my factory system sounded better than my aftermarket. What's wrong here?

[Prot]

So, I got fed up waiting for Unlimited X to arrive and I ended up buying a Sahara off of a different lot today. It came with the Infinity 368 watt system and 6 disc cd changer. I had already purchased a replacement stereo system because my X was going to come with the basic cheap radio. Since the installation involved bypassing the amp and doing quite a bit of wiring, I opted to get everything I bought installed at Best Buy since they were the only place open late this afternoon. Here is what I have:

Alpine IDA-X001 receiver
Infinity 6020CS components in the dash, tweeter mounted in factory tweeter pod
Infinity 6022si in the sound bar
Alpine MRP-F250 pushing the four speakers I mentioned
Infintiy Perfect 10" 10.1 subwoofer in a sealed type 1 box
Alpine MRP-M650 pushing the subwoofer

I would think that would make a pretty decent setup. Not competition level, but still should pretty decent and clear. Needless to say, I am sorely disappointed in the fact that the factory system sounded better than this setup does. The highest are very bright, but it's like there isn't very much stereo effect. There is almost no bottom end whatsoever. I checked out the subwoofer and it's like the sub isn't sealing. The rubber surround pulls off when the sub hits. The best buy guys agreed it's obviously defective. Do you think my complaints are all because of the sub being defective or is there something I am missing or not doing right here? Tomorrow I will look at the high pass and low pass filters as well as the gain on the each of the amps. I suspect they did a hurry up job on it. It just blows my mind that it is worse than the factory system. I don't think any of the items I have are garbage, but if they are, will someone let me know. I just can't believe this.

[Prot]

Figured out what it was. There are so many hidden menus in the head unit that are a bit of a pain to get to until you learn how this thing works. I turned some stuff off and that made a huge difference. After that, when I would make adjustments, they made more of a difference and I got it dialed it pretty sweet. Even with the defective sub, it's damn good. I can't wait to try it with the replacement sub. Crutchfield doesn't carry the sub I ordered from them anymore, so I'll probably have to replace it with something else. I'm thinking about a JBL P1024.

[NCJEEPFAN]

i bought an Alpine that was left over from the previous year, so it was much cheaper. its got tons of features, 2 volt output, builtin xovers...... i hate it! i love the sound, but its impossible to get it adjusted right. way to many menus. i wanna sell it and get a lower end model.

[BeanJeep22]

People don't realize that settings (crossovers, bass, mid, treble settings, time correction, loud function on/off etc) can affect the overall sound completely in any setup. I recently installed my 15" Diamond Sub into my '03 Grand Cherokee. Before, I had the same sub installed in my '93 Cherokee. Upon installation I realized that the sub sounded like complete ***, muddy and not accurate at all. Complete difference to what it sounded like before. After fiddling with every possible options, like crossovers and gain, I found that the head unit's "Loud" button was on. I turned it off and WOW what a huge difference. The sub sounded clean and hit hard once I got the settings right. Just the loud button being on made the whole system sound incredibly muddy and inaccurate. ALWAYS check settings...!!

[Prot]

In my case it was the internal amp of the head unit that was causing the problem even though I don't have anything hooked up to the speaker outputs, only preamp outputs. A couple of days after I fixed that, I actually found something in the manual that stated that not turning the internal amp off when using only preamp outputs will cause degraded sound quality.

The JBL P1024 arrived today. I have one problem. It is too deep to mount in the box. Best Buy refuses to let me exchange the box I had the Infinity in for a deeper box. I told them the whole story of how Crutchfield no longer carries that sub and that this is what I have for a replacement and it has only been a few days, not a month but they don't care. I then decided I would just buy a replacement box and deal with the other one later. That didn't work out because the JBL has a large outer ring and the box with greater depth has a lip on the outside edge that prevents that JBL from dropping down in there. I would cut the lip off, but what if that still wouldn't work, then I would be stuck with yet another box. So I returned the second box and will check with a local sound shop tomorrow.

In case anyone is interested. The JBL P1024 looks so massive and like a 12" instead of a 10" and makes the Infinity 10" look like an 8". I believe I will definitely get a lot more impact with the JBL. Even with the defect, the Infinity produced clear bass, but there was no vibration, feeling, or real air movement. I might end up building a custom box or getting one built. It just blows my mind the difference in appearance of these two 10" subs. I'll post pictures of them side by side tomorrow.

[nycaubrun]

i would just build a box yourself. you can get it fit exactly how you want it and it will be cheaper. i just built one for my girlfriends suv. cost about $15 total(wood,screws,speaker terminal). just went to home depot and had them cut the wood for free.