I just put in Focal 165k2 fronts - lucid kenwood rears, a mtx 8302 2 ch amp going to the focals and also the pioneer xm tuner onto the oem head unit. I have a couple of questions.

1) I got circuit city to install everything and now I find when i go over a bump the right front speaker crackles substantially- any idea about what CC did? Any quick fixes.Otherwise the sound is ok.

2) I have the pioneer xm addon GEX-FM903xm - would it be worth spending $500 on a new xm ready Alpine CDA9813 with an xm tuner

3) would you recommend a sub ?


I have already spent $1500 but I am not really blown away by the sound Am I throwing my money down a black hole?
Obviously the sound is a lot better then the oem sound and i can live with it but not really as good as my stock audi bose system.

Thanks for any tips

 

1) Take it back to them. They should have some kind of warranty for workmanship problems.

 

1) bring the car back to Circuit City and tell them about the crackle - that is most likely a loose connection of some sort. if they installed it, their lifetime installation warranty should cover any fixes.

2) while i don't have satellite radio myself, the broadcasts are supposed to be high quality digital compared to normal radio. by using a FM modulator pass-through for the signal, you're degrading it down to the quality of a basic FM radio. it will never sound better than the FM radio you're using as the conduit. is it worth $500 or so to you to have the digital (near CD) quality for your XM radio?

aside: if you are still using the OEM head unit, you are taking an amplified signal (of questionable quality), converting it to pre-amp levels, then re-amplifying it. each stage adds noise and reduces the sound quality. i suspect you'll be surprised at how much an aftermarket head unit with true pre-amp outputs will improve your sound. your output will only sound as good as your original source.

 

1. the terminals on the speaker could be touching the metal of the car as you go over a bump. that would cause the speaker to cut out. CC should have a lifetime warranty on there labor. so I would have them check it out for you.

2. I used the fm modulated pioneer satellite radio in my car and loved it. you might get slightly better sound quality by going with a dedicated tuner, but in many cases people wouldn't notice the difference. the biggest difference that you might notice between the two is the volume level. a dedicated tuner will have a higher volume level than fm modulated. fm modulated will no doubt sound better than regular fm radio.

I would upgrade to an aftermarket radio and do a dedicated tuner, mainly just so you don't have that controller hanging around your S. you would also get a cleaner signal to the amp.

enjoy

 

how about the sub? I am definitely not a bass freak but would it improve the overall sound.Are there any low cost options.

I think I will go for the new head unit- I am already in the hole so much that it would not make sense quitting now.

i actually like the FM tuner - I have it mounted on the dash board and it is very convenient.

 

CC sells Focals? news to me

Theres most likely a loose connection on the right door. On rare occassions the braid from the speaker post to over the spider can arc the during excursion if they touch the metal of the speaker chassis.

The 9813 would be worthwhile to upgrade to, however they'd have to rewire a few things from line level to rcapreouts for a cleaner signal.

Actually if you're buying the deck legit (not ebay or unauthorized) a Kenwood Excelon may be worth looking into. They carry a 2 year warranty and I believe them to have a better display vs. Alpine. However the new decks arent yet out - march/april and would work with Sirius not XM (Sony, alpine are XM, most other brands are sirius)

Low cost subbox would be our all MDF over the tools @100. We're doing center and offsets for a top mount amp air volume is .68cuft sealed with 5" max bottom driver mount

 

CC doesnt in fact carry focals I got them on ebay. I think I will have to go for the Alpine CDA7892.Although this is an earlier model it is out now and I can do a swap at CC which will be convenient. I think I have to stick with xm right now for a few reasons- I have already paid for a quarter of service and also I have a weird probably unfounded feeling of sirius going under.

BTW I have to thak you guys, esp Lucid for all the install advice. There were a number of times that the CC guys got 'stuck' and this website and Lucids instructions helped save them.

Has anybody tried the Alpine CDA7892? Any idea of how good it is?

 

I don't know about Sirius going under. that is the rumor, however they are backed by all of the major car manufactures except gm which xm has. at ces they demo'd a video that they sent via there satellite systems. so they have the capability of doing video. cool huh?