New guy here. I have been lurking for a few weeks to get a feel of what I need to do to increase the quality of my sound in my 08 screw. Situation is this. Have the audiophile setup and wanted to raise the front stage for better quality highs, since our legs cover most of the speakers. Decided to pull the stockers out and replace them with Infinity Reference 6820cs in the front and 6822 in the rear for the passengers. I left the stock audiophile sub intact and left the stock amp for the sub alone. So bottom line is; new speakers running off the HU through an Infinity 475 amp mounted on the back wall. Picked up the truck and this is the worse sounding system I have ever heard. There is zero base from the sub, no matter what I do with the settings. There is static so loud I cant play the cd or radio. When I crank up the volume, its freaking really loud though. I asked the owner of the shop whats up with this and he stated this is what it sounds like with the gain set so high. I am still not sure he knows what the hell he is talking about. He said the static will go away when I bring it in next week and he turns the gain down. Is that a true statement?
Questions I have are;
Does the gain cause such static that is ridiculously loud and annoying?
Why does my sub not produce bass when the speakers are running on a seperate amp?
How can I fix this?
I would appreciate any feed back from you fellas. thanks in advance.

 

You shouldn't hear any static at all. First of all he should have your gains set low then go to higher setting. Why wasn't it set properly the first time?

Is the sub producing any sound at all?

Did the guy run a new power wire to the new amp? Maybe he unhooked the subs power wire and plugged it into the new amp?

Static could be from a bad ground too.

 

I thought as much. I felt the static was not normal. He said the amp is pushing alot of power causing the static. He also stated the stock sub will not produce any bass until I crank it up alot. I tried, and its so loud the speakers make my ears bleed before I hear any bass, although there is some bass noticed. I asked if he disconnected the sub and he stated no, ad there is some bass when cranked. It is sad cause this fella has been around for quite a few years. He is not a kid, ya know!
He ran a new line from the battery to the amp and new wires to the new speakers with LOCs for each front and rear channel. I would asume this is normal. The stock sub used to sound good even at low volume. Never had to crank it up a third of the way to get some thump out of it. Would turning the gain down on the infinity amp help with the static? Also the sound is incredibly loud and one bar in volume on the stock HU is already really lound. Could this be why the sub is not producing?

 

Front speakers are 90 watts rear are 60 watts. The amp is 90 watts X 4 at 2 ohm. The gain should be turned down some on the rears anyways. Try turning the gain down and see what happens.

Do the factory speakers have a factory amp?

Where is the ground wire for the infinity amp?

Hopefully someone will chime in with more knowledge than me. I feel your frustration.

 

The speakers are running off the Infinity 475 and the stock sub is still running off the stock built in amp. The amp is grounded to the seatbolt/frame.

 

First off, turn your gains down. If your speakers are loud with one notch on your stock HU, then the gains have to be almost cranked. There is no reason they should be cranked up.
Turning the gains down should help reduce the static, but not fix it probably.
Second, look at your ground. Make sure its a solid ground straight to body, paint scraped off, clean, etc.
Finally, dont take anything to this guy again; sounds like he is just running you around and feeding you some BS. He should have never let it leave his shop if he knew it wasnt set up right.

 

AMEN! Loud does not hurt speakers, distortion hurts speakers. I can't believe there's an audio shop anywhere that would cut a customer loose after work with the system sounding like you describe. Pitiful...

 

I realized a long time ago. If you want something done right, do it yourself. My mistake for trusting these clowns. I researched alot and called Crutchfield and resourced much of my info from you guys here on the forum and sort of fixed my hiss problem. The speakers sound pretty good now. I removed the back seat myself and rewired the ground. Set the gains the way they should of been set in the first place.
Listen to this. When I removed the back seat I noticed 6 long deep screwdriver gashes running across the top of my Infinity amp. I mean this took effort to do, I almost freaked out over this and then realized its covered by the back seat. I guess I should be mad about that. Then I noticed a black grease stain on the rear headrest, should be mad about that too. Found trimmed wire strands all over the back seat to include in the seat as well. I am starting to hate the installer. I have little kids that sit back there, could of been pretty painful if I did'nt go through it with a fine tooth comb. I also noticed he ran the remote off the accessory instead of the HU. Why? Why Not? He told me the crowbar marks can be repainted......Yea they used a crow bar to remove the bottom seat, they say had to be removed to get the back seat off. So now the black metal where the lever to lift the seat is all chewed up and needs repainting. I'll do it myself...
$360.00 for an amp install and rear, front components installed. This is the price I pay for being lazy.

 

Go back to that shop, tell them you want them to pay for new, or at least fix, all the crap they screwed up. Give the MFers hell, I would be pissed. Let them know you will spread the word that they flat out suck.

Some people should just not install audio equipment..

 

******* that S***. That really pisses me off. These are the people that give this profession a HORRIBLE NAME.

1) Its easy as friggin hell to get the back seat off. Let alone a CROWBAR?!? Are you effin kidding me??? I have NEVER used a crowbar in all 7 yrs of installing. Thats not a car-appropriate tool.

2) Gashing your amp, then hiding it? Thats trash. I would have a guys *** in the shop for that.

3) Grease happens, at least clean it.

4) Wire trimmings I sometimes leave... But only when I cant get them all out... :o

5) Letting your truck out the door with static?!? Thats BS.

******* that shop. RAISE HELL! They had no respect for your vehicle or their customers. Put the word out, what they did, Take pictures and post them up. If you have to, throw out the words "lawsuit" and see what they do to fix the problem.

 

yeah just go to them raise hell and state that you want the static fixed and all the wiring re-checked and then want the bass to work with volume at a normal level not just cranked.

 

update on the horrible install. I went back and raised hell, so he ordered me a new amp. I will install it my self though.
A few questions, now that I had more time to do research and check the entire install.
1. The amp kit he used is a Raptor 10 AWG. The Infinity amp states in the directions to use 8 AWG as a minimum. Does it matter? The draw on it is 72 amps?

2. The hi/lo pass are two Pyramids behind the HU with adjustments on them. I adjusted the gain on the amp but never adjusted anything on th LOCs. Shoud I adjust the LOCs first then adjust the gains on the amp? I figured I would ask here before I started messing with the LOCs. I have really no idea what they do and would not want to damage anything.

Thanks for any input or feedback.

 

What a friggin DIPSH*T... 10ga?!? Raise cane about that too. I would be running 4 against that. With the distance and amperage that runs you into either 4 ga or 2 ga. Depends on exact length...

 

Raptor besides, so thats about 12 gauge compared to any other wire...
I would probably be running 4 gauge back to that amp too.

Check out the LOCs, he probably has them cranked all the way up....

Locs should be adjusted first, then the amp.

 

So, Do you recommend I rewire power to 4 AWG?

For the LOCs do I return the amp to lowest gain setting and center the treble and bass on the HU prior to setting them. I assume the settings on the LOCs are similar in principle to the gain on the amp.

I am starting to appreciate that little changes = big gains with amped systems. Could be dangerous$$$ since I am OCD when it comes to my truck!