy with a good set of speakers and a head unit as you get the benefit of using the space behind the seats rather than having it full of audio kit which also proved a bit of a theft risk.

[Rosso Rebel]

Have put front 4 inch speakers in under dash , no bass but can be heard, got mounts of ebay but can send template if required good fit and cheep mod. flat sheet of mdf needed , sound much better from 4 speakers.

Edited by Rosso Rebel, 17 March 2007 - 10:50 PM.