Muffled sound and under powered built in amplifier

[Meatloaf75]

Hey all,

First time poster. I have a 2020 Ram 1550 BH with the 6 spkr 8.4 Uconnect. I have had 4 other rams, 3 or which were 4th Gens and this is my first 5th gen. I have noticed that when you want to make this louder ( for example windows down etc) It can seem to handle the output. I set it to anything higher that 19 on the volume and it wont get much louder and almost sounds like someone is twisting the volume know back n forth and the music will fade. Like this is just struggling. At a quite level, it seems to be ok.
The other part of this complaint is that the sound is not crisp and clear. AS I said I have always had base radios and never had a complaint like this. Anyone else notice these issue? I have messed with settings balance fade equalizer and I cannot get this to sound any better, nor can I make this Under powered issue seem to go away. Appreciate any feedback!

 

[E.Hands]

What level is your speed / volume sensitivity set to?

 

[Jbenevides89]

What level is your speed / volume sensitivity set to?

I am having the same issue. Makes no difference with the speed/vol sensitivity settings. I have tried it all the way up and off. Once it hits around 20, it does not go any louder. Either the speaker is at its limit or the amp does not have the power to push it any harder. It seems like after a pause there is a quick hit of sound then back to the lower level output so I am leaning toward the amp.

 

[Eighty]

I've seen a lot of threads about this issue, and it seems like half have "no issues" while the other half are frustrated. It's a wild theory, but I'm wondering if this involves the active noise cancellation (ANC). Especially when I see a comment like, "after a pause there is a quick hit of sound then back to the lower level output"...that sounds like the ANC is adjusting to dampen the output that it's picking up.
So I wonder if you can disable the ANC for a little bit, to see what your results look like.

 

[Jbenevides89]

interesting thought. I will see if I can unplug it. I believe some were integrated in the amp and some were separate modules. IT appears I can just unplug the MIC inputs to it.

 

[Ratchet]

I had the same issue. 6 speaker base with 8.4 and ANC. Only upgraded the OEM door speakers to 3 way Alpines and disabled ANC. While it's not going to get you the ranges and quality that the premium OEM audio systems produce, the improvement in overall volume and high frequency sounds is a pretty big jump over the OEM mud.