# My Pioneer 80prs sounds horrible, need help tuning



## ericadock (May 1, 2012)

I am new here and new to tuning so I thank you in advance for your patience and your help. I have a 2004 4-runner (previously JBL system) and everything is professonally installed in factory locations.

My setup:
Pioneer Deh-80prs
Hertz HSK165 (front doors) 
Hertz HCX 165 (rear doors)
highs are running off a Hertz HDP4

8" JL sub in factory location running off a small JL amp that is matched to the sub.

Before the 80prs I had an Eclipse CD3200 and I though it sounded pretty darn good except for the "position selector" was not quite alligned well enough to "left-front" so my staging was a bit off. The 3-band parametric EQ was simple and I understood it. Now I have the 80prs and the TA is great but I cannot get it EQ'd to my liking. It's driving me crazy and I may just dump it but I already sold the Eclipse (for less than I can replace it for) so I'm a bit stuck. I just don't know what to do. The auto-eq sucks and I've already taken it to one of the best shops in town for tuning (free tune where i bought it) and I'm not happy at all. I can tell that the SQ has the potential to be very nice if I can get it right. I am hoping for advice or even if anyone who has this deck (or similar pioneer with 16-band can share their settings for me to try. I listen to everything from 80's new wave to rap to R&B to Rock to Reggae to you name it. Any help would be lifesaving. Thanks

I will add a bit more info (I hope my terminology is correct) 

Front & Rear HPF @ 80HZ w/12db slope
Sub LPF @ 80 w/18db slope
HDP4 amp set to full since I'm using crossover on head unit
JL sub amp set to 250hz since I'm using crossover on head unit

the Eclipse was louder for one (quite a bit) and now I just have this grating sound somewhere in the mid-high area and the sub doesn't hit as well and it's just different and I don't like it. I even switched to all CDs to see if that helped and not much. The other problem is that every now and then a song sounds OK butmost don't and with the 3-band parametric EQ in the eclipse it was easy to make adjustments on the fly, how in the heck can I make adjustments each CD or that with 16 bands? Anyway just wanted to add some more details.


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

The 80 is a bit of a wild animal with its SQ, I've found with well mastered albums it sounds better than anything to date, but the poorly mastered stuff can sound pretty bad.

Same sort of thing happens in home audio, as you clime the SQ ladder.

I had a friend listen to my 80 today, and he just said WOW! this is a fantastic HU!

Of coarse I did not play any punk rock for him. 

So where are you crossing your mids/tweets? I found the 80 to be a little hard in the 3k area, so I needed to cross my mid at 2k(6db) and the tweeter at 4k(12db).

I used an Audio control spectrum analyser, and the system is flat, with a little bump at 100hz. 

I'm very pleased with this HU. I think you need to put more work in to it.


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## ericadock (May 1, 2012)

I am not sure what you mean "crossing my mids/tweets. Would this mean the "center" of my mids/highs? I don't know how to set the cross for my mids/highs. The only thing I did was set my HPF and a couple of the (16) bands are adjusted very slightly. I think you're on to something so if there are more settings to tweak besides HPF, LPF, slopes and the 16 band L/R graphic eq please let me know. thanks!


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## AndyInOC (Jul 22, 2008)

Sounds like you're using it in standard mode, not network mode right? Running front, rear & sub?


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

ericadock said:


> I am not sure what you mean "crossing my mids/tweets. Would this mean the "center" of my mids/highs? I don't know how to set the cross for my mids/highs. The only thing I did was set my HPF and a couple of the (16) bands are adjusted very slightly. I think you're on to something so if there are more settings to tweak besides HPF, LPF, slopes and the 16 band L/R graphic eq please let me know. thanks!


Sorry, I read the word Active, and thought you were running active.

If your crossing your mid/tweet with a passive x-over? then your not running active.

It's a bit of a pain in the *ss to change it now, but would be well worth it!

You'll need to pull the HU and physically switch to network mode, then get a small amp for your tweeters 30~50 per channel rms would be good.

Once you get this done, the HU will shoot in the car and adjust the tweeter, mids and woofers(only three way). If you still want to run rears(I would not), you'll need to run a signal thru the amp outs(line level) of the mid amp for rear fill.

Once this is done, the SQ will be 300% better then in standard mode.


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## ericadock (May 1, 2012)

Yes I'm running passive.


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## ericadock (May 1, 2012)

So it looks like active might be my next step. Can anyone recommend a decent small amp for the tweeters when I switch to active? Many thanks.


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## trumpet (Nov 14, 2010)

I would add the Precision Power P600.2 on the mids and run the tweeters off the HDP4. Then you have another 2 channels from a super small amp, lots of power, and it's all the same genetics(similar internals).


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

ericadock said:


> So it looks like active might be my next step. Can anyone recommend a decent small amp for the tweeters when I switch to active? Many thanks.


Just use the amp built in the P80 for your tweets. No sense in spending money if you don't have to. 

The P80 will let you use RCA out and speaker out at the same time (I know cause I'm doing it). And before anyone says the head's amp can't keep up, I have 600w on my subs and 300w on my midbass and midrange...and my tweets are 8-ohm (so only 11w rms).


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## ericadock (May 1, 2012)

Great. Thanks for all of the help. Looks like I have some more work to do (to earn more money to upgrade my system, lol)


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

ericadock said:


> Great. Thanks for all of the help. Looks like I have some more work to do (to earn more money to upgrade my system, lol)


Upgrade what? You've got all the tools you need to get started.


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

pionkej said:


> Just use the amp built in the P80 for your tweets. No sense in spending money if you don't have to.
> 
> The P80 will let you use RCA out and speaker out at the same time (I know cause I'm doing it). And before anyone says the head's amp can't keep up, I have 600w on my subs and 300w on my midbass and midrange...and my tweets are 8-ohm (so only 11w rms).


Your running active? with mix internal and external power?

I know you can do this in normal mode, but I've been told it wont work in network mode.


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

ericadock said:


> So it looks like active might be my next step. Can anyone recommend a decent small amp for the tweeters when I switch to active? Many thanks.


Something really small you can stick in the dash would be great. 

An old SS little wonder or something like that.


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## ericadock (May 1, 2012)

Well some more install work at least. I'm not a DIY guy. My wife's door panels still wont fit right after I get down with it a few years ago, lol.


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## abduljakul (Feb 4, 2012)

CrossFired said:


> Your running active? with mix internal and external power?
> 
> I know you can do this in normal mode, but I've been told it wont work in network mode.


x2, i'm interested in how were you Able to do it. i want to run my setup active too. 
so switch in network mode, how bout rca? low or high ?


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## Spyke (Apr 20, 2012)

pionkej said:


> Just use the amp built in the P80 for your tweets. No sense in spending money if you don't have to.
> 
> The P80 will let you use RCA out and speaker out at the same time (I know cause I'm doing it). And before anyone says the head's amp can't keep up, I have 600w on my subs and 300w on my midbass and midrange...and my tweets are 8-ohm (so only 11w rms).


Haha. I like when people tell you that their tweeters are rated at 100w. Must be some really good ones. I have 8w going to my tweeters and they get loud.


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## 2wheelie (Jul 30, 2009)

I installed my 80prs last night and love it so far; Sounds just like the p99rs I had.


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## Lars Ulriched (Oct 31, 2009)

2wheelie said:


> I installed my 80prs last night and love it so far; Sounds just like the p99rs I had.


What???


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## nellymerc (May 3, 2012)

I also love my 80prs as the auto eq the second time around after I completed my upgrade sounds great. I kept it in the default mode and played with the woofer level a bit


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## Wy2quiet (Jun 29, 2010)

I know your problem because I had the same one. You are suffering from bad hearing 'itis. You have gone from a system that over accentuated bass to a system that now gives a relatively flat response so you are disappointed. I am 100% sure this is the problem. I got my deck about three weeks ago and posted the same sort of thing thinking I had a problem. Everywhere we hear music in clubs or bars all have the same problem and that is way too much accentuation on bass. If you want try turning off auto time alignment and just use auto EQ and you will realize it sounds a lot better to your hearing.

Also I am not sure you noticed but if you go to sub woofer settings one or two (it is tricky hard to find the level but the auto TA and EQ turn down the sub considerably) you can turn it back up if you would like.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

abduljakul said:


> x2, i'm interested in how were you Able to do it. i want to run my setup active too.
> so switch in network mode, how bout rca? low or high ?



There are little switches on the top and bottom of the unit. One is to switch from standard mode to active network, and the other that you're refering to for RCA low/high appears to be for an INPUT. You can use the included wire to rca pair adapter to take a speaker level source into the unit (select HIGH) or a line level input (select LOW).

Once you switch to active setting mode, you can do High/Mid/Low instead of Front/Rear/Sub and it offers you much more control and tuning options.


For the original poster Eric-
I tend to agree with the other posters here. I'd take out the rear speakers as you dont need them and the car will sound better once run active and tuned properly with the fronts and a sub. Remove the passive crossover on your front mids/tweets and connect them up as described:

Connect your front tweeters to the front left and right on the HDP4 and the front mids to the rear left and right on the HDP4. Dial down your gains on the amp to about 1/4 for both the tweeters and mids so that the first time you run them active they wont be blasting. Also, set all of the crossover settings on the AMP to open/full range so that they are not used, you want to run the speakers crossover settings directly from the deck. 
On the deck, start off with your crossover settings for botht the mids and tweeters at around 2K and adjust them to your liking from there. (ie- Mids set at HPF80hz, -24db and LPF2khz, -24db ; tweeters at HPF2khz, -24db and open/no crossover on the LPF side for them)

Once you do this, you are ready to start getting into doing the tuning. You should try running the auto tune first and see if you like it as thats the quickest way. If its not to your liking, then I have a procedure for you to run through that will get it sounding as good as possible for you in about an hour or so. PM me if you get to that point and would like my input. Good luck !


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## ericadock (May 1, 2012)

After getting my system properly tuned I can honeslty say that this unit is on par with most units I've used. It lacks somewhat in comparison to my old cd7200 but it's an excellent head unit for the money and I would not replace it with a cd7200 due to the fact that overall, I enjoy the 80prs more. I will say though that compared to my last deck the Eclipse cd3200 the 80prs is not as loud. Nothing changed,just the head unit. It almost feels like even with 150rms per channel I am slightly underpowered.


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## ScottyGreen (Apr 3, 2012)

I have a question as well if someone happens to still be reading this thread...

I am wanting to get this HU to go active with my 2 way dyns but want to make sure I know what I'm getting prior to purchase.

I have a 4 channel JL hd600/4 that will become my front stage duty amp, ditching my rears completely.

When in network mode I can run my tweets off of two channels, and my midwoofers off the other two channels, and my subs off of my other sub amp correct? I have 2 way dyn fronts, not the 3 ways. 

The jl amp is 150w x4 so I'll be running quite a bit of power to those tweets. I don't use gains as volume knobs so I think I'll be just fine, but looking to make sure from someone that this HU works in the way I'm planning on using it.

I have ALSO thought of going 3 way fronts by adding a dyn midrange, so I would have to get the pioneer dex-p99rs if wanting to do that option correct? 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance and sorry if this sounds super noob, but I like to do a little research before blindly purchasing.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Yep, you are correct on both assumptions. I will be runnin g a 2way front plus sub with the network mode (using a midbass plus wideband driver)

If you want 3 way plus sub, this unit doesnt do it by itself. You could however use the unit for 3 way and use your sub amp for crossover duties.




ScottyGreen said:


> I have a question as well if someone happens to still be reading this thread...
> 
> I am wanting to get this HU to go active with my 2 way dyns but want to make sure I know what I'm getting prior to purchase.
> 
> ...


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## ScottyGreen (Apr 3, 2012)

How would I get a signal to my subwoofer amp then? If I split a signal using the preouts on the back of the hu wouldn't I just be splitting a midrange or midbass or tweeter signal? I guess I'm lost on that part of things (if going 3 way that is)

It seems to me that if I were running 3 way fronts I wouldn't be able to get a subbass signal to my sub amp from the headunit?

Maybe I'm missing something?


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## ScottyGreen (Apr 3, 2012)

I forgot to ask something...

I currently have a kenwood excelon in my dash that a shop installed for me, if I go with this pioneer am I going to need to buy a different wiring harness or something to make it work with my vehicle? 

If I remember correctly when I had the kenwood installed I had to buy an adapter of some kind to make it work with my car. Chrysler 300 05' It wasn't for steering wheel controls I remember that much... maybe it was to make it bluetooth enabled or something.. I can't recall. It was a dodge durango part though I remember that much...

I should have installed it all myself, would have saved me some time in the long run by knowing exactly what was done I suppose!


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## Spyke (Apr 20, 2012)

ScottyGreen said:


> I forgot to ask something...
> 
> I currently have a kenwood excelon in my dash that a shop installed for me, if I go with this pioneer am I going to need to buy a different wiring harness or something to make it work with my vehicle?
> 
> ...


No. If you are just replacing the hu then you shouldn't have to buy a new adapter harness. The new hu will have a wiring that you will have to connect to the adapter harness.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

Sorry, but I need to x3. Reason being is that I was one of the first people to bring the information to DIYMA that this was *NOT* possible. However, I brought it to the forum because I asked the question directly to Pioneer USA and that is the answer I was given. You either used the RCA outputs or the speaker level outputs, but not both. (And no, I am not confusing this with the RCA input switch.)

If this information was incorrect, I apologize. I was just relaying the information provided by Pioneer. I'm not in the position to test this on my own head unit right now, so if you could provide proof, that would be great! 

If the power is clean enough on the tweeters out of the head unit, it means the difference between 60w and 120w to my mids. 



pionkej said:


> Just use the amp built in the P80 for your tweets. No sense in spending money if you don't have to.
> 
> The P80 will let you use RCA out and speaker out at the same time (I know cause I'm doing it). And before anyone says the head's amp can't keep up, I have 600w on my subs and 300w on my midbass and midrange...and my tweets are 8-ohm (so only 11w rms).





CrossFired said:


> Your running active? with mix internal and external power?
> 
> I know you can do this in normal mode, but I've been told it wont work in network mode.





abduljakul said:


> x2, i'm interested in how were you Able to do it. i want to run my setup active too.
> so switch in network mode, how bout rca? low or high ?


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## ZAKOH (Nov 26, 2010)

trumpet said:


> I would add the Precision Power P600.2 on the mids and run the tweeters off the HDP4.



This seems like a serious waste of amplifier power. HDP4 is quite underrated. There is a test showing channels providing 196watts at 4ohms. The tweeters should do fine running off head unit's amplifier.


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## Raptor (Mar 3, 2007)

I had a few questions too add to this thread too. I just bought the 80prs and I like it, but I have to have it cranked to #50-60 its really quiet and I dont know exactly why. 

I have two of these Dayton Audio RS150-4 per side hooked up in series; perhaps thats why they are so quiet. I had to turn the tweeters a full -12db down to get close to matching. I was thinking of wiring them in parallel but will that be too much strain for the head-unit? They are ~4 Ohm but they are mids; what say you folk?


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## Spyke (Apr 20, 2012)

Raptor said:


> I had a few questions too add to this thread too. I just bought the 80prs and I like it, but I have to have it cranked to #50-60 its really quiet and I dont know exactly why.
> 
> I have two of these Dayton Audio RS150-4 per side hooked up in series; perhaps thats why they are so quiet. I had to turn the tweeters a full -12db down to get close to matching. I was thinking of wiring them in parallel but will that be too much strain for the head-unit? They are ~4 Ohm but they are mids; what say you folk?


You need to amp those mids. It's a shame if you don't, because you'll never hear what they can really do. If you wire parallel you'll just end up f-ing up your hu.


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## avanti1960 (Sep 24, 2011)

if the 80's autotune is anything like the DEX-P99's then it is probably the cause for your SQ troubles. 
this idea of "more revealing" is a bunch of baloney- it is a bad EQ tune plain and simple. stop chasing hardware and invest in an RTA setup and start measuring your frequency levels. 
With my P99 autotune ALL of the frequencies between 600Hz and 8Khz were boosted 10db above the rest! 
Once I was able to see this on RTA I adjusted for a nice "house" curve and it sounds awesome. 
The 80's EQ may not be as flexible because it's 16 bands but should be able to help you out tremendously.


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## J.Avant (Sep 28, 2012)

I just got started on the 80prs install. The dps switch for low and high what should this be set on?

I'm running active, with a alpine 4 channel 70 watt rms amp for tweets and mids. Front L&R for tweets and rear L&R for mids. I have the 2 JL 8" subs on an old Rockford Fosgate 2 channel 125 watt per channel.

Thanks for any input.

John


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

If I am understanding you correctly, that switch is the voltage setting for the RCA inputs on the rear of the HU. If you're converting speaker level voltage via the supplied adapter it should be set to high. If your supplying these RCAs from a device with RCA outputs, it should be set to low.


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## J.Avant (Sep 28, 2012)

Sorry for being not so savvy on the terminology. Being this is my first ever install. I'm running 2 sets of rca's to my Alpine amp. Then running 1 set to my sub amp. 

I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say. 

John


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## J.Avant (Sep 28, 2012)

rton20s said:


> If I am understanding you correctly, that switch is the voltage setting for the RCA inputs on the rear of the HU. If you're converting speaker level voltage via the supplied adapter it should be set to high. If your supplying these RCAs from a device with RCA outputs, it should be set to low.


OK....Let me try again. I think i get it, I'm not using the input rca's at all so i don't need to worry about it.....right.

Thanks for your time. I'm just a little slow. but i think i understand.


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