wallthomp

Bought this radio with the kick panel speakers for my 67 cutlass convertible. It looks good but the sound quality is terrible. Sounds like a tin can. Any advice would be appreciated.

oldcutlass

Welcome to the site, post some pictures of your car when you get a chance. Did you make sure the polarity of the speakers are correct? I'm assuming you have 6" round speakers, they aren't very good alone acoustically. Do you have speakers in the rear?

wallthomp

wallthomp

Yes 6" round. No speakers in the rear. Tried polarity both ways no change. Tried 6 x9s. Temporarily they did sound better but not much. I'll try to post pics of both my cars later. Thanks.

ziff396

There is a bass boost function on these. I can't remember how I was told to program it in. It does make a big difference. Maybe check the manual or contact the manufacturer.

wallthomp

Thanks I'll look for it.

oldcutlass

There may also be an Bass boost, loudness, hi output, and an equalizer function to choose between flat, classic, hip hop...or custom.

72cutlassconv

I had a custom autosound radio in my '56 Chevy truck. It wasn't a good radio. The only good thing about it was how it looked. The backlighting went out, the tuner had a mind of its own and at times it wouldn't allow for adjustment of bass/ treble. I sold the truck once I bought the cutlass and I installed an alpine deck with Bluetooth in the Olds.

Lady72nRob71

Better speakers will help but you will need more real power to make it sound better and not garbled.
Regardless of what the advertised (lied) power rating is of the radio itself, it will be low in reality (like 7W / ch).
You will need an external amp to make it sound good. A real 30W RMS per channel will be my recommended minimum. If you like it loud, go for 50 or over.
There is just not much room in a standard DIN size chassis for including the parts for a good switching power supply so most head units are severely lacking of power. The high wattage numbers companies come up with for these things should be a crime.

Mike77

I have the same one . Big piece of junk. Did you notice when you took it out of the box the deck weight about 2 OZ. No way for the deck to ever pump out sound.

Fun71

Hey, they say right in the specs at the back of the manual that the power rating is measured at 10% or more distortion levels. That's not lying, right?

Mr Nick

You need this. http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/ktp-445u

ziff396

Yes it does make a big difference. Not saying good. I run an Alpine 4 channel amp on mine. Things are good now.

wallthomp

Thank I'll check out that alpine amp.

KDV

I've heard the same thing about these radios. So I went with a Retrosound Model 2 in my 72 CS. I'm very happy with it!

It's already got the amp control wire on the radio so the amp comes on with the radio. Bluetooth, usb, 1/8" auxillary for iPod.

With a 4 chan amp, 2 - 6x9's, and a 12" sub it sounds great!

I think I found the best deal on Ebay.

Lady72nRob71

In theory it is attainable with straight DC running into four 4 ohm loads, a few milliseconds until the whole system burns up.
PEAK power they call it... One burst could in fact hit that, but it would be a burst you could not even hear since it would be so short.

wallthomp

wallthomp

Will an amp improve the sound quality as well as boost volume?

70cutty

The amp will boost the volume however those units are cheap and crappy so the sound quality they produce is very poor. Amp only amplifies the sound produced by the head unit.
Customsound is a very poor quality unit, had one in my Chevelle. Looks good.........but that's about it. If you can return it.

hookem horns

Any amp adds a level of distortion to the input signal, but improves your listening experience. Never claim to be an audiophile, but I believe amp and speakers have a much bigger impact on your perception of quality than the head unit. I have this unit which is way underpowered without an amp and the electonics are kinda fried (presets, etc) but that seemed to happen after i accidentally shorted the power while working under the dash. This winter I'll replace it with the USA230 and an amp, or maybe find a factory AM (even if dead) and hide a modern system somewhere besides the dash.

drop top olds

The key issue on the power rating of any car stereo is to look at the rated power and the distortion at the rated power. 10% distortion is not a realistic measure. I don't think anyone would be satisfied listening to music at 10% distortion. When looking for a power amplifier for automotive use it is critical to find manufacturer power ratings at a reasonable distortion level say 0.5% or 1% at the highest. Also pay attention to the speaker ohm load the power rating is based on. Just my .02 from a vintage audiophile.

jag1886

You might go and talk to a local stereo shop, a lot of them carry those radios. I would think that an amp would help as long as your unit has preouts to hook it up. You may also be having a problem with cheaper speakers and a rather small enclosure, I have found that a lot of 6.5 speakers like an enclosure the size of the inside of the door to sound good, those kick panel mounts where really made for looks not function.

Fun71

The ones I have sound very good. I upgraded to the better Pioneer speakers and I am driving them with a good head unit with pre-amp outputs and a 50 Watt per channel amp.

Could it sound better? Certainly, but I didn't want to cut holes in my doors.


And I have to agree with the others that those Custom Autosound radios are not really high quality. I bought one several years ago and sent it back due to its overall "cheapness" in addition to the high pitched whine from the tape player that came through the speakers. There was definitely something wrong inside that one.

wallthomp

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for they're replies. I've been driving my 70 cutlass since 1986. And I've had the 67 since 1990. I can definitely see the benefits to a site like this one.