Aftermarket Speaker Upgrades = Distortion Rattles and Resonance. Advice?

[DaboTheCat]

Went to a shop to get the stock 20 year old 2 front 4 inch speakers on my 2nd gen Lexus GS replaced with $500 6.5 inch 2018 speakers.

There was soooooooooooo many noises that door was making from the new speakers that it sounded completely awful and worse than the 4 inch by a ton. The 6.5 also had almost no midbass which surprised me.

Took it back to the shop and they covered the panel with dynamat. Sounded quite a bit better! Still no midbass but the distortion disappeared from almost all songs except...

These are 3 tracks I've noticed the panel makes awful noises on:
1. Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens on the guitar
2. Felt Tip by Love is All on the bass guitar
3. 8 Fulls Of Sleep by Against Me on the sine wave noise that goes in and out of the song.
4. Zookeeper's Boy by Mew on the bass

Took it back to the shop and they built a custom enclosure for the new speakers. Midbass still sort of poor but noticeably improved. Distortion not improved!! Still distorting on the above tracks.

At this point I'm thinking it's the stock 1998-2005 Lexus GS speaker grills that are creating the unpleasant noises. Anyone have any experience with this or any advice?

Is it the grill? I heard someone on YouTube say they stopped their grill from rattling by securing it with velcro straps. Anyone try this? Anyone have any other ideas?

As a last resort I was thinking I could pay the shop to do panel modifications like this but I'm afraid it might not even solve the distortion noises and that it would cost alot of money also I hate this shop and everyone but the owner is really rude and the technicians were talking bad about me in Spanish not knowing I could understand them

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[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

@Jeffdachef is probably the best person to give you insight into a local shop that can handle nuances on the scale you're referring to.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a peak in the driver itself you're hearing that could be tuned out but I can't hear what you're hearing.

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

distortion and rattles arent the same thing

 

[DaboTheCat]

distortion and rattles arent the same thing

I understand the word is not typically used to refer to what I am but by the dictionary definition of the word it is not necessarily incorrect to say.

The overall sound is certainly distorted from the artist's intent.

 

[BCotrell]

Play your system loud with the door panels/grills off and see if the sound you’re hearing goes away. Is the hu and amp factory? Often times when you replace a factory speaker with aftermarket it won’t sound as good (clear) simply because there’s not enough power to it. What speakers did you have out in?

 

[DaboTheCat]

Yeah, when I listened without the panels, the noise went away, although I didn't test every problem track I've run into.

Headunit: Sony XAV5000
Amp: Alpine X 5 Channel
New Speakers: Alpine X 6.5C

All in all it now sounds much clearer than the stock except for the occasional horrible noises coming from the doors in tracks like the ones I listed above.

 

[DaboTheCat]

How do I check if it's a peak in the driver and how do I fix? c:

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

This is peak resonances due to your door panels. You'd need rear wave absorption to tame it. Google search keep hope alive honda build and look through the whole thread

 

[DaboTheCat]

Thank you for the response! I'm looking through the thread but there is so much and I don't know what I'm looking for DX (I'm a noob)

Any chance you can point me more to a few specific things I can try?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thank you for the response! I'm looking through the thread but there is so much and I don't know what I'm looking for DX (I'm a noob)

Any chance you can point me more to a few specific things I can try?

2014 Accord Sport SQ Build keep_hope_alive

Welcome, boys and girls, to another installment of KHA's build log. I've done several, and over the past 20 years I have learned a lot. Starting with a new platform. A 2014 Accord Sport. System will consist of the factory head unit (BT with Pandora and vehicle integration) that will feed an...

www.caraudio.com

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

sound treat your car like an acoustics engineer.

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

buy this, it has a bunch of hard hitting songs, test tones and sweeps (track 36)

the sweeps can help you find the rattles so you can deal with them

BASS MEKANIK - Quad Maximus - Amazon.com Music

BASS MEKANIK - Quad Maximus - Amazon.com Music

www.amazon.com

 

[SkizeR 10+ year member]

This is peak resonances due to your door panels. You'd need rear wave absorption to tame it. Google search keep hope alive honda build and look through the whole thread

I doubt this will fix the issue, especially considering he says the problem goes away with the door panels off. The problem here is most likely just lack of deadening overall. Rear wave absorption is nice, but hardly fixes much let alone problems like OP is describing. Also could be lack of EQ. Lots of doors have a nasty peak at 200hz or so that need taming.

 

[DaboTheCat]

We tried setting the crossover to 120hz and it got rid of the rattles on all of the above tracks except Felt Tip by Love Is All where it was still there but just barely. He had it set to 60hz before. I told him to try 80hz before I left but the rattle is still here.

Do you think setting the crossover up to 130hz or 140hz or whatever it takes to get rid of all panel noise is worth it? Shop seems out of other ideas. Honestly, just listening by ear, it felt like there was a big dip in response around 120hz anyways when the front speakers were handling down to 60hz.

 

[KimberlyWells]

Thank you, this is very helpful for me!