ok so heres the story... i bought an 08 f350 crew cab lariat used... the guy had a stereo system with an amp and subs as well as an 09 factory in dash nav... before i bought the truck he pulled all the after market stereo equip including the nav..... he had some pioneer 6X8's installed in the front and rear and had a factory 6 disc in dash radio installed... the sound quality is absolutely horrible ...lots of "mid" with absolutely no bass... just real poor sound quality....so i replaced the speakers thinking it would help....nope!....same bad sound... so im wondering if there is something im missing??? do i have to replace the radio?...is there a setting in the back of the radio that i need to adjust?....a wire i need to connect or disconnect?.....im not too familiar with audio stuff so any help is much appreciated!!!! thanks!

 

It sounds like all the power is driving your midbass speakers. Check the crossover settings on the amps.

 

where are the amps located?....

 

I don't know if you have any amps. and you won't have any bass either unless you get a sub and amps and replace your stock head unit with an aftermarket one for better eq adjustment

 

Need more info, is your head unit stock, do you have sub or amp outputs on the headunit, is there a builted in eq or just tone control. Did you use/buy speakers that fit stock location. Are the speakers you brought 1 way, 2way or 3way.

Guessing your only getting mids because the speakers you brought are design for mid ferq. You will most likely need to add a set of tweeters and a sub. To do this you have decide where to put the new sub and get an amp to run the sub.

Let us know what equipment you have now, speakers, headunit, amps ect.

This will give you an idea of what could go in your truck. If you look at the speakers you will notice some come with an adpater plate to mount a different size speaker than stock.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Car/o...car/MyCar.aspx

Describe sounds bad/No lows or highs just mids, is the sound distored at a low volume. Is there distortion at listen volume you like or no distortion just mid freq. only.

 

ok.... so the head unit is the stock 6disc in dash...no eq it just has bass and treble control...no amp or subs.... the truck had 4 6x8 pioneer 2-ways (2 in the front and 2 in the back).... i thought maybe the speakers were crap so i pulled them out and installed 2 pioneer 3-ways in the front doors and 2 kicker 3-ways in the rear....once the speakers were replaced i turned the radio and they sound basically the same.... what i find hard to believe is that i have a 2005 f250 with the completely stock stereo and speakers and it sounds 10 times better than this trucks sound.... im really not interested in spending a ton of money on a stereo system, i just want better quality sound.... im thinking the next thing i can do is replace the stock stereo with a refurbished kenwood dnx6160 double din receiver.... (refurbished because i really cant justify spending 6 or $700 on a stereo when i can get a refurbished for just over $300)... so any thoughts or help on how i can improve my sound on a budget is really appreciated!... and thanks for everyone's help so far!!!

 

Simple solution call a junkyard and get stock speakers. Alot of ways to go, new, used, ref.

http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubbthreads.php

Copy and post what you have above on to there boards. Alot of experienced people and you may come across some good used equipment. I use to spend alot of time here. I could give you some advise but you may run across some people that have install a set up in the same truck you have. Kick around the site while you are waiting for replies and do a little self education, post if you have any more questions.

Ok, just noticed the actual truck is for the 08 so you would have to change the truck year/model.

 

stock speakers???....their gonna sound better than after market?...if so how come?...not trying to be a wise *** im seriously asking why stock would sound better.

 

ok define poor audio.... how are your speakers hooked up to your stereo? post pictures of the back of your radio and the connections to your door speakers.

 

stock speakers are less sensitive and will give you a muddy effect wich could lower the highs and bring up the mids

 

Ok....so...im a musician and i know the difference between bass..mid..and high...i used to have systems in my cars/trucks when i was in my late teens early 20's....i know the difference between good /decent sound and extremely "middy" sound....the hook ups to the stereo and speakers are the stock connections...no different

 

Sorry got the 2 trucks mixed up. It may be possible in some cases if orginally a truck came with free air speakers and you put a speaker in that was designed for a sealed box and did not use a box.

You can make good speakers sound bad if installed wrong and cheap speakers sound good if installed correctly. Install and the right equipment is everthing.

He needs to look at is his budget and what his skill level is to install. Correct power to speakers is important too much power blown speakers under power and speakers sound bad and in some cases can damaged speakers.

If I was gone to put a system in this truck I would put a nice set 6 inch componet set up front. (would need an adpater plate to fit 6inch speakers) Put the tweeters up high to bring the sound field up, in a pillars or doors. In rear I would try to get some bass out of the speakers he has by eq/tone control. If budget permits of course a sub and amp set up.

Since his headunit does not have a built in eg or most likely sub/amp out I would replace with one that does used, ref or new. If this is a temp. set I would go used but that's used me. If budget does not allow for headunit there are amps that can take line level voltage.

A nice 4 channel amp that can be bridged to a 3 way amp so 2 channels could run the front stage and the bridged could run sub.

Could get a power sub that takes line level from his headunit for a start and built from there. Later get comp. set, amp, headunit.

Thing is if he is getting distorion from this system the way it is, at a sound level he likes it's under powered. Does not matter what speakers he puts in there it will sound terrible except at a volume level he does not like.

 

Car Selector

This stuff should fit your truck. I would look at the 5 1/4 comp. sets looks like 6 inch will not fit. Look at 2 channel amps that have line level input to power the comp. set. Make sure the power ratings match, 50 watts rms speakers with a 50 to 70 rm watt amp to power compset. Ect.

For a sub I would look at the powered subs with line level inputs. Bandpass usually gets louder but sound quality can suffer a little.10's should give you a little low bass freq.

Being a musican I would look for a comp. set that has a 1inch soft dome tweeter. Usually has a softer sound than other tweeters and are not as crisp sounding.

With this set up you can keep your stock radio/cd player. Won't be a high powered killer system but should sound way better than what you have.

If you upgrade with a real high powered system you coudl be looking at alternator upgrade due to power issues. Still you should get a system that sounds good without doing an alternator upgrade.

 

thanks for the input and help bro... ill start looking into things!

thanks!

 

Look for free air speakers for the front since I guessing you don't want to built boxs for the front or seal them up. Infinity is a nice set but tweets are a bit crisp sounding. Stop by some stereo shops and listen to some comp. sets to hear what you might like. The sound ordinance at crutchfield looks good on paper, comp. set and powered sub but I have no experience with them. Must be a newer company. Good luck post if you have any questions.