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Kenwood Excelon DDX 7015 users please help!!Horrible midrange!!!

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Old May 26, 2005 | 07:35 PM
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Default Kenwood Excelon DDX 7015 users please help!!Horrible midrange!!!

Stock 350Z sound system. Non-Bose

Just installed one in my 350Z. Love it! Except for the sound quality. The midrange is absolutely HARSH!!!! The only way I am able to make it sound decent is to set the midrange to 2k on the 3band parmetric eq and then max it out (-8). It helps, but it still seems to get harsh when your half to 3/4 volume.

Bass is set to flat
mid set to 2k, -8
high set to 17.5, +2

Now before you blame the stock speakers, I have experienced the EXACT same problem with the exact model in a Chrysler 300, Ford Ranger, and another 350Z running a 4 channel amp. These were all customer cars that bought the 7015 new. All cars required you to set the mid to -6 to -8 to get the harshness to ease up.

It would seem that the addition of an eq would remeady this, but remember, we are starting out with what appears to be a screwed up signal.

Has anyone else out there experienced this?

Anyone have any suggestion?

P.S.
NOT the install. 9 year veteran of car audio install. Never experienced something this extream with no more than a head unit install.
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Old May 27, 2005 | 06:34 AM
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mentioned this on the other forum... try setting your crossover levels in the Audio Setup menu. The high & midranges should be set to a 100-120Hz threshold.
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Old May 27, 2005 | 07:25 AM
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Hmmn. I didnt have to turn the midrange down at all.

post up what you find. I'd like to know what everyone has set also. I really dont understand the equalizer settings on the 7015.
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Old May 27, 2005 | 07:35 AM
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yeah i haven't even messed with my frequencies and it sounds clean to me.
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Old May 27, 2005 | 09:54 AM
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maybe you need to give the speakers a lil time to break in... speakers usually sound tinny and metallic from the start -- at least from what i've experience with home theatre sound systems
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Old May 27, 2005 | 03:33 PM
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Appreciate all the replies.

Crossovers set to 100 high pass on the front and rear.

Remember, nothing has been changed other than the radio in my car. Speakers are all stock Nissan. Even in the other vehicles listed up top, all had the same sound. Some vehicles were running aftermarket speakers, amps , subs ect...... all had the same kind of midrange ring.

With the loud button it seems to help a little, but seems to only mask the problem. The problem is not in the midbass, its in the mid range. Vocals and guitars will Scream at you, to the point that it hurts, and this is just a hair over half volume. Stock speakers with no amp. Deck power only.

It does sound pretty good with the settings I listed above, mid set at 2k with the level adjusted as far down as it will go -8. I just wish I did not have to do that. It leaves me no room to fine tune it.

Since I have delt with 4 of these radios and all sound the same way, was wondering if any one else with this radio has had the same experience?

Going to hook up an old Alpine 11 band eq this weekend to see what it sounds like. I'll keep you guys informed.
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Old May 27, 2005 | 04:14 PM
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The weird thing is that I actually turned up the midrange on mine (its at like +2). Do you have the ZONE stuff setup right?
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Old May 27, 2005 | 05:06 PM
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Originally Posted by 35ounces
The weird thing is that I actually turned up the midrange on mine (its at like +2). Do you have the ZONE stuff setup right?
Iwish that were the case here. The Zone set up just distributes 2 audio sources to 2 different sets of speakers. I.E. radio playing on the front speakers with CD playing on the rear.

Now I have changed the vehicle size setting, or what ever they call it, to wide. Thats the only thing that sounded decent. I am pretty familuar with the radio and have tried changing everything I could think of. I have even tried turning everything else up and leaving the mid set to 0, didnt work. If you set everything up for flat (pretend you disconnected the battery for the car and then reconnected it) it sounds like the midrange setting for 2500hz to 6000hz are set to +20 and everything else is set to 0. need more adjustment
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Old May 27, 2005 | 09:26 PM
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Playback a white noise track from a CD and check the levels using an acoustic analyzer. If you don't have an analyzer you might have a simple level meter like you can get at Radio Shack for about $100. For that to work you have to play back each frequency one at a time - again using a lab CD to playback the frequencies while recording/observing the reproduction levels.

As a note: I coached two SPL competition winners by having the guys playback CD's with pure tones vice the more complex music that most people were using. The judge's meters weren't filtered so I just had them play tones until they found the resonate frequency of their truck and car. This normally around 330-350 Hz in the mid-base. The competition changed their rules after my two sailors walked away with trophys.
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Old May 28, 2005 | 07:25 AM
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Aren't the bose speakers 2ohm? That might be the issue. Change them out for an aftermarket set.
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Old May 28, 2005 | 02:21 PM
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Originally Posted by lil ze
Aren't the bose speakers 2ohm? That might be the issue. Change them out for an aftermarket set.
Originally Posted by Tyler
Stock 350Z sound system. Non-Bose
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Old May 28, 2005 | 02:38 PM
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yeah but the stock system does have strange ohm speakers as I recall. I would try other speakers first too.
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Old May 28, 2005 | 04:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Armitage
Pwned..

But yeah, check the resistance on the speakers.
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Old May 28, 2005 | 06:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Tyler
9 year veteran of car audio install.
Then you should know how worthless stock speakers are. LOL
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Old May 28, 2005 | 07:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Santacruzslick
Then you should know how worthless stock speakers are. LOL
Come on guys, pay attention. As I stated in the first post, this is not only a problem on my car, but in a chrysler 300, ford ranger, and another 350Z with AFTERMARKET speaker and amps.

If my car was factory BOSE I would have said something.


Take a listen to someones non-bose with an aftermarket head unit. It really does not sound that bad. I do plan to do a full system, but I want to sort out this head unit mid range issue. No sense moving foward if I am going to need to get a different head unit.
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Old May 28, 2005 | 08:00 PM
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If you have changed cars , speakers, amps, the only other thing would be to try an external eq with crossover.
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Old May 29, 2005 | 08:16 PM
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So how did the acoustic analyzer work out for you?
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