Crappy stereo sound: 1970 Charger with Kenwood

[Kern Dog]

Hey guys...I know this is not as fun to discuss as camshafts or headers but...
I have a Kenwood stereo on the car that I installed in 2012 along with a pair of Kenwood 6x9 speakers. I have small 3 1/2" speakers in the front lower kick panels.
This stereo sucks. It sounds as if it has no depth. I know that sound is hard to describe but for an example....The stereo in my 2007 Ram is a factory setup with 7 infinity speakers. It won't win any contests but it make clean sound with decent bass and midrange. The stereo in our 2015 Challenger R/T isn't as good as the truck but does sound nice.
The Charger sounds tinny and hollow. The bass is okay for the most part. I thought the engine sounds drowned out the stereo but even with the engine off it sounds weak to me.
How do you know if the crappy quality is due to the speakers OR the deck itself? I don't have any spare speakers to try laying around. The deck was about $200 and the speakers were under $100. Do I need to spend more on speakers or a deck to get decent sound?

 

[Xp29h]

I just put complete system in my charger and it sounds awesome..

Few things you can do...replace Kenwood with newer unit, more power. You’ll have o search for right one with higher wattage. You can stick with kenwood and Put some amps in the trunk to give more volume, clarity and eq possibilities. Under you 6x9’s, take some good heavy cardboard and carpet it up and make a baffle for under the tray. That helps push the sound forward rather into that huge trunk space where nobody hears it. Also, a friend built some speaker “pods” and we fit 2 in each one and they fit right in the front between the seat rails. Velcro is holdin down plus wired to seat so no chance of sliding up under your feet. Here’s some pics.. the last one shows the baffle a little with amps and capacitors and little led lights. The amps fit on that board, which I covered with light black carpet and secured to the trunk brackets which had holes there already, no extra drilling! P.m. if you have any more questions.. good luck..

 

[Mike67]

Hate to say it but you kind of get what you pay for as far as audio goes. The head unit would probably be ok, but judging by the cost of the speakers i would say youre in their economy line.
My wifes head unit was about the same price & a Kenwood, but I upgraded to the JBL speakers. I think they are the GTO series, 6x9s were about $160 & 6.5s were $100...not budget breaking nor top of tge line but have great sound and depth.
You might be able to add like a 50 watt amp and a cross over to the 6x9s to help what you have for <$200.
I also put sound deadener in both sides of tge package tray and on the back of tge kick panel to eliminate any reverberation due ti the panels flexing...

 

[WP29440SE]

I decided to save the money and listen to the beautiful music my 440 makes !

 

[USatC]

I just put complete system in my charger and it sounds awesome..

Few things you can do...replace Kenwood with newer unit, more power. You’ll have o search for right one with higher wattage. You can stick with kenwood and Put some amps in the trunk to give more volume, clarity and eq possibilities. Under you 6x9’s, take some good heavy cardboard and carpet it up and make a baffle for under the tray. That helps push the sound forward rather into that huge trunk space where nobody hears it. Also, a friend built some speaker “pods” and we fit 2 in each one and they fit right in the front between the seat rails. Velcro is holdin down plus wired to seat so no chance of sliding up under your feet. Here’s some pics.. the last one shows the baffle a little with amps and capacitors and little led lights. The amps fit on that board, which I covered with light black carpet and secured to the trunk brackets which had holes there already, no extra drilling! P.m. if you have any more questions.. good luck..
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A few questions as i'm encountering a few problems in my 72 Satellite.
1. I have a lot of noise loss in my trunk. DO u have any pics of your baffle to push your sound forward?

2. How'd you upgrade your factory wiring and alt to support those watts the amps are drawing? I'm running a 65 amp alt and im worried about charging issues.

 

[OH71RRunner]

Here's something I actually know about. Lol. Car audio is more about installation and setup than money. Yes, more expensive components will always sound better, but cheaper stuff can sound great too if done properly.

The easiest solution is to get an amp. But, it is NOT necessary.

6x9s in the rear need to have boxes under them unless powered with an amplifier. If you've already installed them in the package tray, try to figure out if you can get some 6x9 boxes or make your own to fit under. Use pillow or quilt stuffing inside the box. Try to use a rubber "gasket" to seal the boxes to the package tray. This will enhance the sound. You can also seal the package tray and the bracing behind the seat to close off the trunk.

For your front speakers...
If they are in the dash, find something that will create a "cup" under the speaker and line it with some type of insulation (sound deadener, pillow stuffing, etc.).

If they are in the door, use sound deadener inside the door skin and seal up any holes through the frame behind the door panel. A sheet of plastic is sufficient. Door pods are always beneficial.

Your speakers for highs, midbass, vocals really need a sealed enclosure. When they are used in a "free-air" setup, they require more power to be louder. Newer vehicles usually use pods inside the door that seal the speaker from the space in the door.

Try to find some way to seal your speakers into the spaces they are currently in. This is the cheapest and most efficient way to make better sound.

 

[70Bronco]

I agree with OH71RRunner. His suggestions will help.
That tinny, hollow sound you're feeling results from speakers pointed in odd directions rather than at the listener, sound bouncing off hard surfaces, and vibration. Example: sound waves from rear speakers go straight up, reverberate from tinny package tray steel, and literally bounce off 1970 back glass before reaching your ears. Any kind of metal vibration will affect your stereo sound too. Think about the sound deadening and anti-vibration in your new car and truck vs. that in your Charger. Big difference. Music studios and good concert halls are loaded with anti-vibration and noise deadening stuff.
Your $100 Kenwood speakers are better than most stock speakers in a brand new vehicle, BTW.
Another thing to try--direct the sound from your speakers at driver and passengers. Change the mounts or Polk Audio makes speakers where the tweeters rotate some and can be pointed at the driver. That will help make the highs and mids a little clearer.

 

[Dibbons]

When the factory Infinity speakers died in the doors of my 1996 Dakota, the stereo shop warned me the cheaper Kenwood speakers I chose to replace them with were not the same high fidelity quality as the Infinity.

Just like Kern Dog says, they sound "hollow". When I want to improve the sound, I adjust the fader control to run the rear speakers only (which are still the factory infinity) and I can easily hear the improvement.

 

[idrivemopar]

Installing a car stereo is not about how much you paid, to a certain extent, but more about matching head unit, amps, and speakers with the proper ratings on each. A $200 head unit can sound great if its matched with the appropriately rated speakers. For instance, if you have a head unit that only outputs 35 watts nominal and 75 max, but you are using speakers that have a nominal rating of 100 watts with 150max, you are going to have very weak sound. If you insert an amp into the equation that boosts output into that 100 to 150 watt range you will have much fuller and deeper sound. On the other hand, you can also go over board where you have an amp that is 250 watts nominal or even peak but speakers that are rated at 100 to 150 watts, you will have nice punchy sound, that is until you blow your speakers! So I would suggest check your head unit rating and speaker rating, that will answer your question as to why it sounds weak.

One other thing, make sure you speakers are all in phase, that is the left and right side and front and rear all are connected positive to positive and negative to negative, one speaker that is connected from positive to negative can cause the sound to be out of phase and therefore will sound weak and anemic.

 

[69a100]

You don't say if your speakers are "Co-axial" or "tri-axials", do you know what ya got? The difference there is that one has 2 speakers and the other has 3 which makes a big difference in the quality of sound. You didn't by chance a long time ago crank the crap out of it and blow your speakers did you?

 

[Xp29h]

US.. here’s a pic of baffle. It’s not a great pic. But I took a large piece of industrial thick cardboard, measured space and cut to fit right behind trunk lid. Drilled and screwed right to package tray. I did insulate and cover with the thin black auto carpet. Glued and small stapled. I’m still tidying up the wiring.


As far as the wiring. I completely retired entire car with Ron Francis kit, new alternator (one wire) so that was the time. Amps are in the trunk and amp wires run while all apart so much easier. If you install amps you’ll have probably 4 gauge wire to run to big fuse and to battery plus the remote wire which comes from stereo to the amp(s) so when you turn stereo on, amps come on too. I’m running a 1000 watt 4 channel amp for main speakers and 2 channel 1200 for subs. Plenty loud and crystal clear. More power better. That way you’re not trying to get all you can out of your stereo. Plenty of power to spare. Now, if you push the limits of amps, sound will be bad and things will break!

Really, the few big things a person can do to make a decent system work well is insulate, get the sound going the direction you want, taking out a ton of vibrations and makings sure the EQ is set right oh and let’s not forget decent speakers! Nowadays good ones don’t always cost a ton!

Lots of good suggestions above!

 

[Kern Dog]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I did have a plywood box around the speakers under the package tray at first. Being more of a gearhead than an audio expert, I built it out of 3/8" plywood. I removed it and did not notice any difference. Maybe the wood did more to create echo? I will look at the parts for model numbers. Chances are, I cheaped out on the speakers since I can be slow to learn on some things. I used to aim for the middle and later have to upgrade to get the quality I want.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Headphones.. man Headphones.. Screw the car stereo save the money for hop up parts..

 

[Kern Dog]

Headphones are illegal in CA...plus the one's I've used deliver no bass.

 

[OH71RRunner]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I did have a plywood box around the speakers under the package tray at first. Being more of a gearhead than an audio expert, I built it out of 3/8" plywood. I removed it and did not notice any difference. Maybe the wood did more to create echo? I will look at the parts for model numbers. Chances are, I cheaped out on the speakers since I can be slow to learn on some things. I used to aim for the middle and later have to upgrade to get the quality I want.

Your homemade boxes would be sufficient depending on size as long as they are sealed. Liquid nails works great for the inside. About .25 cubic feet per speaker is all that's needed. (Too much bigger will give similar results as not having a box.) Pack them full of poly-fill. And make sure they are sealed to the package tray, same with the speakers. You can just run some strips of foam insulation for both.
Several things to check is your wiring, EQ settings, and the speakers themselves. If they are older, they could be blown (some of these have been mentioned already).

 

[69a100]

Headphones.. man Headphones.. Screw the car stereo save the money for hop up parts..

This is just another accident waiting to happen!
For what it's worth KD, is the system wired correctly? The positive speaker wire to the + on the speaker, _ to the _? Just throwin out ideas.

 

[USatC]

Your homemade boxes would be sufficient depending on size as long as they are sealed. Liquid nails works great for the inside. About .25 cubic feet per speaker is all that's needed. (Too much bigger will give similar results as not having a box.) Pack them full of poly-fill. And make sure they are sealed to the package tray, same with the speakers. You can just run some strips of foam insulation for both.
Several things to check is your wiring, EQ settings, and the speakers themselves. If they are older, they could be blown (some of these have been mentioned already).

So build like a sub box for the speakers?

 

[Kern Dog]

This is just another accident waiting to happen!
For what it's worth KD, is the system wired correctly? The positive speaker wire to the + on the speaker, _ to the _? Just throwin out ideas.

I did not know that that mattered! The terminals ends are different, one wide and one narrow. Those are hard to do wrong. At the stereo deck, there are 4 channels to connect to. I am "pretty sure" that I connected each of the plain speaker lead wires to each of the 4 wires and connected the other 4 wires with tracers to a common ground. I should have written this all down when I installed this thing.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

They are illegal here too I was just talking smack

 

[OH71RRunner]

So build like a sub box for the speakers?

Yes. Needs to be a sealed box. Just like a sub box.