Camry 02 - heavy bass in stereo system - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

dbhatia · 09-24-2004, 12:16 PM

I have a 02 Camry v6 with in dash 6cd changer. When driving the sound system has a very heavy bass even at low volume levels (the bass is turned down to the lowest level). I love to listen to nice music but do not want to go deaf in the process. But when the engine is turned off, the bass level goes down and the music sounds normal. This problem is more pronounced when listening to radio music. Can someone tell me what to do.
Thanks.

Erbe · 09-24-2004, 12:26 PM

never heard about this one before...my guess is that the head unit is sending more wattage to the speakers when the engine is on...might be a fuse or something

BenG · 09-24-2004, 12:34 PM

'02 Camry....that's Gen 5, right?

Wow..it's good to know I'm not the only one who noticed that... I wouldn't say that it's SUPER pronounced...but definitely noticable. There WAS a difference between CDs and Radio, but I don't remember which one was like that. I don't think it's a problem with the headunit because the Gen5 we have is a single disc unit. I figured that I was just being picky about the sound.

My reasoning for the quieter bass when the engine was off was to save the battery.

SKYravefever · 09-24-2004, 01:01 PM

It could also be the headunit compensating for road noise.

Brujo · 09-24-2004, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SKYravefever
It could also be the headunit compensating for road noise.

I agree on this. Some time ago, I remember head units coming out that, depending on RPM and speed, would raise or lower the volume. Not sure if this applies to the factory radio on a Gen5.

Sportivo Concepts · 09-24-2004, 03:53 PM

Check to see if you have the ASL turn on or off.... if its on then heres your problem... its compensating for outside and other interior noise......

another possiblity is that radio stations all broadcast at different levels, so maybe the station your listening to has their bass turned up more than other stations

dbhatia · 09-24-2004, 04:16 PM

Thanks to you all for your inputs. I took the car to a dealer cos it is still under warrenty. First they said nothing is wrong. But I insisted and made them sit with me in another similar camry and lo and behold that car had normal sounding bass. So after they agreed yes my car bass is really heavy now they say they will change the amp and see if the problem is resolved. The sound system is JBL. Incidently I had JBL speakers in my previous car a Taurus and the sound was fabulous. Its because this sound is no where near the Taurus, I realised something was definitely wrong. Once again thankyou all for your inputs. I will let you know if changing the amp does anything.

dbhatia · 09-24-2004, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sportivo Concepts
Check to see if you have the ASL turn on or off.... if its on then heres your problem... its compensating for outside and other interior noise......

another possiblity is that radio stations all broadcast at different levels, so maybe the station your listening to has their bass turned up more than other stations

Pardon my ignorance but what is ASL? I do not see any ASL button on the stereo.

***Phi*** · 09-24-2004, 09:53 PM

ASL (Auto Sound Leveliser). It compensates for exterior road noise at different speeds.

If your stereo is equipped with this feature, you'd have to go through the manual to figure out how to dis/engage it.

Let us know how things turnout.

Luc · 09-24-2004, 10:53 PM

Those "JBL premium" OEM amps are just terrible in general. You're not mistaken when the bass...rather...muffled output does drone away the music. I don't know what kind of crap Harmon International was designing towards, but it wasn't for your everyday pleasure.

2k4CamThrilla · 09-26-2004, 06:49 PM

04' Camry non JBL system, bumps for a stock....The bass is always full and rich, up to a certain level. I don't have any problems with my sound, just that it rattles my liscense plate frame on my trunk and door rattles bcuz of the immense amount of the bass...

Radio quality is totally different from CD quality unless you burn CD's in a radio quality format, i have it on my winamp.

sftonmeister · 11-24-2006, 11:41 PM

My Hybrid with the 6-CD changer JBL radio has way too much bass. The dash and door panels buzz and rattle with deep announcer voices, before the music adds to the problem. This is with the tone control at -5 for bass. Turning ASL off doesn't seem to make much difference; at least while sitting in driveway. Just my car?