Is this the way it is suppose to work?

I replaced my Shaker 500 with the AVIC D3. The subs are working fine. But, my rear speakers sound like they are all bass. Shouldn't they sound normal?

Also, can someone explain some of the settings, i.e, Non-fading output, cut-off frequency (which is optimal, 50-80-125, I have no idea), and any other settings that will help. I would really appreciate it, I am kind of a noob at this.

 

it sounds like you have a setting on the radio. Does that have a FIE(front image enhancment) feature on it? It makes the rear speakers a little less then full range to help draw the imaging to the front.

Settings, let me see if I can give you a brief rundown...

non-fading - this is commonly used for sub woofer outputs so that if you adjust the balance either left/right or front/back, this output will not fade so that the sub will play the same volume while you make balance/fading adjustments.

cut off frequency has to do with the cross-overs. There are 3 basic types of cross overs, low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass. a low pass cross over is for sub-woofers and will let you pick a frequency(the cut off frequency) and will then let all the frequencies BELOW your cut off frequency go to your amp/speakers. A high pass X-over is for mids/highs and lets you pick a cut off freq and will then let all frequencies ABOVE the cut off pass to your amp/speakers. A band-pass x-over is a little rare but is what the FIE option uses if you have it. It will allow frequencies between two cut offs to pass, this is good for a mid-woofer or as I said for the FIE option.

One more number related to cross-overs that you will see and are probably confused about is how many Dbs/octave is good or bad or even what it is. This is the slope that the Cut-off frequency works with which means how much of the frequencies NEAR the cut-off are allowed to play though. IT is impossible to cut off all freq EXACTLY at your cut-off unless you are seperating it at a digital level so the slope of the cross-over will determine how well it cuts off the rest of the frequencies near the cut off freq(now your really confused right?). A high number(24dbs/octave) means the slope is high and it will not allow much more then the cut-off freq to pass where as a lower number(12dbs/octave) will allow a little bit more sound to pass. Both have their good and bad points depending on use.

hope I didn't get too far over yer head.

 

Yeah, somewhat over my head.

I tried scanning the manual pages that apply but I can only scan to tiff's. That probably would have been very helpful to explain. Oh well.

There is one part that says I can touch"Normal" or "Reverse" to select the phase of subwoofer output. I selected "Normal".

The cutoff frequency choices are 50-85-125. Any suggestions? Or is this a user preference?

The HPF cutoff frequency choices are50-85-120. Again, any suggestions? Or is this also a user prefererce?

Any help here is greatly appreciated.

 

the phase of the woofer is literally just if you have it hooked up correctly or incorrectly. You can reverse the phase of the woofer by reversing the speaker wires going to it. Some decks/amps/processors have this option to make it easier as there are times you want it reversed but normally you want it on normal but if it sounds better reversed then by all means...

The cut off freqs will really depend on what size speakers you are driving. For a larger sub you do not want it playing high freq's so you want a low cut off for the low pass. You front speakers will proabably be fine at the 50 hz high pass.