How come there is no bass w/ a stock system. it came w/ a sony aftermarket headunit and polk speakers but there isnt any bass. as in all treble. some one said something about bass blocker
I'll go out on a limb here and say it's because:
1 - Polk can't make decent speakers
2 - There's no sub
I'll have to disagree with that statement. Polk has made some decent speakers in the past such as thier old dB and dX line. I will admit that the newer polks aren't all that great. I have nothing bad to say about the Polk dX3065's I have in my car right now.
Polk home audio = not half bad
Polk car audio... ehh... yeah. Not terrible, but certainly not incredible.
Lots of companies seem to be that way - Sony, Infinity (although I like how Infinity car audio sounds a lot - just not as AMAZING as their home audio), JBL (amps are good, speakers are not)... and don't even get me started about Pioneer and Kenwood.
I'd run through your headunit's settings and see if there's an onboard high-pass crossover that's turned on. Adding a sub would REALLY help. A good sub will have enough range to help fill in some of the lower midbass as well as the true bass section of the music.
i dont mean sub bass. just standard bass that should be there and isnt
Speakers could be wired out of phase. Try balancing all the sound to just the left or just the right and see if it improves. If it does, you have the speakers wired out of phase. If it doesn't then you will want to check that the front of the speaker is sealed off from the back (no holes in between the speaker and the door) that could be causing cancellation.
If you mean just normal midbass, then check the headunit settings. See if there is a highpass that is turned on, if so either turn it off or try lowering the cutoff a bit to see if it improves (just make sure you listen for distortion). Those speakers might also have a pretty sharp rolloff in the lower frequencies, sometimes you have to boost it a bit ~80Hz to keep the response relatively flat. Deadening your doors will also help dramatically (especially if you seal up all the holes like SentraStyle said).
polk polk polk, they make somewhat ok speakers for computers....thats about all im kinda impressed by with them.....pioneer sucks balls, period. sony, what a joke, they make somewhat ok head units but dont ever get a sub/speaker by them. I have Infinity subs that are ok for the money, they are the reference series(not the best subs they make) JL audio makes some really nice subs/speakers but are kinda overpriced IMO. If u want some good cabin speakers, I suggest getting the Infinity Kappa's
I would say your 2 problems are the headunit and speakers. Sony heaunits are definately a joke, tasteless XtReMe Styling and no functionality whatsoever. I don't have any experience with Polk...I thought I heard Polk speakers were pretty good, maybe you got a bad model. Anyway, Start off with some new speakers, I've been hearing mixed reviews lately on everything. From what I can tell, Infinities are awesome, but don't work unless you have an external sub. I am going to go out on a limb and say get some Boston Accoustic speakers...this is from personal experience. I jus installed a full set in my car this weekend and every day, I can't wait to get to my car so I can listen to music. Plenty of mid-bass and the tweeters aren't overpowering at all. I would also get a new HU with better functionality, and maybe you'll get some better EQ tuning.
If i were you, i would sell off your system and completely start over.
For head units, i would look at Alpine, Pioneer, and Eclipse...higher end models off all of them
For Front stage speakers, go with some nice 3-way components or make your own(Buy separate woofers, midbass, and tweeters)
Dont worry about the rear stage, i just have my stock ones turned off.
Subwoofer...now you cna go either 2 ways, SPL or SQ. I personally hate all the loud SPL since you cant hear the music. In the words of almighty Sr20Dem0n "Do you want to listen to a heard of elephants or play your music"
For SQ, look into elemental designs A series, Image Dynamics IDMAX, Adire Audio Brahma
For SPL, kicker L7's and JL Audio W7's will get very very loud
Find a nice amp to power your front stage, and a nice amp to power your sub(s) and your set.
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