Best Speakers for warm natural sound but do not sound like crap with mp3's

[flightz71 10+ year member]

Haha, I must have missed all of that. If I were him I'd bridge that 450/4 and have plenty of headroom for each side.
OP: burn the Focal Tools disc over at diymobileaudio.com(just search for it, you'll find it), play the sample tones they give you, and simply use your EQ on your radio to only cut the frequencies that seem too loud to you. An easy way is to start off with the lowest one, and spend maybe a second on each one as you're going from track to track. That way you can easily tell where you have unwanted peaks in your response curve. Correct those peaks and you'll be able to turn your music louder without it seeming harsh, and because of that hopefully have a more pleasing experience at high volumes. I did this and it worked magic on helping me get rid of a couple nuisances.

Wow I started this thread just looking for some speakers... didn't know I would get some much feedback...lol.

Honestly do you guys love your TN52/TN53K tweeters? They just sound so **** bright at -6dB with any treble boost at all. At -3 or 0dB and no treble boost... same thing... bright but now music lacks life.

Anyhow... I'm driving 150W to each side. Only thing I can think of now is I soldered 14g wire onto a tiny gold molex pin connector to plug into the factory thin 16G h/k wiring... Can that be my problem? Also the speaker wire i used is the silver kind... I heard that might make music sound brighter?

Anyhow... I might just try bypassing all the h/k wiring and run straight copper 14G directly from crossovers to mids and tweeters... I'm sure the 150W i'm giving is more than enough now.

Also another thing that confuses me... even though I have a 150W amp... my gains are set low and only need to set the HU at like volume 10/30 and they're plenty loud already. If I turn off bass and treble boost as well as loudness i'm probably around volume 15-17/30. With this said... doesn't that mean I'm not utilizing anything close to 150W?

Thx again for your input

-Calvin

 

[FlexnInLa 10+ year member]

it's not your speakers...
buy an AMP

you can perceive the loss form a 192kbps mp3 off your head unit? really?

There was a study on one of my 2 channel audio forums, serious audiophiles with 100k plus 2 channel systems couldn't accurately detect loss from a Variable Bit Rate MP3. Anything I rip, I rip VBR. 192k is as low as I'll go on an MP3 I didn't rip, I can't tell the difference between 192k MP3 and 24-96k FLAC unless I listen to them almost side by side.

 

[moreisbetter]

I have a similar setup as yours. 2004 M3, Factory Deck, KR2, JL 300/4, 1000/1, 12W6v2

You want warm sound? At first I went from HK factory to CDT CL-E61CV. These have nice silk tweeters and are very warm. I've had nothing but bright speakers (Previous speakers: Infinity Kappa Perfects, MB Quarts Q218.61) in the past. You ask anyone about the Kappa Perfects and the Q218.61 and people will tell you they are bright bright bright. These all have something in common, they are all metal tweeters( except KR2 ). Go get yourself some silks.

You want loud? I had a ppi 125Wx4 and gave my Q218.61(86db) each 250W. The KR2(93db) plays louder with the JL 300/4, and thats only 75W. Look for the sensitivity ratings. The KRX2 are one of the loudest speakers you can find. So look for something with a 92db or higher.

You want 6.5s that plays low? I had a shop installed my KR2 because I was lazy and they turned on the low pass on my amp, which was previously set to full-range. When I first listened to the speakers, I was disappointed because I felt it lacks the low 60-80hz, and it was only the next day that I discovered it. Turn your filters to full range. If you still aren't happy, you won't get what you are looking for with any other aftermarket speakers unfortunately. Of course there's the more expensive option. Get some custom work and have someone make a fiberglass enclosure and put 8" woofers in the door.

You like the sound of the factory HK? If you like muddy bass, you might have a problem because you won't find a speaker that'll intentionally give you that muddy bass. I couldn't stand the factory HK. Hitting a stick on a rock sounds better.

The KR2 was very bright for me in the beginning because of the low pass. Now that I turned off the low pass, they sound even. I still miss the warm sound from the CDT though. In fact, for the first couple of days I wanted to put the CDT back. After playing quite a few songs, I noticed that I like some songs more with the KR2, and other songs more with the CDT. Right now the KR2 plays a little over half of the songs I listened to better than the CDT. Overall my sound system feels full and detailed now. Also, remember that just because a set of speaker is expensive, doesn't mean you'll like them more than the cheaper speakers. Don't be afraid to listen to cheaper speakers. I liked the CDT almost as much as the Focal, and the CDT is 1/5 of the price. I just wish the dealers here carry CDTs, I'm pretty sure I would've liked the higher end ones better. You win some, you loose some.

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

ahhh someone with the same dislike for focal tweeters that I have. Focal tweets have always sounded overly bright and harsh to me. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[FlexnInLa 10+ year member]

it's not your speakers...
buy an AMP

you can perceive the loss form a 192kbps mp3 off your head unit? really?

Considering the best "ears" in audio can't detect loss in a VBR MP3, in 2 channel systems that run over 100,000.00, which goes WAY below 192kbps at times, I highly doubt it. If anybody wants to know the right way to rip an MP3 just send me a PM.

 

[emilimo701 10+ year member]

There was a study on one of my 2 channel audio forums, serious audiophiles with 100k plus 2 channel systems couldn't accurately detect loss from a Variable Bit Rate MP3. Anything I rip, I rip VBR. 192k is as low as I'll go on an MP3 I didn't rip, I can't tell the difference between 192k MP3 and 24-96k FLAC unless I listen to them almost side by side.

thank you. this was exactly my point

 

[trabadoor22 10+ year member]

I would highly recommend turning the loudness off on your amp and turning the stereo to flat, bass 0, treble 0. I know you said you have had it at this setting before, but play with it a little more. Then play with the crossover settings on the amp along with the tweeter settings. If you have any eq ability either on your hu or amp try using those to help. Also I'm willing to bet that your hu is not that great for sq. I ditched Alpine a long time ago for Eclipse and haven't looked back. You may not want to do this, but a properly set up sub woofer can sound amazing and will help fill the low frequency void along with allowing you to put less stress on your speakers. If all else fails then get a different set. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to sound and each speaker sounds different. For instance I had a set of Dynaudio ms170's that I sold to go back to a set of Jl xr's. Just wasn't what I was looking for, but alot of people love them. Just realize that there is no magic speaker, the magic comes from all the set up and installation.

 

[FlexnInLa 10+ year member]

I would highly recommend turning the loudness off on your amp and turning the stereo to flat, bass 0, treble 0. I know you said you have had it at this setting before, but play with it a little more. Then play with the crossover settings on the amp along with the tweeter settings. If you have any eq ability either on your hu or amp try using those to help. Also I'm willing to bet that your hu is not that great for sq. I ditched Alpine a long time ago for Eclipse and haven't looked back. You may not want to do this, but a properly set up sub woofer can sound amazing and will help fill the low frequency void along with allowing you to put less stress on your speakers. If all else fails then get a different set. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to sound and each speaker sounds different. For instance I had a set of Dynaudio ms170's that I sold to go back to a set of Jl xr's. Just wasn't what I was looking for, but alot of people love them. Just realize that there is no magic speaker, the magic comes from all the set up and installation.

Exactly, everyone has different tastes. I have lost a LOT of high end hearing from playing in bands since I was a kid, but still can't stand harsh treble, even though my hearing charts say I can't hear much of it lol. And there are magic speakers, they are the ones that sound best to YOU! AQ said it right when they said components are like guitar amps, everybody has their own taste. Few people like a perfectly flat response, even though that would be the "ideal." I like a "west coast" i.e. JBL, Pioneer HPM bump in my speakers... if anybody is in to vintage audio they will know what I'm talking about.