Poor sound quality

[Duke Ionescu]

I just got a Pioneer 5800 HU (DEH-P5800MP) and the sound quality is
aweful! It is less than a week old and I am wondering if the quality
of today's units really sucks this bad or if there's something wrong
with the unit (it doesn't appear so). The car is an '03 Accord with
upgraded front speakers, Rockford Fosgate HPC2206 6.5" 2-way. The
place that installed it, which seems to know their stuff, sold me a
Rockford Fosgate 9110 HU with these speakers and it sounded great.
Unfortunately, it had a problem with skipping and the appearance was
outdated so I aked them to take it back and I chose the above Pioneer.
I've had another Pioneer (I think it was a 7800) in my totaled (and
greatly missed!) Passat, which was a superior unit to this one,
although it was purchased over 3 years ago and I do not remember it
sounding bad at all, nothing like this P.O.S.

Any advice? Should I shop for a new/used Fosgate? Do all of today's
HUs sound like crap?

More details: I listen exclusively to MP3s, especially a lot of house
tracks, but they are encoded at 192Kbps from clean sources. The unit
really struggles trying to render the various sounds making up this
music. It is so bad that I can even hear it in hip-hop tracks -
anything but bass sounds like crap, including vocals. There's also a
noticeable background noise when I turn the volume up past ~25 (I think
50 is max), and faint sounds have a sort of lead-in and lead-out
accompaniament of background noise which is not present in the
recording.

[winkenstein]

Duke Ionescu wrote:
> I just got a Pioneer 5800 HU (DEH-P5800MP) and the sound quality is
> aweful! It is less than a week old and I am wondering if the quality
> of today's units really sucks this bad or if there's something wrong
> with the unit (it doesn't appear so). The car is an '03 Accord with
> upgraded front speakers, Rockford Fosgate HPC2206 6.5" 2-way. The
> place that installed it, which seems to know their stuff, sold me a
> Rockford Fosgate 9110 HU with these speakers and it sounded great.
> Unfortunately, it had a problem with skipping and the appearance was
> outdated so I aked them to take it back and I chose the above Pioneer.
> I've had another Pioneer (I think it was a 7800) in my totaled (and
> greatly missed!) Passat, which was a superior unit to this one,
> although it was purchased over 3 years ago and I do not remember it
> sounding bad at all, nothing like this P.O.S.
>
> Any advice? Should I shop for a new/used Fosgate? Do all of today's
> HUs sound like crap?
>
> More details: I listen exclusively to MP3s, especially a lot of house
> tracks, but they are encoded at 192Kbps from clean sources. The unit
> really struggles trying to render the various sounds making up this
> music. It is so bad that I can even hear it in hip-hop tracks -
> anything but bass sounds like crap, including vocals. There's also a
> noticeable background noise when I turn the volume up past ~25 (I think
> 50 is max), and faint sounds have a sort of lead-in and lead-out
> accompaniament of background noise which is not present in the
> recording.



it sounds to me as if they hooked up your speakers in a way,
where the left speaker positive is hooked up correctly,
and the right speaker positive is also hooked up correctly,
and the two negatives are run together.

that is an old way that surround sounds could kind of be achieved in
the olden days of home receivers, before a dedicated surround channel
was incorporated in to the general market place. (the only drawback
that i remember off hand to this method was there was no delay, and the
only way you could control the volume of the newely achieved surround
speakers was to intsall an L-pad of sorts in line), but any way, back
on topic

perhaps they twisted both negative channel wire together behind the
headunit, and ran the negative wires back to the speakers, and yet
still running the positve wire correctly?

that would be my first suggestion of what to look at.

or perhaps, check the speakers to see if they ran the 2 negative wires
together from speaker terminal to speaker terminal.

if either of these ways are how they done thier wiring job, i would not
IMO consider them to be a very reputable install shop.

[MOSFET]

Winkenstein may be on the right track. I have seen those kind of hook-ups
before and they will make the sound really crappy and full of static.

Describe EXACTLY what makes the sound bad. You said the only thing that
sounds good is the bass. Does it EVER sound good at any volume levels?
Does it get worse as you turn it up? Is it background noise? Is it there
when the engine is both off and on? Does it effect both MP3's and CD's?
Describe what it is that makes it sound bad to you and WHEN it occurs.

It truly SHOULD sound good. Today's HU's all sound pretty darn good,
especially from a reputable company like Pioneer. Obviously, there is some
problem and it very well may be as winkenstein suggests, the speakers are
connected up incorrectly. I'm sure you will track down the problem and
eventually be pleased.

MOSFET


"winkenstein" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Duke Ionescu wrote:
>> I just got a Pioneer 5800 HU (DEH-P5800MP) and the sound quality is
>> aweful! It is less than a week old and I am wondering if the quality
>> of today's units really sucks this bad or if there's something wrong
>> with the unit (it doesn't appear so). The car is an '03 Accord with
>> upgraded front speakers, Rockford Fosgate HPC2206 6.5" 2-way. The
>> place that installed it, which seems to know their stuff, sold me a
>> Rockford Fosgate 9110 HU with these speakers and it sounded great.
>> Unfortunately, it had a problem with skipping and the appearance was
>> outdated so I aked them to take it back and I chose the above Pioneer.
>> I've had another Pioneer (I think it was a 7800) in my totaled (and
>> greatly missed!) Passat, which was a superior unit to this one,
>> although it was purchased over 3 years ago and I do not remember it
>> sounding bad at all, nothing like this P.O.S.
>>
>> Any advice? Should I shop for a new/used Fosgate? Do all of today's
>> HUs sound like crap?
>>
>> More details: I listen exclusively to MP3s, especially a lot of house
>> tracks, but they are encoded at 192Kbps from clean sources. The unit
>> really struggles trying to render the various sounds making up this
>> music. It is so bad that I can even hear it in hip-hop tracks -
>> anything but bass sounds like crap, including vocals. There's also a
>> noticeable background noise when I turn the volume up past ~25 (I think
>> 50 is max), and faint sounds have a sort of lead-in and lead-out
>> accompaniament of background noise which is not present in the
>> recording.
>
>
>
> it sounds to me as if they hooked up your speakers in a way,
> where the left speaker positive is hooked up correctly,
> and the right speaker positive is also hooked up correctly,
> and the two negatives are run together.
>
> that is an old way that surround sounds could kind of be achieved in
> the olden days of home receivers, before a dedicated surround channel
> was incorporated in to the general market place. (the only drawback
> that i remember off hand to this method was there was no delay, and the
> only way you could control the volume of the newely achieved surround
> speakers was to intsall an L-pad of sorts in line), but any way, back
> on topic
>
> perhaps they twisted both negative channel wire together behind the
> headunit, and ran the negative wires back to the speakers, and yet
> still running the positve wire correctly?
>
> that would be my first suggestion of what to look at.
>
> or perhaps, check the speakers to see if they ran the 2 negative wires
> together from speaker terminal to speaker terminal.
>
> if either of these ways are how they done thier wiring job, i would not
> IMO consider them to be a very reputable install shop.
>

[Phonedude]

"Duke Ionescu" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I just got a Pioneer 5800 HU (DEH-P5800MP) and the sound quality is
> aweful! It is less than a week old and I am wondering if the quality
> of today's units really sucks this bad or if there's something wrong
> with the unit (it doesn't appear so). The car is an '03 Accord with
> upgraded front speakers, Rockford Fosgate HPC2206 6.5" 2-way. The
> place that installed it, which seems to know their stuff, sold me a
> Rockford Fosgate 9110 HU with these speakers and it sounded great.
> Unfortunately, it had a problem with skipping and the appearance was
> outdated so I aked them to take it back and I chose the above Pioneer.
> I've had another Pioneer (I think it was a 7800) in my totaled (and
> greatly missed!) Passat, which was a superior unit to this one,
> although it was purchased over 3 years ago and I do not remember it
> sounding bad at all, nothing like this P.O.S.
>
> Any advice? Should I shop for a new/used Fosgate? Do all of today's
> HUs sound like crap?
>
> More details: I listen exclusively to MP3s, especially a lot of house
> tracks, but they are encoded at 192Kbps from clean sources. The unit
> really struggles trying to render the various sounds making up this
> music. It is so bad that I can even hear it in hip-hop tracks -
> anything but bass sounds like crap, including vocals. There's also a
> noticeable background noise when I turn the volume up past ~25 (I think
> 50 is max), and faint sounds have a sort of lead-in and lead-out
> accompaniament of background noise which is not present in the
> recording.

My 4800 (same amp, cd deck, and tuner, but fewer options and features)
sounds just wonderful. I wonder if they might have one of your speakers
reversed in polarity or something silly like that. . .

PD
>

[Duke Ionescu]

Hmm, this is interesting. Here's some more detail:

- I don't believe it is wired wrong. The shop takes their time to do
things right, and I was there watching them do it. I've had a lot of
stuff done by them and I've been very satisfied.
- I only listen to MP3s. But the same disc on the Rockford Fosgate
mentioned above, on the same speakers, sounded way better.
- At low volume, say up to 25 (our of 50), it sounds fine. You can't
really tell it's bad until you turn it up.
- When you do turn it up, you notice the thing struggling to render
sounds. Faint sounds sound as if they are underwater (real nasty).
Like a low bitrate MP3, but these are not low bitrate. There is also a
very noticeable (read: loud) background white noise past 30 volume, and
most sounds have an intro and outro white noise. Also, some things,
like drums, simply don't sound like drums - they sound like something
else, which doesn't exist because it would sound bad if it did.

Like I said, I had a Pioneer in my Passat (which was stolen by the
*******s when they tower my wreck -- 1 week b4 Christmas and not my
fault, but that's another story) and it sounded great. This thing
sounds much worse than the factory Honda CD player (no mp3) with stock
Honda speakers.

[KU40]

I'd check the ground, make sure it's good.

Have you looked over all the deck's settings? maybe something is
messed up there. especially if the loud feature is turned on.


--
KU40

[Duke Ionescu]

> Have you looked over all the deck's settings? maybe something is
> messed up there. especially if the loud feature is turned on.

Checked those, nothing wrong there..

[Rob Kulp]

"Duke Ionescu" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I just got a Pioneer 5800 HU (DEH-P5800MP) and the sound quality is
> aweful! It is less than a week old and I am wondering if the quality
> of today's units really sucks this bad or if there's something wrong
> with the unit (it doesn't appear so). The car is an '03 Accord with
> upgraded front speakers, Rockford Fosgate HPC2206 6.5" 2-way. The
> place that installed it, which seems to know their stuff, sold me a
> Rockford Fosgate 9110 HU with these speakers and it sounded great.
> Unfortunately, it had a problem with skipping and the appearance was
> outdated so I aked them to take it back and I chose the above Pioneer.
> I've had another Pioneer (I think it was a 7800) in my totaled (and
> greatly missed!) Passat, which was a superior unit to this one,
> although it was purchased over 3 years ago and I do not remember it
> sounding bad at all, nothing like this P.O.S.
>
> Any advice? Should I shop for a new/used Fosgate? Do all of today's
> HUs sound like crap?
>
> More details: I listen exclusively to MP3s, especially a lot of house
> tracks, but they are encoded at 192Kbps from clean sources. The unit
> really struggles trying to render the various sounds making up this
> music. It is so bad that I can even hear it in hip-hop tracks -
> anything but bass sounds like crap, including vocals. There's also a
> noticeable background noise when I turn the volume up past ~25 (I think
> 50 is max), and faint sounds have a sort of lead-in and lead-out
> accompaniament of background noise which is not present in the
> recording.

If it's a good shop as you state in other posts, why not just take the
vehicle to them and explain the issues. They should cover any problems under
warranty.

Rob

[sniper99]

I think your old VW had an amplified system. You were just feeding a
signal to the factory amps, probably one reason why it sounds better.
If you would to take your 5800 into a VW amplified system, you will
also hear better sound.

http://www.autotoys.com


Rob Kulp wrote:
> "Duke Ionescu" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >I just got a Pioneer 5800 HU (DEH-P5800MP) and the sound quality is
> > aweful! It is less than a week old and I am wondering if the quality
> > of today's units really sucks this bad or if there's something wrong
> > with the unit (it doesn't appear so). The car is an '03 Accord with
> > upgraded front speakers, Rockford Fosgate HPC2206 6.5" 2-way. The
> > place that installed it, which seems to know their stuff, sold me a
> > Rockford Fosgate 9110 HU with these speakers and it sounded great.
> > Unfortunately, it had a problem with skipping and the appearance was
> > outdated so I aked them to take it back and I chose the above Pioneer.
> > I've had another Pioneer (I think it was a 7800) in my totaled (and
> > greatly missed!) Passat, which was a superior unit to this one,
> > although it was purchased over 3 years ago and I do not remember it
> > sounding bad at all, nothing like this P.O.S.
> >
> > Any advice? Should I shop for a new/used Fosgate? Do all of today's
> > HUs sound like crap?
> >
> > More details: I listen exclusively to MP3s, especially a lot of house
> > tracks, but they are encoded at 192Kbps from clean sources. The unit
> > really struggles trying to render the various sounds making up this
> > music. It is so bad that I can even hear it in hip-hop tracks -
> > anything but bass sounds like crap, including vocals. There's also a
> > noticeable background noise when I turn the volume up past ~25 (I think
> > 50 is max), and faint sounds have a sort of lead-in and lead-out
> > accompaniament of background noise which is not present in the
> > recording.
>
> If it's a good shop as you state in other posts, why not just take the
> vehicle to them and explain the issues. They should cover any problems under
> warranty.
>
> Rob