I have a question for those with good speakers and amps.

I recently upgraded my Mazda CX-7 with Infinity speakers on the doors and (1) 10" Infinity Kappa Perfect subwoofer. 40wRMS x 4 amp for the speakers and 380wRMS x 1 amp for the subwoofer.

I always use stagging on LIVING ROOM I believe is the second setting from RIGHT to LEFT on the Stagging menu, I forgot if it's LIVING ROOM (I currently have the avic-d3 unistalled because I'm testing another HU.

The EQ setting are set +2 on the LOW, -2 on the MID and +6 on the HIGH.

The sound is terrible and thats the best sound I can get, before with the old speakers paper cone speakers it sounded much better.

I turn off the STAGGING option and the speakers sound like crap, no highs at all ,plus volume cuts by half, even with the EQ HIGH setting at FULL.

I REPLACED THE AVIC-D3 with an OLD Sony Head Unit the cheapest on the market , and put the treble at maximum and bass flat, and the sound is 10 times better.

What's up with that?

I ordered the Avic Z2 this week, I'm hopping to get better results.

Have anyone experience this before?

Have you adjusted the gains on your four channel amp?

The voltage on the pre-outs is quite low compared to most other aftermarket head units. Which requires you to turn up the gain on the amplifiers higher to get a volume level equal to what you would get with another radio.

does this mean the d3 is more suited for people who amp their speakers? i replaced my speakers with low end boston acoustics when one of the stock blew. they were fine without amps when i had the alpine cd deck

No, it has the same power as Alpine decks

does this mean the d3 is more suited for people who amp their speakers? i replaced my speakers with low end boston acoustics when one of the stock blew. they were fine without amps when i had the alpine cd deck

No, that's not what it means. Using the D3's internal amps is pretty much like any other car stereo IIRC, power-wise. It's just that the low level (RCA) outputs are a bit underpowered compared to other units on the market, requiring you to use more of your amplifier's power to get the same volume levels.

so this affects the amp for my sub?

In a way... you'll just have to turn it up a little more. Luckily the D3 has built in level control for the sub output so you can do it from there.

i've never really liked the sound from infinity speakers. to me they sound a lil hollow with poor mid bass response. however a stronger amplifier may improve your sound for the 4 channel. 40w is enough to clean up the sound and give you a little more volume, but typically to achieve what it sounds your looking for 80-125w may give you better results. as far as sound quality goes for best results keep the eq flat on the radio and tune at the amp. every +2db you turn the eq up the more distortion goes to the amp. if you are not happy with the sound i've installed 3 decent sounding systems in the cx-7 and can share what i installed if u like.

My Infinity Kappas sounded like dog crap with Staging off until I realized that I had the rear speakers set to be subs, so only bass was coming out back there. Switched it to normal mode, turned off Staging, and now it sounds great.

First of all, as a general rule, you don't want to use all the artificial staging and eq crap presets.

If you spent that kinda coin on your Avic and the kappa quality speakers, get a 4 channel amp for the door speakers, and a monoblock amp for your sub..should be able to do that for $400 total or less.

Have the stereo shop guy optimize your amp levels. Once you're in the car use the eq function of the D3 sparingly. Good quality speakers amp'd properly will require little to no eq'ing.