I installed a new Alpine 9857 headunit and two Alpine 17C2 front door speakers. I removed the middle subs for now because one is blown and the other is going out. So the only stock pieces right now are the factory amp and two rear 4" speakers in the hatch. My problem so far is, it's sounds bad. If I turn the volume up to say a little past "15" (whatever db's the equals to by Alpine), it sounds like it's distorting. It cracks on some highs and the bass is horrible. I tried adjusting the BBE, treble and bass to find something that can sound clean and still hit somewhat, but no luck so far. I ordered two new factory subs for the sail panels since I don't want huge subs in my hatch. If I can get my bass back after installed these new factory subs, I'll be a bit happier, because right now it sounds flat! I was thinking the distortion is because the front speakers are 4 ohms, and I'm having to turn the volume up louder just to hear it, as well as fading more sound to the front. If I can't figure something out, I might just take these speakers back, buy factories to replace them, and keep the HU. I would imagine this HU would be better than the stock HU, and should work well if I was to have factory speakers all around again with factory amp, or am I wrong? Well, fill me in guys. I am a dunce are car audio, so I need all the help I can get.

 

You need to wire the front speakers directly to the headunit its still running through the factory amp

 

1.) When you installed the front door speakers, were there two sets of wires to each factory speaker? If so, then you need to get those wires routed to the individual woofer and tweeter of your Alpine speaker. If you did not do this then you are driving the Alpine speaker with only a tweeter or a woofer signal. Both will sound bad. The tweeter signal needs to go in before the tweeter cap.

2.) If you do not intend to use a subwoofer... you need speakers in the sail panels. That is ~70% of your bass in the factory setup.

3.) The hatch speakers are garbage, and will always sound like garbage.

4.) You can use your JVC head unit (or any aftermarket) with the factory amp. The factory head unit simply sends speaker level signals to the amp. By replacing the head unit you are sending the amp a better signal. And the amp is stronger than what is in your JVC head unit.


Having said all of that you need to make up your mind in terms of budget and what you want. Band-aiding up the factory stereo system is (imho) an utter waste of time if you want good sound.

Cheapest way to good sound:

1.) Aftermarket head unit
2.) Aftermarket front door speakers
3.) Aftermarket amp with 50-100 watts x 4 channels. Front channels drive doors, rear channels drive sub.
4.) Stealthbox + 10" sub of choice or alternative sub solution.
5.) Disconnect factory sail and hatch speakers alltogether. Sell factory monsoon stuff on ebay.

Adjust to taste with more amplifier, sub, or rear speakers for rear fill.

You can do all of this for as cheap as a couple hundred bucks if you buy a used amp and sell your factory stuff.