Audio distortion question

[brianh1290]

Okay so as most of you have seen in my last post about my adventure of buying a new head unit, i asked what brand you all reccomend.
Well, for the money i have im not gonna get a alpine. I almost had one for 61 dollars plus shipping today and got outbid with 1 second left. I know a real kick in the nuts. Its okay ill just settle for something that works nice for now and save up for a nice alpine. The only thing that scares me about Pioneer or some other cheaper head units its not being able to equalize and adjust the sound besides just presets. I was told pioneer's dont have that. I'm worried if i get something cheaper it will distort sound even when the volume is not up real high.
Is this true that headunits can cause distortion no matter what the speakers are and the quality of them?
sorry for the noob question.
thanks!

[nine_deuce]

Actually, Pioneer has adjustments for low, mid, and treble. And if I'm not mistaken, you can even tweak those settings by frequency as well.

[jcoleman_11]

nine deuce is right, i own one, one of there most basic models too, the DEH-P4000UB. And yes, no matter the head unit, it will distort at high volumes. With a high pass filter (which this deck also had) though, you can get the volume much higher without distortion. Wont sound good unless you have a sub though.

[pear_b]

my HU has 7 band eq, and all the adjustments you need I bet, i know someone running this unit in a 150 db car, and the only problem is the cd player skips from the pressure, so dont call pioneer cheap, they are a hell of a lot better than alpine. Alpines a sell out company, look into pioneer, eclipse, kenwood, HU's.

[sonikaccord]

If your looking for volume, why not buy a nice amp?

[handovdoom]

Is this true that headunits can cause distortion no matter what the speakers are and the quality of them?

Yep.

A head unit is only going to output so much wattage. If your trying to put the volume to the point where it needs more wattage then the deck can provide, you're going to get clipping. This will cause distortion and can damage your deck and speakers.

IMO you really need a 4 channel amp if you want to do high volumes. Your typical aftermarket deck will do about 15watts RMS per channel. Mind you, you still need some half decent speakers in order to yield an amp.

[casterX]

Is this true that headunits can cause distortion no matter what the speakers are and the quality of them?
sorry for the noob question.
thanks!

#1 rule in audio: never cheap-out on your HU.. no matter how good/high-end EQ, AMP, and SPEAKERS you have.. it would still sound like garbage if you have some garbage HU..

garbage in = garbage out

[visualpoet]

Whoever told you Pioneer didn't have tone adjustments is an idiot. Even the $120 model has adjustments, mine has a seven band I think. Think about a four channel amp in the future, even if the wattage is the same as your HU, it's going to sound better and distort less.

[wherm]

I've always had better sound out of a pioneer head unit than alpine. Remember that your audio system will only sound as good as the weakest component. If anything, blow all the money you've got on a headunit first. An awesome head unit can even make your factory speakers sound good. Any upgrades from there will be that much better.

[nine_deuce]

Agreed, Kenwood is good as well. I've got an Excelon unit in my car, it has bass, mid, treble. Plus you can adjust the eq frequencies for the front and rear for the bass, mid, and treble. It's a great unit. I I paid around 200 for it on eBay.