Ok, well finally put the "new" head unit in. Its a DEH-P8450MP. Now, my old Sony head unit was clear as all daylight.

This head unit is different. The sub is running at about 15% strength and all on top end. What i mean is theres no "umpfff" in it, just a "boom" sound. You hear it, but unlike it used to do, i cant feel it.

The speakers arent very clear either, and run no-where near as loud.

So help? :D

Thanks, Andy

Silly question, but you haven't got the subwoofer plugged into the front or rear preouts instead of the subwoofer preout have you? If you run the subwoofer off one of these and they happen to be high passed (for example at 80Hz or 125Hz) you'll get bugger all bass.

Is the subwoofer playing higher frequencies at all?

Very sure its the sub pre-out

what cutoff is the sub set at on the headunit/amp? Is it highpassed at the amp?

The amp only runs a LPF. Theres a HPF option on the HU, but i dont run it.

what pre out voltage does the new h/u have compared to the old one?

If you mean the 4x**** both are 4x50W

pre out voltage on the headunit, eg 2v 4v 8v

I hate books.........the Sony booklet doesnt say a Voltage as such.

And my friend failed to provide me with all the booklets for the Pioneer unit. The box says "High-Voltage"

Anything else I can give, stats-wise?

the deck had 4volt pre-outs (pioneer)
whats the model no. of the sony?

Cdx-s2210x

Is there a sub control menu on the head unit??? If there is find it, you may have the sub output turned off on the head unit... When i have mine turned off, i still have a little output to the sub, so it still pumps but you cant really notice it. I have a pioneer unit also.

Yeah it has one, and its turned on!!

Could be why you got an $800 headunit for $100....but
IF:
You are using the sub out
The sub out is switched on
The amp and sub have not been touched, except for the new RCA's
The RCA's are plugged into the right channels on your amp
The sub is switched to lpf

Then i'd start looking at the internal amplifier on your headunit as the problem. Some headunits have been known to lose clarity with age as the internal amp on them wears out.

Then i'd start looking at the internal amplifier on your headunit as the problem. Some headunits have been known to lose clarity with age as the internal amp on them wears out.
Except the sub doesnt run off the headunits amplifier, and iv never heard of any headunit losing clarity with age... maybe if its blown/overdriven

Except the sub doesnt run off the headunits amplifier, and iv never heard of any headunit losing clarity with age... maybe if its blown/overdriven
Technically the sub out does have an amplifier as it increases the output signal when the volume is turned up (but i know what you mean :)). Maybe it's not called an amplifier as such, but whatever it is that regulates this voltage signal has worn out?
And yeh when i said age i meant just worn out with constant use/abuse, not so much how old the deck is. I've seen a mates sony deck do this as well as my fiances old kenwood deck.

Well..........actually looking at it today, cause it wasnt pissing rain, and there was light so i could see....

The reason its sounding crap is because the sub isnt working....I had an inkling it wasnt running. Put it through a few songs with the boot open and no movement. The reason for the lack of clarity is the speakers are trying to put out lots of bass and treble and probably cant handle it.

So my sub isnt working even though its plugged in. Ideas now Tim? :D

Try using a different pre-out to see if the sub moves at all, could be a blown sub out channel.
Make sure the RCA's haven't come loose at the back of the headunit.
Hard to say without actually being there to take a look.

Come down lol you only live in Pakenham :D

Come down lol you only live in Pakenham :D
Hmmm i might be free tonight actually if you want me to come have a look?

I got work 5:30 til 9. Me and dad will work on this after i come back from uni.

However keep the ideas coming people :D

loudness control?

loudness control?

Played with em

sub isnt working... is the amp working? are the lights on? if so then check resistance across the sub terminals (could be blown sub)

If the lights arent on the amp could be in protection, check pos and neg terminals as they might be shorting out. Check speaker terminals as they might be shorting out.

Check fuse at battery check ground... check everything.

Sounds like Tim's on the right track....

While you are at it, make sure that the H.U. isn't in "network" mode... It's a little switch at the back of the H.U. on your particular model, which will put high/mid/low outs on the 3 sets of RCA outputs, instead of front/rear/sub.

Just a long shot, but if you have got the H.U. in networking mode, and have got the "high" RCA's to the fronts, and the "mid" RCA's to the subwoofer amplifier, it would explain the problem you are having with the lack of output to the sub (as well as the lack of midbass output to the front).

If the sub amplifier hasn't got a filter applied, then it would be playing mid freqs to the sub, and you should still hear the subwoofer playing upper freqs. However, if the amp has a low pass filter applied, then you probably wouldn't hear anything at the sub, because the amp's low pass filter was stopping the mid freqs coming through.

---This--- (http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:r9jidcF_40AJ:fileshare.eshop.bg/index.php%3Fwhat%3Dsearch2%26searchstring%3DPionee r%2B-%2BDEH-P8400MP%255B1%255D.part1+DEH-P8400MP+network&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=au) is a link to get a manual for the H.U. It's listed as a DEH-P8400MP (because its the American version)