Today, my husband had a IVA-W200 head unit installed in my tC as a gift for my birthday, we kept the stock speakers, Bazooka sub and have not added an amp to it.

Prior to this I had the upgraded stock Scion head unit with the Bazooka sub, iPod hook up and XM radio. The head unit had settings on it that were "car" specific, I kept mine set under the xB not the tC setting. I was very happy with the sound that the stock system offered...

now my problem...

When I picked up my car, the stereo sounded nothing like what I expected, NOTHING. The initial reason for putting in the head unit was so we could have a DVD system in the car... we travel a lot. Anyway, I have gone through the settings in the "audio" and "other setup" areas and well frankly now I am very dissappointed.

Don't get me wrong, I really love the head unit, it is very nice, I just want it to sound like what I had and I really don't want to add thousands into a stereo system... it is just not what I want to do.

Now, the shop where he had the work done, well they did not hook up the sub (among other things)... it (they) got forgotten about, so I know that is a contributor in all of this, but it is also possible that I may be missing something else here. Anyone have any suggestions... I know I can fix the probelm, add an amp, door speakers and so on, but its really not what I want to do. I was happy with the speakers prior to this, they sounded fine for me... I just need to figure out what to do from here.

If I remember correctly I believe that the stock head unit had some sort of built in amp... am I correct.

HELP please, I don't want the hubby feeling bad bcus I am feeling sad...

 

If you paid for installation they should also help tune the HU to your liking. THere's a TON of adjustments for sound that can be made beyond the simple bass-mid-treble. Go back and have them tune the system, don't leave till your ears are satisfied!

 

The subwoofer not being connected will have an impact in the overall system presentation - and I'd ask your stereo shop to connect that to the Alpine H/U.

The Scion OEM CD player has built in Digital Signal Processing (DSP), a vehicle specific EQ setting in this case. The W200 doesn't have much in the way of EQ, bass and treble controls if I remember correctly. Alpine makes an add on unit, PXA-H701 that can tailor the sound any way you want - but it will involve adding more amps and/or speakers - something you said you didn't want to do.

Can you be more specific? What don't you like about the sound? Again, have them connect the subwoofer, and see how much of a difference that makes!

 

To clarify, the sound is very flat and hollow to me compaired to that of the stock unit.

The car is going back to have the sub and the iPod (which was also forgotten) hooked up. They are going to take care of it for me, so no worries there. They are a very good shop, I just think that they were a little rushed and so was I so it got overlooked.