GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

So here's my new system. Sony CDXF7700 HU4 Polk speakers with Audiobahn amp2 Sony subs with Bazooka amp

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HU at night

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Subs

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Speaker amp

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Sub amp

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Just curious, but why is the box facing up? Usually we'd mount the amps on the back and have the subs facing either forward or back.. Definitely a Circuit City install, though. I see you got the "better" cables. Nice choice!Looks good! Hope you enjoy it!

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »Just curious, but why is the box facing up? Usually we'd mount the amps on the back and have the subs facing either forward or back.. Hey I was thinking of doing the same thing just figured would get more sound out from the back instead of trapping it in the hatch area. Ahh you know one of those things you think when you are bored.

I think it looks great! It is a nice simple install, but I'm sure it gives pretty good sound.Facing the box up, is a nice little trick to make subs sound bigger than they actually are.

I'm not sure why they put the sub box up. It sounds pretty good though. I had to go back to the store because they 1) wired the front and rear speakers backward, 2) didn't firmly connect the wires on my subs so that they would go out every 2-3 seconds and then come back, 3) wired one of my speakers backward, which resulted in a blow-out (which was completely replaced at no cost to me), and 4) did someting during the install of my radio to cause it to make this horrible hiss sound (kind of like white noise) whenever it is in operation. I'm headed back there today to see what the heck it is. It's really annoying. I thought it might be engine noise, but I got the fully insulated RCAs. add on:so i figured out what that noise was even before i got to CC. my rca's are picking up some kind of interference, probably from the car's wiring. and, sure enough, when i got there, that's exactly what they told me after listening to it. he said that the only true correction for that problem is to rip everything out of the car and dynamat the entire floor. upgrading to the high-end rca's probably wouldn't even fix it completely he said. so i guess i'm stuck with the annoying hiss.

Dynamat?! The hell.. That's for reducing rattle, I haven't known it to be known to help electrical interference..It could be the amp needs to be turned down. I've seen it happen where the amps are up so loud, they're just amplifying the "white noise" the headunit is creating...

If that is the case, how would I go about turning the amp down? I took a look at the side of the thing and it's got a bunch-o-switches, of which I know what -0- do. So I'm kinda helpless here. Also, my system is really tinny, if you know what I mean. The -s- sounds in lyrics are really sharp and the higher pitched noises are ridiculously grating. It's not sounding good. I've messed with the equalizer on the HU, but nothing seems to fix it, even putting the treble all the way down. Would a new HU fix this problem? I got one of the oh-so-horrid (at least according to some of the threads at this site) Sonys (CDXF7700). Pretty much the only thing I'm happy with out of the whole system are the subs. I can't really speak of the amps because I have nothing to compare them to. I'm not sure if I like the speakers and/or the HU. The speakers sounded great in the store, but they were connected to an Alpine HU. I don't know if it is the speakers or the HU that is making that tinny sound. I'm seriously thinking about scrapping the whole project : going back to CC and having them take everything back out and put my factory stuff back in. This system just doesn't sound good to me. Please help me, I want to make this work!

Quote, originally posted by drw2514 »I'm seriously thinking about scrapping the whole project : going back to CC and having them take everything back out and put my factory stuff back in. This system just doesn't sound good to me. Please help me, I want to make this work! How much did they charge you? Just curious?

The whole setup cost just under $1400, including tax and installation.

I forget, you did, or did not have the M&T system?I'm curious, is there a way you can get a really good shot of the settings on the Audiobahn amp? It's possible a different headunit would fix the treble issue. The Alpines have adjustable crossovers that let you specifiy which frequency you can adjust. I forget the F7700 itself..does that have a 7 band EQ or only the three? If it's a 7 like the CDXM800, then it's possible we can tweak it to fix those "S"s..The speakers should be fine. Sometimes it just takes the right person to "tweak" everything, especially when you're dealing with the kinda power you've got.Don't worry, we'll get you set!

i do have moon & tunes.i couldn't get a good picture of the amp itself because it's really shiny, but i did get a couple of pics of the front and rear settings on the amp out of the manual. hopefully they're legible.my HU does have a 7 band EQ. i haven't messed around with the actual EQ yet, only the factory presets, but i was just going to play with the settings until it sounded good to me.the "s's" sound a lot better since i removed the privacy cover from the rear of my car (over the subs). i noticed it after showing my subs to some friends. it might be all in my head, but it sounds a little better to me. hopefully when i play around with the EQ it'll sound even better.

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the second picture.

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okay, so i forgot to list the current settings. i guess that would be a good idea: LPF: In the middle, closer to 120 for both screwsX-OVER: HPF for bothHPF: 50 for both screwsBASS BOOST: Off for bothSUB SONIC: Off for both switches, 50 for both screwsLEVEL: A little to the right of MAX for both screws

which amp are these settings for. and how did you hook up the amp for the door speaker. the rca's should be fine you can buy level filters for them for five bucks if need be. you have to make sure the factory amp was bypassed. a lot of those guys wont do this. my reccomendation. let the factory amp handle the door speakers it works well .heck its even adequate for my upgraded sony door speakers. or let the head unit power them(unless its preamp only)(STILL MUST BYPASS FACTORY amp) . for the subs tourn the high pass crossovers off.low pass, bass boost,and subsonic on .turn the level down a bit, and enjoy the rumble . if the door speakers are full range just turn the all the crossovers off on the amp that powering them.

.Quote, originally posted by satur9 »which amp are these settings for. these settings are for my audiobahn amp (A4004T), powering my door speakers (6.5" polk) (i.e., not my subs). .Quote, originally posted by satur9 »you have to make sure the factory amp was bypassed. a lot of those guys wont do this. my reccomendation. let the factory amp handle the door speakers it works well .heck its even adequate for my upgraded sony door speakers. or let the head unit power them(unless its preamp only)(STILL MUST BYPASS FACTORY amp) . I was under the impression that the factory amp was in the factory HU, and therefore no longer in my vehicle seeing as how i have a new HU. (sony CDXF7700) i could be wrong, though. .Quote, originally posted by satur9 »for the subs tourn the high pass crossovers off.low pass, bass boost,and subsonic on .turn the level down a bit, and enjoy the rumble . i don't have a problem with the subs, and they are powered by a completely different amp, anyway

Satur9 does bring up a good point. Usually they'll wire the door speakers on a 4 channel amp install into the factory wiring, so it might still be going through the M&T amp, hopefully they bypassed it. You can ask them and make sure.You might want to unplug the tweeters in the top of the front doors, that might be causing some of the extra high end.Also, try turning the "level" on the audiobahn down a mark or two. In the "Custom" EQ settings of the sony, try turning down the two highest values.Do NOT turn off the HighPass filter. Without that, you could send too much bass to your door speakers, and cause them to distort in the low-end, You might actually want to turn the HPF setting up to about 80-100, as the Subs are covering that frequency range.As for the "Factory amp" if you have the M&T system, the amp is under the passenger seat. Once again, find out where they ran the 4 channel amp wires to, if they ran it to each speaker, or if they ran it to the wiring harness in the dash.

whenever i turn on hpf for full range door speakers they sound like crap. good speakers should handle the frequency and power( mine puts out decent bass for door speakers as long as i dont crank it to 11)i doubt disabling the tweeters will solve your problem my door speakers have tweeters and supertweeters so thats 10 in all with the stockers and it sounds great.play with it some more to you find a balance.

The reason for that is door speakers are NOT full range. They're designed for mid-bass at the lowest scale. They're made to work with midranges and highs, not low. That's why Highpass filters are used.

okay, so i'm pretty sure that when they installed my speakers, they didn't bypass the factory amp. when i unplug the factory amp under the seat, only the subs work. when i plug it back in, the speakers work. so i'm hoping that this is reversible or something, so that i don't have my speakers connected to two amps. i'm going to go back to cc tomorrow probably and see what they can do for me.

It'll probably cost you more, but scold them for hooking it up without knowing the M&T amp was there.If you need, we have the diagrams so they can wire the speakers to the connector at the M&T amp, as opposed to running wire to each speaker.

diagrams would probably be helpful. and it WON'T cost me extra. they're the ones that screwed up and didn't even look under the freakin' seat.

check your IM for some assistance

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »The reason for that is door speakers are NOT full range. They're designed for mid-bass at the lowest scale. They're made to work with midranges and highs, not low. That's why Highpass filters are used. Very true, thats why component speakers are called component speakers, they are a tweeter and mid-range/mid-bass. Same thing in most home stereo and most sound systems(churches/theaters) they have a horn/tweeter and a midrange and a subwoofer. each have they're own frequency handling and when they are EQed they are set so that they're frequency bands cross by about 50-100 hz either side so you have even coverage all the way from 20-30 hz to 15-20khz. in a car audio system you don't have that much control unless you spend serious $$$ but jahntassa is right!

well, i had them bypass the M&T amp today. they didn't even know it was there. and the diagrams did come in handy, they had no idea...they saved about three hours of testing. and (removed) does it sound SO MUCH BETTER. totally awesome. and it didn't cost me extra. they actually felt kinda stupid that they didn't even look under the passenger seat.

If you stop by again, tell them they shouldn't feel stupid. As a CC employee, we have virtually NO information on the Vibe/Matrix. Our part guide even lists the wrong radio harness. It's not really their fault. What's good is, they fixed it with no argument!I kinda figured that was the problem, especially with the issues other people have had with their M&T.. Mike, I'm bringing the amp to work today to finally open it up!I'm glad we could help you out, and I knew you'd like your system!