CDT-HD (a lil dissapointed)

[snitchelgroovin 10+ year member]

i have a pair of CDT High Definition components 5.25". i have one of these installed in the right door with the tweeter in the 'A' frame on the inside of the mirror. i have the xover set on -2dB for the tweeter, i have the h/u (alpine 7995) high pass set on 80Hz, and i have the amp (jl 300/4) high pass set on 75Hz with on a high level output (rather than full or bass)

the amplifier puts out a little under 100w per channel and the cdt's are rated at 110w rms. the problem is that they are distorting hard... the midbass distorts on about 28volume (fm radio) and 23volume (cd) and the tweeter does the same. the tweeter just makes some little scratches and things that sound like static.

i dont know whats wrong or what i should do but im not happy since i bought all this stuff and i was expecting it to get VERY loud so that i would never need to turn it up full volume, but for me 25volume is not really good enough.

keep in mind i only have ONE cdt-hd speaker in on the right door, i will soon (today) put the other one in the left door. i know this will help, probabaly even alot, but if there is anything i should be doing or that i should know please tell me.

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[GSteg 10+ year member]

how is your gain set?

 

[B&R Innovations]

Just what I was going to ask...what is your gain set at

Turn it down...theres no need to play gain master on your cabin speakers

 

[snitchelgroovin 10+ year member]

ok.. on the jl amp there isnt a "gain" setting, but there is an input sensitivity, i think that is it. i really have not messed with that from the factory setting.

i know this will lower the volume, but if i then turn the h/u up to a higher volume will there be less distortion?

will this decrease the distortion?

is that about all that is wrong, and if not this then i just cant turn it up too loud.

i just put in the second one in the door, it is much louder (still no rear sound) but im thinking once i install my rear mb quarts, then it will get real loud. right now with both speakers i just wanna turn it up to about 30, and it will start to distort a little bit at about 25... i cant hear the distortion too well though.

 

[abcdefg 10+ year member]

do u have the low pass filter off

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

i told him to set the high pass at 70hz.

for the gain (input sensitivity), set it all the way down to the lowest point. turn up your headunit all the way to volume 30 or so. then start to turn your gain up slowly, until you hear distortion. once you do, turn the gain slowly back down until hear no more distortion.

 

[80_Cutlass_mn 10+ year member]

Originally posted by GSteg i told him to set the low pass at 70hz.

 

for the gain (input sensitivity), set it all the way down to the lowest point. turn up your headunit all the way to volume 30 or so. then start to turn your gain up slowly, until you hear distortion. once you do, turn the gain slowly back down until hear no more distortion.

There ya go, the best way in the world to set your gains properly to your listening style

 

[Spddracer 10+ year member]

Isnt that amp 75 x 4 ?? Bridge the amp to 2 channel , Turn the gains fully down and see what you think , Do you have any subs running right now ?? Wihtout any subs going and your fronts on highpass they are not going to sound great , You need to finish everything first , How/where are the mids mounted ?? Are they in the doors ?? Are your doors sealed good ??? 30 on my alpine hu is about where it starts to peter out on me , I have my input sens set to where 28 is about max hu volume and WOW they are awesome , I have been running 200 watts a side to my 6.5" hds for a few months and they have never began to wimper on me , The more power you give the cdts the better they sound !But if you dont have a sub going they will not show you what they have !! I would recc about 90hz x-over on the hd's thou , 70 is to low for them to perfrom at high volumes there not subs they are mids !

 

[Spddracer 10+ year member]

double!

 

[Ralphus 10+ year member]

First of all, those components come with a crossover, so leave your filter/crossover on the amp at full.

Turn the gain on the amp all the way down, and then increase volume on the HU until it distorts, then back it down a little.

Then you leave your radio at that point, turn the gain up on the amp until you hear distortion and back that off a little bit. Should be about 3/4 to get distortion.

Then you have your head unit set at it's volume limit and your amplifier gains set maximizing your signal to noise ratio. That's usually in the manual, try reading it, it may be in there.

Almost all head units cause distortion at high volumes, and most amps need the gains to stay below 3/4. So, if it's not loud enough at the limits you need to get a more powerful amp. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Spddracer 10+ year member]

3/4 gain setting !! OUCH , I belive the Hu puts otu 4 volts if Im not mistaking , And the gain at 3/4 would clip really bad , So your gains should not be much over all the way down

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

oh crap. i mean highpass. lol. some other guy got me confused for a minute there. lol High Pass people

 

[snitchelgroovin 10+ year member]

i dont have a low pass filter... the low pass filter on the hu is set at 80hz, and the one on the amp is set at 75... so thats pretty good. i have not messed with the gains yet though. my door is probabaly real crappily sealed. there are lots of holes in the metal surrounding all the woofer, and the metal has holes so that the plastic door piece can fit into place.

the speakers dont sound bad, but i was expecting to be painfully loud... ( wouldnt do that but i want them to be able to handle more watts than i want to listen to) eventually (maby in 2 or so months) ill get a 12brahma and then well see whats up.

i just figured out one thing the mx feature (media xpander) which makes the music sound better, increases the distortion. if i turn this off, it takes a little bit away from the smoothness of the music, it can go to about 30volume before distortion, and about 28 on a cd. the amp is rated at 75x4 althought its supposed to do 97x4, but i havent upgraded the ground wire from battery to frame yet (its like a 8-10g wire) will do that on monday. i still dont have a rear channel and that will get it a little louder. it definitely gets loud but i kida like to listen to it on 25, and this is with -1bass and -3treble so that it does not distort. i want it to get loud but i dont wanna compromise the highs and lows.

the mids are mounted in the factory location (no kickpanel for me) and the enclosure is not all the way sealed. the tweeters are mounted on the "A" frame on the inside of the mirrors.

my main thing is for me to change the input sensitivity (gain) on my amp. ill probabaly do this tomorrow cause im too lazy now.

wil this help significantly???

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

Originally posted by snitchelgroovin i dont have a low pass filter... the low pass filter on the hu is set at 80hz, and the one on the amp is set at 75... so thats pretty good.

the headunit's xover is suppose to be set on high pass, not lowpass.

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

Originally posted by snitchelgroovin  

i just figured out one thing the mx feature (media xpander) which makes the music sound better, increases the distortion. if i turn this off, it takes a little bit away from the smoothness of the music, it can go to about 30volume before distortion, and about 28 on a cd.

[/QOTE]

turn it on. the distortion is probably from something else,