Disappointed with Pioneer TS-Q131C

[ScarySquirrel]

Hi all,

I bought and fit these replacement speakers this week. They are the direct replacement ones which were really easy to install. I bought them as I wasn't fussed about a massive improvement after spending £££s, I just wanted something cheap but with a slight upgrade on the standard setup.

I have an Alpine IDA-X305 head unit, which I used with the standard speakers and it was ok. Now with these new speakers I'm really disappointed, I actually think it sounds worse. It's the bass in particular which is terrible.

I don't really know how to explain it, but it's just a really hollow, and irritating sounds. Rihanna's 'Who's that Chick' came on the radio, and the repeating bass from that was enough to make me turn it off. I wish I could explain it better.

Has anyone else been disappointed by the bass on these? I wasn't expecting a massive improvement, but I certainly didn't want a downgrade!!

I'm tempted to go back to standard speakers and send these back.

 

[Bluebeard]

You get what you pay for unfortunately.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

They were £70 odd! Is that not enough for some above average speakers? How much is a decent set?

 

[highwolf]

For home sounds it's a good rough rule to spend at least twice the price of your player on your amp and 2x your amp on your speakers. Probably doesn't translate that well to ICE but having a £250 head unit with £70 speakers won't make for great sounds IMO.

 

[Bluebeard]

i personaly think those pioneers don't look heavy duty enough.

 

[mr angry]

Check that you have wired them correctly, by that I mean polarity wise as this can have the effect of one speaker cancelling out the bass frequencies of the other if the polarity is reversed 9even although they will still both transmit sound). If they are wired differently the cone on one will move outwards whilst the other moves inwards.

 

[treemanx]

Ive got them in mine, were miles better than standard.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

Check that you have wired them correctly, by that I mean polarity wise as this can have the effect of one speaker cancelling out the bass frequencies of the other if the polarity is reversed 9even although they will still both transmit sound). If they are wired differently the cone on one will move outwards whilst the other moves inwards.

I didn't wire anything though, they just have a connector which you plug in like the standard ones. Could something on my headunit be wired incorrectly?

 

[mr angry]

Yes, it could be wired incorrectly at either end to cause this.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

Ok I'll check that out.

I listened to some Rage Against the Machine this morning and it was much better, perhaps it was just the song I heard yesterday which was odd.

 

[Yellow Dave]

I run these off the standard HU and admittedly there's not huge amounts of base in them but they sound quite clear. I replaced the rear speakers with some old Infinity Reference range co axials and that really made the most difference to clear bass

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Check that you have wired them correctly, by that I mean polarity wise as this can have the effect of one speaker cancelling out the bass frequencies of the other if the polarity is reversed 9even although they will still both transmit sound). If they are wired differently the cone on one will move outwards whilst the other moves inwards.

This ^ make sure you've got them in-phase otherwise they'll be cancelling each other out. My mate had a 106 years and years ago, fitted some kicker 6.2i in the doors, which were good money at the time. Anyway, they sounded crap! At least until you opened the door wide....then you'd suddenly get a load of bass. Turned out one was wired the opposite way round, swapped it over and it was perfect after that, sounded great!

 

[tom_taylor]

Have you tried amping them separately?
You'll get a massive increase in both quality and volume!
If you're worried about wires and amps everywhere, just get a small one (the vibe nano's aren't bad for the money) and sling one under a seat, job done

 

[Xanda73]

Ok I'll check that out.

I listened to some Rage Against the Machine this morning and it was much better, perhaps it was just the song I heard yesterday which was odd.

Rage will take you to a place where sound quality matters little. Love the band; saw them at Wembley few years ago.

Did you fit the matching tweeters?

 

[FlashBastd]

I fitted these, initially I too was very disappointed, but stick with it, they do get better.

 

[ken182]

i got them for my clio 197

at first i wasnt impressed but after loads of messing around with the EQ i got a decent sound out of them in the end

also upgraded the rear speakers to pioneers and that improved things again

 

[jack_davey]

My mrs 182 has them and with near enough the same headunit (ida-x100) and I think they sound crap in comparison to the ones fitted to my FF from the factory.
Mine apparently had factory upgraded speakers according to the dealer, although I've never confirmed that.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

A bit of an update. They do sound better now, and today I have fixed my broken rear speakers (turns out the cables behind my HU were disconnected), this seems to have helped balance the sound out a great deal as well and now the bass is much better.

I also fitted the Tweeters today.

I'd love to get an entry level amp in there but I really wouldn't know how to get it all set up.

 

[gavswav_172]

So many guides on the internet mate give yourself a full day for amp installation and setup to speakers and you ll be fine. you ll learn fast when you get going. wirings my most hated job but when you get the speakers on tidied and working its rewarding. :rasp:

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Fade it from one side to the other (or is that balance?) .. If it sounds OK when one side or the other, the polarity needs swapping on one of the sides.

Fiddled with the EQ at all ? Is this MP3 music or 'out the shop' CDs ?

Rhianna's music is A) CRAP and B) Crap. Bought the OH her CDs for xmas, put it on my new hifi (£400 KEF speakers) and sounded like it was coming out of a phone through a letterbox. Crap. She is HOT though.

I had the standard front speakers, with a frequency cut to them, plus a sub in the boot doing all the low work. Sounded FANTASTIC in my last clio. First thing to go into the new one will be the sub

If you want to put an amp in .. bring it over here one (dry) weekend.. between me and Rob(bos) we'll sort it out in a few hours. Amping them will make a HUGE difference !

 

[T3gav]

Have you tried amping them separately?
You'll get a massive increase in both quality and volume!
If you're worried about wires and amps everywhere, just get a small one (the vibe nano's aren't bad for the money) and sling one under a seat, job done

Are you sure they're called a nano I can't find these on the tinternet?

 

[bmh.01]

They need tweaking for a bit and I was semi dissapointed with mine until I amped them, made a night and day difference. Think they just needed more power tbh.

 

[James28]

By amping them your defeating the object of them being direct fit lol. If your going down the amping route you can get a much better set of 13cm components for the same money.