distorted sound after HU install

[hckynck20]

I have a 1994 explorer with the premium sound non-jbl and i installed a new cd player, and i bypassed the amp now when i play my music if there is any kind of bass when i turn it up to medium range my speakers have a wierd distorting sound, its not that my speakers cant handle the power.

I was wondering if i need to run thicker speaker wire because the wires coming from the HU to the amp were thin and the speaker wires going out of the amp were thick.

 

[IAmTodd]

Need to run new speaker wires. The wires that go from the head unit to where the stock amp is located are very thin and are not meant to handle alot of power. All you need to do is run new wires to that area. Or run them to the doors. I found running them to the rear of the vehicle easier than fishing them through the door.

 

[poul]

I have a 1994 explorer with the premium sound non-jbl and i installed a new cd player, and i bypassed the amp now when i play my music if there is any kind of bass when i turn it up to medium range my speakers have a wierd distorting sound, its not that my speakers cant handle the power.

I was wondering if i need to run thicker speaker wire because the wires coming from the HU to the amp were thin and the speaker wires going out of the amp were thick.

it doesn't sound like wire, it sounds like your headunit doesn't have enough power to push the speakers.

 

[hckynck20]

it doesn't sound like wire, it sounds like your headunit doesn't have enough power to push the speakers.

hmmm.... the radio i just bought is a 200w (50x4) dual XD6320, which im pretty sure is more power than the factory amp. the speakers i have are pioneers rated at 40w nominal 220w max. think my radio might be broken? i can still return it or i could try running new wire to see if that makes a difference.

 

[IAmTodd]

it doesn't sound like wire, it sounds like your headunit doesn't have enough power to push the speakers.

You're wrong. Its the wiring from the front of the vehicle to the rear. Its too small to handle the amped signal. Do as I stated above and I assure you that you will have clear sound!

 

[Blee1099]

I have to agree its more than likely the wiring. Take a look at the wiring, you'll notice they are very thin gauge wire.

 

[410Fortune]

hahahahaha you wired your 50W per channel into the high level inptu for the fatory amp = no beuno.

 

[poul]

hmmm.... the radio i just bought is a 200w (50x4) dual XD6320, which im pretty sure is more power than the factory amp. the speakers i have are pioneers rated at 40w nominal 220w max. think my radio might be broken? i can still return it or i could try running new wire to see if that makes a difference.

i looked up the specs for this HU; looks like 50W is max power, not RMS. max power doesn't mean anything, really. it isn't even rated for RMS on a few sites i looked, which sounds suspicious. the closest i found is XDM6820, which is rated at 18 watts, but god knows at what THD.

wires make a difference when you have really high power output, hight quality speakers etc. we're talking about $1000+ setups.

my advise - return the HU and order something from a brand name with decent RMS ratings. i'd start with http://www.crutchfield.com/, find one you like, then go to shopping.com and see if you can find a better price for the same HU. pioneer, kenwood, jvc, clarion, alpine etc.

my $0.02

 

[whitemage25]

Buy some larger guage wire and just run it direct to test. If it doesent change anything your out like 5 bucks and 1/2 hrs labor, if it works you know the wiring is your problem and you can take the time to run the wires correctly.

Honest truth though is that if you want great sound your gonna want to spend the money on a stereo amp cause no head unit is gonna be able to provide anything more than modest power/sound.

 

[TeamPwnageBrad]

dual is bottom of the line, and that is a peak rating. In reality you are getting no more than 10 watts per speaker. Out of most head units, even if its rated 25w x 4 rms you will still only get about 15 watts out of it.

While the factory wiring may be something like 20 gauge, it is FAR more than big enough and capable enough of running 10 watts lol. I would still run new wires because it only costs maybe $8 for a roll of 16 gauge.

 

[expo5.0]

wires just aren't the problem

 

[NaplesBill]

It's most likely a wiring problem. That doesn't mean the factory wires are too small. I'd do what was already suggested and wire the front speakers directly from the radio and see if it sounds better. If it does then you either need to bypass the stock wiring or make sure you have every connected properly. I'm sure you can get more than adequate sound out of that radio.

 

[expo5.0]

seriously, no way the factory wire gauge is too small to the point that its distorting

 

[NaplesBill]

seriously, no way the factory wire gauge is too small to the point that its distorting

I couldn't agree more. It would take a much larger dedicated amp to reach the limits of the factory wiring. There could be a different issue that involves the factory wiring though. Doing the direct wire test would determine this fairly certainly.

 

[hckynck20]

Thanks for the help guys! I ended up returning the Dual and getting a Kenwood KDC-MP228, it sounds a whole lot better with no distortion. Later on i'll probably end up rewiring the car with better speaker wire.

 

[expo5.0]

don't rewire until you go over 50 watts rms per channel