Aftermarket amp + speakers, sounds not as great

[AL008]

Recently I installed a JL XD400/4 Amp along with Pioneer TSD1720C component speakers.

I used the stock Sat nav unit and made my own RCA cable connecting the other side to the speaker outputs from the headunit. (My manual for the JL amp said this is fine).

My sound, especially the bass is not as good as I expected. I initially heard these speakers in the stores and noticed the bass to be pretty good, but since I have installed them, sound is a bit "muddy" not as clear and also bass response is somewhat a bit low.

Does anyone have any ideas about what could be done?

*Edit*: Sorry forgot to add that I have used dynamat to sound deaden the doors as well.

[Gary in NJ]

The show room in the store is not the same environment as your car. Without a subwoofer you will need to overdrive the low end to make "bass" and in the end you will be making distortion. Consider adding a subwoofer and crossovers to properly drive a component speaker system.

The good news is that you've already done the hard work by creating a line output signal from the harness. Now you just need to undertake the expensive part.

[ft_sjo]

What did you do to the doors to prep for your new speakers?

[AL008]

Originally Posted by ft_sjo

What did you do to the doors to prep for your new speakers?

Sorry forgot to add that I sound deadened with Dynamat for doors as well.

[ft_sjo]

Take a clear/detailed photo of the amp settings (under the metal panel) and post up here.

[AL008]

Not too sure if the settings are real clear or not, but I have it set so Filter mode is OFF, so no HP/LP filter.

Input sensitivity is set on lowest setting. If I set any higher, the system sounds will be really loud!

Cheers

[mid_life_crisis]

By bass response is "low", I assume you mean it's weaker than expected.
The rated response is supposed to be down to 30Hz, but I find that to be unlikely to be anything like quality sound. At the least, I would set your amp filters to high pass and select 50Hz. You might even try 80. This will take the worst of the load off and let the speakers work in a more realistic range. You'll lose some of the mud but also some of the depth. It's a trade off that you'll have to work out for yourself.
I assume you have double checked all the polarities from the HU to the speakers. You might try reversing the bass driver polarity just to see what happens. It should either get better or go to complete crap.

[kuhlka]

Get a 10" sub and a decent amp and call it a day. 6.5" and smaller speakers aren't ever going to give you decent bass. they're intended for 120Hz and above. Even most subs aren't going to cover all of the LFO from 30-120+ evenly unless you get 2+ and set them to different frequencies.

[captain_jack]

Well I tried using the factory deck with focal 3way comps and a alpine pdx amp and a 8" type r sub. Factory deck did not sound right, it needed a processor like the mosconi or jbl ms8, Rockford 3sixty.3 it had a huge midrange boost happening and crappy low end. Focals do not have crappy low end so I knew what was wrong. I did not want to spend another 700 $ for a processor. Put my older alpine 7995 deck in and bam instant quality.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

[captain_jack]

Originally Posted by mid_life_crisis

By bass response is "low", I assume you mean it's weaker than expected.
The rated response is supposed to be down to 30Hz, but I find that to be unlikely to be anything like quality sound. At the least, I would set your amp filters to high pass and select 50Hz. You might even try 80. This will take the worst of the load off and let the speakers work in a more realistic range. You'll lose some of the mud but also some of the depth. It's a trade off that you'll have to work out for yourself.
I assume you have double checked all the polarities from the HU to the speakers. You might try reversing the bass driver polarity just to see what happens. It should either get better or go to complete crap.

Easier way to try the phase is to use yhe balance if the bass gets better all to one side and drops out when centered then they are out of phase. If bass is better centered then they are phased correctly. Straight out if MECP book..... if phase tester is not available.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

[mid_life_crisis]

Originally Posted by captain_jack

Easier way to try the phase is to use yhe balance if the bass gets better all to one side and drops out when centered then they are out of phase. If bass is better centered then they are phased correctly. Straight out if MECP book..... if phase tester is not available.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

I'm glad you got it sorted.

The one problem with that method is that it only works to tell you if they are out of phase with each other.
It's possible to wire them both backwards in relation to the source.
You'll notice I never mentioned "phase" in my previous post. I was just concerned that the polarity was correct all the way through the system.

[AL008]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Unfortunately it is very hard to determine polarity correctness with my speakers.

Even if I follow each individual wire right to the source and end and it is correct I am not sure how the crossover is meant to be wired.

I have ensured that it is wired to the correct +/- terminals but if I reverse it, I find it hard to identify differences. i.e. my Tweeters were wired to incorrect polarity but I changed them and they sound about the same.

Btw. I think I may have blown one of my speaker outputs from the headunit somehow. I am not getting anything out of that side. I tried to even turn my headunit on and place a multimeter to the back of the +/- terminals coming out of the R.H.S of the speaker output and it reads 0V.
To rectify that I just bought a RCA Y splitter so I am receiving only the signal from the L.H.S speaker output from the headunit.

[michaelahess]

Tweaters won't have a noticeable diff with crossed polarity (usually), you hear it in the lower ranges. Take a 9v and briefly tap it to the speaker wires (only woofers). The speaker will either go in or out, if you get them all wired identically to going in one or the other direction, they will all be in the same polarity. Phase however may be reversed. Swap all speakers positive and negatives and see if that sounds any better.

Also keep the LP at 120 when doing this. Once it sounds it's "best" drop the LP down to 80 slowly until you get distortion or muddiness. If you don't hear any by 80, then you are at the best you'll likely get from a 6.5". Don't push it, get a sub.

Edit: It's usually easier to do this with just the woofers wired in. Once you get them squared, tweats are easier to tweak.

[michaelahess]

Make sure your HU is set to the middle for all EQ settings and turn off the volume sensitive stuff.