PH/Tap-Water affect smell/density?

I recently converted from my hydroponics set-up to all soil grow. I did this because I was repeatedly disappointed with yield/smell.

Now I am doing all 4 gal soil pots under a 1000w lamp and still had similar problems.
I water them with tapwater and havent been adjusting the ph..
would these two factors affect the smell and density of the end product?

Yes; less than optimal conditions are to be dealt with a.s.a.p.