Hello everyone. I had a sound shop install two new speakers and tweeters on my 2014 ATS with the base non Cue audio system. They were the Focal PS 130 (I think). After installation, I find I have to turn the treble very low, almost off sometimes and the bass is just out of control. Both are not as bad while listening to satellite but the problem is listening to recordings on my thumb drive. I have to set the fader all the way to front speakers only. If I leave just one notch to the rear, there is a VERY bad very low end bass thump. With fader all way to front, I am OK with a normal bass setting. If I have anything going to the rear, I have to shut the bass all way off. The sound shop doesn't know what they could have done wrong, but I'm bringing the car back to them this week. Shown below is a solution that was used in my older Chrysler Crossfire with a similar sort of problem to the bass.
Any suggestions? It's shame I can only listen to the front speakers. I'm thinking the Focal speakers just might be mismatched for the Bose system but while I know good sound when I hear it, I have no idea on the technical aspect of sound systems.
(I used to be a big car stereo enthusiast and have built a few pretty nice car audio systems in my time. What I have noticed about the Crossfire (non-base coupe) sound system is that it really isn't that bad... after one small modification is done. The problem IMO is that there is an absolute overabundance of low frequency energy in the 100-200 hertz range with no possibility for the bass control to get rid of and no fader to control the relative volume of the subs to the rest of the system. I have personally found that I usually had the bass control at about -7 or -8 to reduce the mid-bass sloppiness that it exhibited (IMO, too much mid-bass is the single biggest issue that can make a sound system sound terrible). This "extra" bass energy is coming from the poorly crossed over door bass/mids. In fact, I suspect those bass/mids may be running straight up (or close to it) and contributing way too much energy in that range.
What I did was to install a 200 Hz high pass crossover in the form of a 200uF capacitor in series with the front speakers. Simple enough if you are a car stereo guy. This little mod does ABSOLUTE wonders to the system. I am absolutely amazed how much quality low frequency energy the subs actually produce. It was there before, but was being muddled by those front speakers and reduced in volume by my having to turn the bass control down so much to control the overzealous mid-bass. The new sound is rich and detailed in all the mid-bass frequencies, and the subs really nicely fill in the lower frequencies at just about the right crossover frequency. The subs do not produce "thumping" volumes, but the quality of the bass is quite good. Subjectively, I estimate that the system is easily producing 40 Hz at relatively good volume. It won't be enough for bass volume freaks, but the quality of the bass is pretty darn good, and I am all about the quality.
This overabundance of mid bass is probably the most common problem that most stock car stereos have. Manufacturers do this purposefully to help compensate for road noise, but it really mucks up the sound, especially in the relatively quiet Crossfire. Once this mod is done, in addition to the huge bass improvement, is that the midrange opens up and sounds so much more natural and smooth.
I highly recommend this mod to anyone interested in improving the sound quality, but really don't want to spend a lot. It may be just the ticket before resorting to a complete overhaul! It is pretty good bang for the buck mod and isn't too hard to do (depending on your skill set). I can't imagine a stereo shop charging more than about $100 for this mod.)
Any suggestions? It's shame I can only listen to the front speakers. I'm thinking the Focal speakers just might be mismatched for the Bose system but while I know good sound when I hear it, I have no idea on the technical aspect of sound systems.
(I used to be a big car stereo enthusiast and have built a few pretty nice car audio systems in my time. What I have noticed about the Crossfire (non-base coupe) sound system is that it really isn't that bad... after one small modification is done. The problem IMO is that there is an absolute overabundance of low frequency energy in the 100-200 hertz range with no possibility for the bass control to get rid of and no fader to control the relative volume of the subs to the rest of the system. I have personally found that I usually had the bass control at about -7 or -8 to reduce the mid-bass sloppiness that it exhibited (IMO, too much mid-bass is the single biggest issue that can make a sound system sound terrible). This "extra" bass energy is coming from the poorly crossed over door bass/mids. In fact, I suspect those bass/mids may be running straight up (or close to it) and contributing way too much energy in that range.
What I did was to install a 200 Hz high pass crossover in the form of a 200uF capacitor in series with the front speakers. Simple enough if you are a car stereo guy. This little mod does ABSOLUTE wonders to the system. I am absolutely amazed how much quality low frequency energy the subs actually produce. It was there before, but was being muddled by those front speakers and reduced in volume by my having to turn the bass control down so much to control the overzealous mid-bass. The new sound is rich and detailed in all the mid-bass frequencies, and the subs really nicely fill in the lower frequencies at just about the right crossover frequency. The subs do not produce "thumping" volumes, but the quality of the bass is quite good. Subjectively, I estimate that the system is easily producing 40 Hz at relatively good volume. It won't be enough for bass volume freaks, but the quality of the bass is pretty darn good, and I am all about the quality.
This overabundance of mid bass is probably the most common problem that most stock car stereos have. Manufacturers do this purposefully to help compensate for road noise, but it really mucks up the sound, especially in the relatively quiet Crossfire. Once this mod is done, in addition to the huge bass improvement, is that the midrange opens up and sounds so much more natural and smooth.
I highly recommend this mod to anyone interested in improving the sound quality, but really don't want to spend a lot. It may be just the ticket before resorting to a complete overhaul! It is pretty good bang for the buck mod and isn't too hard to do (depending on your skill set). I can't imagine a stereo shop charging more than about $100 for this mod.)