11 replies to this topic

[KickerCat]

Hi all. I have a Pioneer DEH-P4350 headunit, and have noticed a marked difference in sound quality between radio and tape. The radio plays clearer and louder than any of the CD's I have, some of which are audiophile quality... I've been told before that Pioneer transports are pretty crappy, could this account for the difference? When playing CD's, they are very brash and bass heavy, almost like the middle frequencies drop, and the highs and lows peak. The radio is much nicer, more flat. I've also noticed that you need to insert the CD 3 or 4 times on occasion to get it to play... Could this be related to the SQ issue? Thanks in advance!

[stazed]

KickerCat said:

Hi all.  I have a Pioneer DEH-P4350 headunit, and have noticed a marked difference in sound quality between radio and tape.  The radio plays clearer and louder than any of the CD's I have, some of which are audiophile quality...  I've been told before that Pioneer transports are pretty crappy, could this account for the difference?  When playing CD's, they are very brash and bass heavy, almost like the middle frequencies drop, and the highs and lows peak.  The radio is much nicer, more flat.  I've also noticed that you need to insert the CD 3 or 4 times on occasion to get it to play... Could this be related to the SQ issue?  Thanks in advance!

Knowing nothing about headunits, sounds like your headunit is having issues.

Also, realise that most radio channels, FM included, don't have adequate bass reproduction. If you've set the bass attentuation very high on your headunit to make the radio sound good, then obviously you will get a bass heavy sound when you're listening to a CD which has full bass reproduction

[KickerCat]

Yeah I thought of that, but i've mucked around with the settings till I got cross eyed, and cant seem to even them both out

[icacha]

or have you guys ever READ THE MANUAL TO SEE WHAT SLA IS USED FOR???

[stazed]

ICACHA said:

or have you guys ever READ THE MANUAL TO SEE WHAT SLA IS USED FOR???

I don't have a manual for his head/unit
duhhhhhh

[icacha]

a pioneer is a pioneer and almost all of them have that feature so read your manual Thomas and tell him that SLA stands for and what it does...

[stazed]

ICACHA said:

a pioneer is a pioneer and almost all of them have that feature so read your manual Thomas and tell him that SLA stands for and what it does...

LOL My headunit is 10 years old it doesn't do anything

But SLA is Source Level Adjuster - sounds nifty how do I get that
Obviously it boosts/reduces various input types to allow different inputs (radio/cd/aux in) to sound equivalently loud!

[km]

I have the same unit. From my memory one of the custom EQ settings (I think it is Custom 2) can be set differently for CD and radio. If you are using it, this might be the cause of the difference in sound quality between CD and radio. If not, then you can use it to fix the difference!

BTW mine does not require me to insert 3 or 4 times to play

[findog]

Has anyone noticed that often the radio is so heavily equalised towards extra bass and treble that it often sounds better on stock systems than decent installs, even tho the stock systems sound aweful with CD as source?

[KickerCat]

KickerCat said:

Yeah I thought of that, but i've mucked around with the settings till I got cross eyed, and cant seem to even them both out

ICACHA said:

or have you guys ever READ THE MANUAL TO SEE WHAT SLA IS USED FOR???

Are you blind...... Without wanting to start a stupid pointless argument, I already mentioned i've mucked around with the settings.

KM - yeah, I think my unit is snafued

findog, yeah thats kinda sorta what i've found :/

[Immo_G]

Yeah my pioneer on radio uses a diff EQ setting to CD, and i left it on Rock on -2, cause it actually makes radio sound pretty good.

[icacha]

well it's your radio and if you don't know why it sounds the way it does then get in touch with pioneer customer support and ask them. i don't think you will find better qualified people to answer your question ragarding the issue you are having.