Poor radio reception. Can't solve.

[Fett]

Poor radio reception/subwoofer air space questions.

The basics: Alpine CDA-9847 head unit, 88 Mustang w/o stock amp. Used a harness adapter and everything works fine, except the radio reception. I double checked my antenna lead at the antenna base on the fender, I also double checked the antenna lead going into the radio. Everything is hooked up fine.

I checked online for customer reviews expecting to see poor reception issues....but nope. Reviews were pretty much all solid.

My old Sony Xplode headunit never had any reception issues, everything came in just fine. I also found a thread on a different car forum that mentioned how peopel forget to hookup the power antenna wire because they assume it means a power retractable antenna, but in a lot of cases it is for a signal booster...or something to that effect. So I went ahead and connected the power antenna lead on the harness to the adapter, but it didn't change anything. I also unhooked the antenna lead from the back of the radio and the loud white noise changed to a lower, slightly different white noise...so it did have some effect on the reception...of course it didn't help.

Obviously I could just have a broken head unit....or broken radio reception thingy inside the radio. But I figured I would throw this to all of you to see if maybe there is something I could be missing. I just can't figure it out. Old radio had great reception, new radio is hooked up in the exact same manner but has pretty much no reception. Odd.

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Added: I forgot another question that has nothing to do with the reception, but it is a radio question...

I have a 10" sub in a small box in my trunk. It is a sealed box, and sounds great....when the trunk is open. With it closed it still sounds good, but doesn't hit like it should. You can clearly hear the bass hit MUCH better when you pop the trunk while it is playing. So obviously I have an air space issue, but I don't know how to solve it. I am thinking of removing the rear 6x8s and installing some 5" speakers in the side panels, I am wondering if the speakers being removed from the shelf will allow more air to pass and make the sub hit better...or will the cloth covering the speaker holes keep the air in the trunk? I don't listen to rap or anything, so it's not like I am looking for earth shattering bass hits. I just like to hear and feel the bass drums when I am blasting my metal.

 

[Demented4.6]

so apparently you have a coupe. I would ax the 5X7's in the rear deck and put some money into a nice component set up front with power to run them. the car is so small the rear fill is really not a necessity. then i would rip out as much of the insulation on the back side of the rear seat as possible to help get the "bass" into the cabin of the car. My old turbocoupe sounded great with one 12 in the trunk and the rear speakers removed.

As for the reception issue my alpine isn't nearly as good reception wise as my wifes pioneer. I would check the ground for the radio and maybe the antenna wire between the fender and the door jamb

 

[ryan218]

so apparently you have a coupe. I would ax the 5X7's in the rear deck and put some money into a nice component set up front with power to run them. the car is so small the rear fill is really not a necessity. then i would rip out as much of the insulation on the back side of the rear seat as possible to help get the "bass" into the cabin of the car. My old turbocoupe sounded great with one 12 in the trunk and the rear speakers removed.

As for the reception issue my alpine isn't nearly as good reception wise as my wifes pioneer. I would check the ground for the radio and maybe the antenna wire between the fender and the door jamb

ya...ill be adding a single 10 or 12 when i get some "extra cash" becasue i listen to manily country..well all country and i need a little bass...( what you get out of most of the newer cars and ill be hapy)

 

[Fett]

I have a good setup in the front, 2" tweets in the dash and some 5"(6"?) in the doors. A few weeks ago I shifted the fader to the front speakers and the sub on max, and it sounds fine with no "rear" speakers. That is what made me decide to remove them. I was figuring I could add a set of 5"s in the rear trim panels if I wanted to "fill" the sound out...but as of now it sounds fine. I would just like to unleash the bass a little.

I thought about cutting out some of the padding in the rear seat, but it is my DD and I drive my 2 year old around from time to time when my Wife has her Explorer and I don't feel like going and swapping cars. So I don't want to compromise the rear seat at all. I was hoping that maybe porting the box would help, but I need to research the speaker a little more. I want to say that when I originally bought it, I looked everything up and it required a sealed box....but I am not 100% sure.

I am going to check my antenna cable all the way through, but as far as I remember it is one solid cable from the radio to the antenna itself, so I don't know if there are any breaking points.

 

[92mustanggt509]

try getting an hidden amplified antenna

 

[Fett]

I'm going to try a different headunit...something I was planning on doing anyway. I want USB and aux input for my media player, which my current head unit doesn't have....plus the unit I am getting has an HD turner built it.

For craps and giggles I took a new antenna cable, new housing, and new antenna and hooked it up to see if that would improve things....thinking maybe there was something wrong with one of those items in my car, but it didn't change anything.

I believe it is just the head unit. My last one had great reception and the stations I can't get it now, I can pick up crystal clear in my Wifes car.