CrossfireForum - The Chrysler Crossfire and SRT6 Resource - Biggest stereo bang for the buck mod

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Biggest stereo bang for the buck mod

This has been brought up before, but I want to discuss what I have found.

I used to be a big car stereo enthusiast and have built a few pretty nice car audio systems in my time. What I have noticed about the Crossfire (non-base coupe) sound system is that it really isn't that bad... after one small modification is done. The problem IMO is that there is an absolute overabundance of low frequency energy in the 100-200 hertz range with no possibility for the bass control to get rid of… and no fader to control the relative volume of the subs to the rest of the system. I have personally found that I usually had the bass control at about -7 or -8 to reduce the mid-bass sloppiness that it exhibited (IMO, too much mid-bass is the single biggest issue that can make a sound system sound terrible). This "extra" bass energy is coming from the poorly crossed over door bass/mids. In fact, I suspect those bass/mids may be running straight up (or close to it) and contributing way too much energy in that range.

What I did was to install a 200 Hz high pass crossover in the form of a 200uF capacitor in series with the front speakers. Simple enough if you are a car stereo guy. This little mod does ABSOLUTE wonders to the system. I am absolutely amazed how much quality low frequency energy the subs actually produce. It was there before, but was being muddled by those front speakers and reduced in volume by my having to turn the bass control down so much to control the overzealous mid-bass. The new sound is rich and detailed in all the mid-bass frequencies, and the subs really nicely fill in the lower frequencies at just about the right crossover frequency. The subs do not produce "thumping" volumes, but the quality of the bass is quite good. Subjectively, I estimate that the system is easily producing 40 Hz at relatively good volume. It won't be enough for bass volume freaks, but the quality of the bass is pretty darn good, and I am all about the quality.

This overabundance of mid bass is probably the most common problem that most stock car stereos have. Manufacturers do this purposefully to help compensate for road noise, but it really mucks up the sound, especially in the relatively quiet Crossfire. Once this mod is done, in addition to the huge bass improvement, is that the midrange opens up and sounds so much more natural and smooth.

This mod will not address the issue that some think the head unit is crappy. I would say that it is very average in the reproduction of upper midrange and treble frequencies, and at volumes more than "fairly loud" the sounds gets a bit grainy, but that's about it. Sure it doesn’t have a ton of features, but IMO it looks better than a lot of the aftermarket stereos, at least in our Crossfire. To me, all the spinning circles, flying dots, and multi-color displays are just too much, although I have seen a few units that I like (but big $$$). I prefer the simplicity of the stock unit, and with this mod, it sounds so much better.

I highly recommend this mod to anyone interested in improving the sound quality, but really don't want to spend a lot. It may be just the ticket before resorting to a complete overhaul! It is pretty good bang for the buck mod and isn't too hard to do (depending on your skill set). I can't imagine a stereo shop charging more than about $100 for this mod.