OK I am really fighting with my stereo
not much is going right

First my CD player is skipping when playing mp3s. I tried the same CD of mp3s on my PC, and they play fine. WTF? I would rewind after hearing the skip, and the song would skip again at the exact same spot??? But it appears to be fine on my PC, and the original mp3 file plays fine.

Second I cannot figure out the whole foldering and cover art thing on my CD player. I tried organizing the mp3 discs by artist folder then individual album folders inside of the artist folder. And the CD player would not let me navigate the individual albums cause apparently there were no playable files in the root folder. WTF??? I even read the manual and it says the mp3 discs can be up to 8 roots deep. So then I just burnt a CD of mp3 albums, which seems to be ok, but there is no cover art and all my mp3s are tagged (correctly).

Pioneer's site gives this bullshit response

WTF does that mean?

Third I really think something is missed wired as far as my speakers. These infinities sound like the mids are bottoming out on only medium volume levels.
I listened to my friend's JBLs (also Harman Kardon CRAP) and his sounded much better!!!! I also drove my friends Civic EX (with stock speakers) today and her speakers did not bottom out like this either.

I mean these infinities could just blow so much major dick. But after hearing my friend's JBL Power Series, I am thinking something is miss wired. My guess is something is miss wired at the amp since I ran all new speaker wire. I know for a fact when my friend was helping me install the amp, the right and left channels (front seat) were crossed so we simply switched the right and left RCAs for the front going into the amp. But Where should I start?

 

last night, I burnt another CD and this time it did not skip (HUH?)
and I finally figured out the cover art. Apparently you have to use the poineer software to get covers to show up. Proprietary crap IMO!

now as far as the speakers anyone have any thoughts?

I just cannot understand how these infinities have zero bump to them. I am sending them 440 watts (well gain is turned down some). I just does not make sense that some stock speakers from a civic bump more and my friends JBL power series seem to hit the lower notes with more clarity.

 

it seems they did not wire it properly to the amp.. can you send me a vid clip of it playing, i might be able to help you out more... ooooor they didnt wire the amp properly to the battery therfore there is a lack of power.

not to insult you. but did you make sure the bass was turned up from the deck?

someone came in today and they didnt know how to work the deck and turn up their bass....

 

I know the power is fine going to the amp. I bought a fosgate 8 gauge amp kit and it is wired directly from the battery to the amp. In fact all the wiring was new: stinger speaker wire and some street wires, fosgate amp kit, stinger braided 4 way RCA for from the stereo to amp, some dynomat extreme for the sail panels(rip off), fosgate side mounted battery terminal, 3M speaker wires connectors, three or four rolls of 3M and Radio Shack electrical tape. None of the stock wiring was used. In fact my friends removed all the stock wiring except what is in the doors. (they actually unbound the stock wiring and removed the speaker and amp wires).
Second I am quite familiar with my head unit. I have been through it backwards and forward. It has a 16 band equalizer for adjusting the bass, mids, treble, etc....
My headunit does not have bass controls or treble controls only the EQ.

The trouble, I think, came about when my friend and I flipped the amp over, a couple weeks after the initial install. (Originally the amp was going to be mounted where the spare tire goes, but instead it was mounted on the sloped side of the hatch well. And therefore the originally planned wires were not long enough to reach the amp unless it was upside-down, where the letters JL where upside-down that is) But I do not remember the speakers clearly pushing the lower notes before this either.
Anyways, after we turned the amp right side up, we were doing some testing and my friend determined that the front left and right were backwards. I suggested simply switching the RCAs going to the amp, since I would have thought this would correct the problem.

Could reducing the gain on the amp or adjusting the sensitivity, change the behavior I am hearing from the speakers? My friends are great at wiring cars, not their first, but they were much more timid as far as adjusting the amp.

 

440 watts a piece??? That is wayyyyyy too much for infinitys. Even if you have $1000 speakers they would only need like 400 watts peak power
turn the gain down on ur amp, turn ur hadunit 3/4 of the way up, then adjust the amp to as loud as u want it to possibly get. Then, make sure the frequency for the speakers is set to high pass filter and is at about 120Hz

lemme kno
-Scott

 

440 Watts is the total amp output at 14.5 Volts. I have the amp's sensitivity set just under 3/4, so it would be really closer to 80 watts per speaker.

Also you mentioned a 120 Hz high pass filter, you do realize I do not have a sub woofer? At 120 Hz I think I would be severely limiting the sound I am hearing. I am not excepting ground thumping bass from mid range drivers but I would have thought their sound would be more full and would have the ability to reach down to 50 or more likely 60 Hz quite easily. When I looked at the Infinity's specs, they are supposedly able to reproduce sounds as low as 35 or 45 Hz (cannot remember which).

As far as adjusting the gain/sensitivity, I will try to re adjust the it using your method.

 

yes I realize its speakers. I do this everyday for a living so you can trust me. Whenever we install a system, whether its custom or not, we sert all crossovers to 100 or 125 Hz, depending on the application.

 

But I do not have a sub, won't cutting off the sound at 100 or 125Hz make so I do not hear any of the lower notes?

If I upgraded to some speakers like focals or mb quarts, would I be able to run them without a sub without having to cross them over at 100-125Hz?