CDT Euros tweets strange on certain tracks

[carter1010 10+ year member]

Well, I picked up some ADS AL6 Comps and tried running those instead. Same problem. I am thinking it is now either a rattle that sounds like tweeter distortion, bad RCA, ground modulation, an speaker wire that the shielding has wore off of, to many things that are a possibility. The bright side...My CDTS are fine.

I have to say the build quality of the ADS drivers seems to far surpass the CDT drivers. The tweeter is very large and very heavy. The crossover seems kinda chinsy though. I bet the ADS drivers run active would be pretty sweet. They seem to have a very high crossover point as the tweets don't seem to be doing near as much as the CDT tweeters were.

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

pics?

can you do a small review-ADS verse CDT?

 

[carter1010 10+ year member]

I will get some pics up soon for you. Really can't review them till I find out what this problem is as the sound is not very clear right now. The ADS also required a whole lot more modding to my door to fit the grills, so I took them out right away after I realized they didn't resolve the problem so they don't get damaged during daily driving. They are sweet thought and the tweeter is one of the largest component tweets I have seen. they crossover at 2.5. I found a manual online. Lucky me!

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

ADS did make great product.

If you are having the same problem then it might be the passive xover, they the ADS xover & see if that will solve your problem or not.

 

[carter1010 10+ year member]

that was the first thing I tried. the ads drivers with the crossovers, same problem. I am going to bypass the head unit tomorrow and see if its the HU ground or the imprint ground. Least that will get me narrowed down some.

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

check your rca's as well

 

[carter1010 10+ year member]

Ok, I bypassed the head unit, same problem, took the source material in my house and listened to it on my home system and no distortion or discoloration was detected, so that is out. I switched my RCA's, same problem. Its happening on both channels so I don't think its a speaker wire short. I am getting closer. Replaced comps same problem. It is at this point the amplifier or the ground I suspect. My plans are this, do the big three upgrade which I have not done yet, and ground both my amps separately. I also have a JL 300/4 I am going to throw on it just to make sure its not coming from the amp itself. Any other ideas or suggestions.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

pos amp, which model mids and tweeters you have?

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

Yes doing the big three will help, but I dont think it will solve your issue.

Yes reground the amps.

So i guess you rechecked the speaker wire at the amps terminal???

What type of rca's do you have?

you could have a bad headunit!

So your the Imprint is good???

did you look at all you wire?, I mean the wire could of been clipped at the doors??

 

[carter1010 10+ year member]

Here is the last update. I moved my ground to the rear strut bolt. Ground off the paint, ground off the shiny metal on the ground and bolted it tight. I bypassed all the existing speaker wires and ran directly into the speakers themselves from the amp outside the car. Same problem. So discouraged. Not sure at all where to go from here. ground is good, amp is good, head unit and imprint was bypassed, speaker wires bypassed, RCA's switched, speakers swapped, I even brought my house speakers out to make sure. Lost now on what direction to head in.

At least I know all my stuff is in good working order : )

Cannot find source of distortion : (

 

[carter1010 10+ year member]

I think I got it. Some recordings are recorded at higher volumes than others, we all know that. And the fact that I have a IVA unit says that I only have mp3 capability right now. Well, whoever said it was the MP3, you were right. Not because of sound quality, but because of it being output at 102 DB. I got this software called MP3GAin and it shows what your source material is recorded at and it takes that material and drops it down to 89 db. The tracks I was having problems with were all 99 db plus and all clipping due to the automatic eq and sound settings of the Ipod. Actually using higher quality source material made the problem worse because the higher end frequencies are held more intact than on a lower quality file and this is from what I understand, the point where the ipod tries to compensate anyway. The volume of the head unit didn't matter because the signal was clipped before the head unit ever got it. I assume that because of the quality of equipment in my car vs my home system is why these imperfections were so much more audible in my car vs my house. My CDT comps just amplify it along with the amount of power I have going to them. So although the issues are still there if you really listen, now with a bit of eq, I think I can eliminate it completely. I will be doing more tests on other material that caused issues as time goes on, but for right now, I feel like I am on track and want to thank all of you for your time and advice and if nothing else, maybe we all have a new adjustment to make when it comes to gain and clipping. Adjust the volume of those MP3's to reduce clipping!

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

If you rewired everything & chamged the RCA's,now have a solid ground, Maybe just maybe your mp3-headunit is bad???

Did you buy it ffrom a shop? if so they can check it out for you free of charge.

or maybe you go to your local shop & talk with them about what going on.

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

glad you figured it out.

I wil make sure i dont buy a mp3-headunit