Blue062LT

I have an 06 2LT with the Pioneer factory system w/sub. Installed a JVC double-din over the weekend using the $$ harness from Crutchfield. I was so excited... hooked the battery back up, fired up the JVC and was completely disappointed. Even after tweaking the audio settings, you had to have the volume turned up to 30 out of 35 to make it the same volume as halfway on the factory radio and the sound was distorting badly. I thought maybe it was the factory front door speakers so I yanked 'em and threw in the mids and crossover of an MB Quart set I had laying around. Clearer sound but still no volume. Is the JVC just not playing nice with the factory amp or did I get a bum radio? I ended up throwing the factory radio back in the dash during the game last night. Sounds hella good with the MB Quart mids now...

donbrew

My guess is the radio is putting out a different impedance than the speakers want.

Oldblue

X2 or did you replace the speakers?

donbrew

Here is a link discussing the various possibilities.
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/audi...pedance-38734/

Blue062LT

I'm not new to car audio. I had a two amp system in my S10 Xtreme. The head unit sends the signal to the factory amp and the amp sends signal to the speakers so the speaker impedence only matters to the amp. I still had the factory speakers in. Regardless, the back of my stock radio says 4ohm and so is the JVC. As a test, I swapped out the front door speakers and had the same issue. So really I'm wondering if anyone has had this experience when swapping to an aftermarket radio? I'm going to double check my harness to make sure I didn't swap wire polarity anywhere.

Oldblue

Check that , if all else fails contact Crutchfield

Blue062LT

So I missed the part in the Axxess wiring harness instructions where it tells you to use a screwdriver to adjust the output level on the little potentiometer on the harness. I'll reinstall it later this week and see if that resolves the crappy audio. Although I must say I do like the sound of the factory unit with the MB Quart ONX216 woofer in the door. I wired the factory speaker leads to the crossover and then new wire from it to the woofer. Can crank it all the way up and just keeps getting cleaner and never distorts.

Blue062LT

Over the weekend I hooked up the JVC unit and used the dial on the Axxess harness to adjust the output. It made a difference but the sound quality just wasn't there, not as rich and full as the stock radio. The bass wasn't as deep or as noticeable and the music in general just lacked presence and warmth. The radio reception was outstanding, I'll give it that. I still ended up putting the factory unit back in. A funny side note, I was surprised that the sticker on the back of the factory unit says Panasonic yet it's a "Pioneer" upgraded system. I really want to wire up my old Alpine single din from my truck just to compare and try to single out if it's the JVC or the stock amp not playing nice with aftermarket receivers. If it's the amp I'll be in for the fun of rewiring everything to run off my own amps. Then I know it will sound good.

donbrew

Would you also be amused to see a Panasonic sticker on a JVC unit? Or was it Sony? Anyway, all of those names got sold off in the past 20 years.

Now, I remember it was Sony/Superscope then JVC bought Superscope then.........

Remember when Emerson was a premium brand, before Montgomery Ward bought it?

skyline26

JVC isnt what they used to be. I got a really good deal on my JVC unit that I couldnt pass up, and after the install it was VERY weak compared to the stock headunit. I had to do a lot of tweaking with the settings and get better speakers to make up for the weak headunit.
Panasonic, Kenwood, Alpine and Clarion are pretty much the only decent companies around that still make kick ass systems!