PLZ HELP! My music hurts me!

[supermage]

Ok, first thing. Im a writer and less technical than any of you can possibly imagine. Please picture your grandma strapped up with tools and setting to work on a giant circuit-board. Please resist the temptation to eat me alive.

The Problem: My music has no belly (all mp3's are at 128 kbit, Is that best choice? Im told no difference to human ear between 320 kbit and 128kbit, so I chose more songs on one disk. Oh, btw I have the same problem using original disks aswell). The only thing that sounds ok is r'n'b toons. All other classic/prog rock music has no belly to it. I can play with the midrange settings on head unit (frequency and volume, and quotient whatever that is), but it doesnt solve the problem, just makes it not quite as bad. Im sorry I cant be more helpful with problem description, but 'no belly' says it all if u can imagine that.

I dont know what basic info people would need to try to help. If you need more than I give then plz let me know 8)

I bought some quality (IMO) equipment and had audio fitter fit it all.

Latest Kenwood mp3/cd player "System E's KDC-M907".
So many settings I dont know what to do with them (I know..Im dumb...we're not disputing that right). Manual doesnt help much tbh.

front = 300 pound Alpine component set (see amp for specs)

back = Alpines step down component set (no tweeters). Still bloody good speakers Im told

4-channel V12 Alpine amp to run front and rear sets is 4 x 55rms. (although cant lay my hands on the speaker info right now cos moving house the rms wattage basically matches the amp output)

mono V12 Alpine amp to run subwoofer is 1 x 350rms

sub = Alpine Type-R 12 inch boxed in standard Alpine box for 12 incher.

car = Audi tt coupe


Now Im guessing there is either a problem with head unit settings. (if anyone enjoys explaining basics to idiots go ahead and enlighten me on this headunits features), or the amp settings.

This doesnt feel like a problem someone can just solve with a little wand-waving, but if you could help me understand where to start, what to check, etc. I can do methodical, HONEST!
Fanks


Christine. x

[sss]

128kbps sucks !
anyway i dont know what u mean by saying "the music has no belly" try to use original audio discs and see if theres a difference or maybe your head unit got some stupid effect turned on like surround or "special"

[till]

its impossible to listen to real music in good quality in a car.

[Nisbeth]

If the problem is not remedied by using original cd's (test the difference between 128 kbps and 320 kbps for yourself ), then it might be because you have activated the crossovers on the headunit or on the subwoofer amplifier (I could explain it a little further by I suggest you read the manual for the headunit first )


/U.

[tuneman]

that may be your problem! how can you expect mp3's to sound good anyway??
i have been involved pretty heavily in the car audio scene for around 5 years or so' as a competetior in various formats and i can say that i cringe wenever i hear an mp3 regardless of how its been recorded etc.
its compressed, thats all there is to it and no matter what you do to it, it will never sound as good as a proper uncompressed cd audio format, regardless of what some people will tell you!

first of use a normal cd to evaluate your system! it may not be you car other than that if it dosent sound 'normal' your crossover settings could be wrong, the installer should have set them properly if he knew what he was doing, perhaps go back there and get them to check everything.
hopefully your fronts will be highpassed at a freq 80hz and above and the subs working below 80hz or there abouts, the rears may be set higher' they don't need to do much just add ambience to the system.
putting an RTA on it would tell you everything if the shop has one.

[chewy]

you may find that one or more of your speakers are out of phase as a result of being wired backwards. this means that the speakers, which are ment to be pushing and pulling the same direction at the same time, are actually cancelling each other out.

you could try reversing each speakers polarity one-at-a-time and listening untill you hear the "belly" come back into your music.

i have fixed this on a few peoples setups and having speakers out of phase tends to take the body out of the sound

hope i have been of some help