Kenwood radio help

[clk320x]

After having a Kenwood DNX4230BT fitted in place of my comand system the audio sounds worse!
This is ridiculous as surely aftermarket must sound at least equal to.a 13yr old system?
Anyway, I believe it's something to do with the settings
Anyone have experience tuning an aftermarket Headunit? What frequency should the HPF be for example etc?
Cheers

 

[Larkone]

Is 'worse' a specific technical term? Without knowing what is worse it is difficult to advise. Has it been connected to the speakers properly? Have you been through the setup in the manual? If you do not know how to setup for your speaker setup then I would get the installers to do it.

 

[brucemillar]

surely aftermarket must sound at least equal to.a 13yr old system?

Cheers

Not always the case. The Comand in my 2004, C55 is driving Harman Kardon and still sounds better than almost anything I have heard.

You need to look at what speakers you have installed and check that they are compatible with your head unit?
Is your head unit unit looking for a sub? Do you have a sub in the car?

Assuming that they are, then you need to follow the advice above and start adjusting the settings.

 

[clk320x]

I mean worse as the bass is far weaker, and the clarity seems less.

 

[clk320x]

There are a few settings that I'm clueless about such as the frequency and levels needed for Bass Middle Treble and the HPF settings in XOVER

 

[hotrodder]

A lot of the aftermarket stuff seems to be more bothered about flashing lights, adjustability and bling instead of sound quality whereas OEM stuff is usually far less flexible/adjustable but set up to sound about right 'out of the box'. As said assuming everything is connected up properly then it's a case of going through the manual and playing with the various settings or, if they do something similar to TVs (horrible default settings to stand out in a showroom full of other TVs etc) paying someone to set up listening position and the various other settings

 

[wu56Shoozz]

What was the original sound system with the Command, was it an HK unit??

 

[clk320x]

Believe it was a stock MB System, not Bose or anything fancy

 

[Lyserman]

Put your VIN up and someone will let you know what was originally installed.
It sounds like it is a Bose system as they do not respond well to an aftermarket HU.

 

[clk320x]

I'm sue it's not bose because if it had Bose the system shouldn't work at all because it wouldn't connect to the bose amp surely?

 

[clk320x]

I just don't understand how it can sound worse, it's not too bad just doesn't have the "crispness" that it used to have

 

[Lyserman]

It would work and it would sound horrible.
There are extra amps that drive the rear speakers and sub, plus the Bose speakers have a very low impedance that a lot of aftermarket HUs struggle with.
The only way to be sure is to check your datacard to see which system the car was supplied with.
If it is a standard system then you would notice an improvement, or at least it sounding the same unless the new HU is not connected properly.

Did you notice if you had a surround option in your original Comand settings?

 

[GP801]

The standard Comand is actually not that bad for sound. I am assuming given the age of you CLK its pre facelift like mine. I changed from the standard audio 10 to Comand and there was a significant improvement in sound quality. I can believe that an aftermarket unit may not sound as good.