Replaced head unit

[Alan W]

The OEM sound system... the bane of my life!!!!

Trying to improve / upgrade so firstly I changed the footwell speakers for EDGE 305 woofers and rear speakers for pioneer 4" dual cones and swapped the factory amp for a much more modern one.

When all connected up it sounded... crap and I suspect the reason for this is that the new amp and the old head were not compatible and / or the output signal from the head was crap and all the amp did was amplify it and make it crappier.

So removed the amp and have replaced the old tape radio business head unit with this Sony unit (4 x 50w plays mp3 CDs and has an aux input in front panel into which I can plug my phone) and was £49 (reduced from £99) from Halfords as this unit has just been discontinued by the manufacturer.



http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165655

So I now have no amp but better quality speakers and a much better head unit and..

Well it sounds better that the original OEM set up but I think it could and should sound a lot better.

It all sounds a bit 'woody' and there is a distinct lack of bass from the front footwell woofers.

I did find that by playing around with the equaliser settings and front/rear fader I could improve the sound, but we are some way from what I want.

So next thing to do will be to re-install the new amp to drive the front woofer speakers to see if that works but tbh although they look good I don't think that edge products are up to much...

Any comments or suggestions on what I have done or what more I could do?

Alan

[XVar]

I'd say adding an amp for speakers the size of the ones in the Z3 is unnecessary, the head unit you linked has 4x52w outputs built in which is more than enough. One possible cause of bad sound quality is that the speakers have been accidentally wired out of phase, this causes them to effectively cancel each other out and creates a pretty crappy sound. Perhaps it's worth double checking the polarity of the connections of the foot well speakers?

[BladeRunner919]

The head out is 4x 52 PEAK output, not RMS. I can't even find the RMS output quoted anywhere, so that suggests it's so low that Sony don't want to publish it. I'd look for an amp if I were you.

[Alan W]

I agree, there is no way that the head is 4 x 50 RMS, peak maybe.

The footwell mid woofers need driving a bit I think, I've got the amp so I may as well try it

[t-tony]

Maybe XVar's comment has a typo and could/should read 4x25 w output? I replaced my original BMW unit with one from Halfords also this summer. Mine has 4x25 w output and has aux and usb input sockets on the front as well. Great sounds for only £59.99 on sale,I can't remember the item number off hand though. Only bug with it is although I have shuffled music to my mp3 player,which I connect into the aux, the headunit puts all artist material back together in groups when playing ie no shuffle?

[BladeRunner919]

Maybe XVar's comment has a typo and could/should read 4x25 w output?

No, he's correctly stated what the Sony specs are but, like most manufacturers the headline figure they quote is peak output, which is not what you'll actually achieve, by a long shot. I'd expect that his 4 x52w peak output head unit is probably only putting out 15 or so watts per channel.

[TitanTim]

Funnily enough I could never get on with the original Sony unit that was in the Zed when I bought it, I always thought it was the speakers and it always sounded so thin and lifeless, was going to change the speakers and swapped it out for a Becker and wow, completely transformed I don't think the standard speakers are all that bad IMHO.

Tim.

[Alan W]

Update...

Wired in a small compact 2 channel amp I bought and there is something wrong with it... loads of humming and crackling so that needs to go back.

However, whilst I had it all apart I reconnected the factory amp so basically I had the new Sony head going through the old factory amp which was driving the new Edge 305 footwell speakers... and it actually sounds a lot better.

Still a way from where I want to be but a big step in the right direction.