Crackling problem....... does this sound right?

[XORstatus 10+ year member]

I think I know whats going on but I wanted to run it by all of you EXPERTS to validate my conclusions.

I recently Installed new speakers in my car, I have a volvo s60, I use a stock HU because I like the look of an all stock car.

However I recently installed after market speakers, 4 to be exact. The two rear speakers are alpine co-axle speakers capable of 40 watts rms per. The two front speakers are alpine 610C's which are component speakers.

The speakers that I removed were stock volvo speakers and their impedance is 6 ohms, the new alpine installs are all 4 ohms, im pretty sure.

The problem is at moderately high volumes, NOT loud but not quiet either the speakers begin to crack and the audio they produce becomes distorted.

The HU is rated @ 40 w per channel I'm assuming @ 6 ohm b/c the speakers that I removed were. The alpine 610C's are rated 80 rms, DUE TO THIS fact I dont believe the speakers are being over driven.

Two assumptions:

1) The difference of impedance is causing the HU amp to distort at low volumes .

2) The alpine crossover is not installed, I didn't install the crossover because I didn't think there was a need to. The stock volvo system hand a 6.5 and a 1 inch tweeter in the door, It was my assumption that the power and signal is interpreted and delegated appropriately form the HU. However I could be very wrong.

Do you guts agree that one of these issues may be the culprit?

Click to read more...

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Could be either. Keep in mind the "crossover" on the tweeter could have just been a small electrolytic capacitor the size of a tic-tac attatched right to the tweeter itself and it may have came out with the factory tweet. If that's the case your tweeters won't last long not crossed over

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

i agree that the factory tweeter would have a capacitor connected to it and you probably removed that cap when you uninstalled the factory tweeters. you'd know because you would have had to de-solder the cap and solder it in series with your tweeters. your new tweeters may soon be destroyed. you need to wire the tweeters through the crossover they came with.

the factory radio is not 40W because the speakers were rated 40W. that is an incorrect assumption and not a fact. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif you didn't tell us what year the S60 is so we can't look that up (not that it would be information we could find). the power output of factory radios is rarely documented. but you should recognize that even aftermarket head units are capable of only 12-15W RMS at distorted levels. factory radios usually offer even less power, unless they have a factory external amplifier. then you'll maybe get into 20W RMS of usable output.

replacing speakers and powering them from factory amplification usually results in disappointment. good quality amplification would do wonders for your speakers.

 

[Canaan 10+ year member]

i agree that the factory tweeter would have a capacitor connected to it and you probably removed that cap when you uninstalled the factory tweeters. you'd know because you would have had to de-solder the cap and solder it in series with your tweeters. your new tweeters may soon be destroyed. you need to wire the tweeters through the crossover they came with.

the factory radio is not 40W because the speakers were rated 40W. that is an incorrect assumption and not a fact. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif you didn't tell us what year the S60 is so we can't look that up (not that it would be information we could find). the power output of factory radios is rarely documented. but you should recognize that even aftermarket head units are capable of only 12-15W RMS at distorted levels. factory radios usually offer even less power, unless they have a factory external amplifier. then you'll maybe get into 20W RMS of usable output.

replacing speakers and powering them from factory amplification usually results in disappointment. good quality amplification would do wonders for your speakers.

I agree 100% w/ this.

I would HIGHLY recommend using a processor and aftermarket amp if you really want to upgrade your stock system and still retain a 'factory look' in the dash.

A basic 4ch signal summing processor would REALLY help when interfacing a stock HU with an aftermarket amp/speaker setup.

 

[BnGRacing 10+ year member]

Does your Volvo have a premium sound system? Chances are it does...at least in the capacity that there's an outboard amp somewhere.

With that, there's also a DSP. However rudimentary it might be, it's still doing it's thing even though you've replaced the speakers. Factory DSPs actually compensate for phase, time, and EQ so that the music sounds the best with the cheapest/smallest audio components possible. The problem you might be having is the passive crossovers for your new speakers fighting with the signal being passed along by the DSP. If this is the case, you'll sound worse than you did before.

Something else to think about; your new Alpine speakers are not so great. Cars are actually using some pretty decent woofers these days. You'll see poly & treated paper cones with high excursion rubber surrounds along with soft dome tweeters. Those are better materials than you find in some entry level component sets out there. Factor in the OEM DSP being a lot better than a cheapie passive network and you can have better sounding OEM speakers than you do aftermarket. The Bose system in a new Cadillac has won SQ comps with not 1 thing changed. Think about that for a bit...

But you've changed your speakers b/c you're either looking for better sound -or- they done blow'd up. Which is it?

From there it's best to find the speakers that will best work with the rest of the Volvo sound-system instead of buying speakers from "a good brand" and dropping them in hoping for better performance. But for that, we'll need to know a bit more about your car. If you have a Volvo with Dynaudio premium sound, what you've effectively done was exchange your Rolex for a Timex.

 

[XORstatus 10+ year member]

I have a Volvo S60 2001 with the standard sound package, Im sure the audio package is NOT premium in any way. LOL

The drivers which i replaced were of low quality, I was quite surprised that volvo would put such low quality components into the car.

The rear alpines that I installed are older, they were removed from my car which was totaled a half a decade ago, DECENT speakers, definitely NOT super high end but nice enough.

The 610C component system I got from a liquidation less than 30 bucks NEW, which was a CRAZY deal. AGAIN im not trying to break the sound burier or have ULTRA hight accuracy, but I do like quality audio and I was impressed with the output to cost ratio of these speakers.

The speakers which were removed are still very functional, I plan to recycle them and turn them into a "garage speaker" for the setup up I use when I build.

BnGRacing,

Respectfully, I feel your post is somewhat attacking, and without justification, the unwarranted assumptions that your making are almost asinine. The Alpines which I installed are in no way the cream of the crop, however they are WITHOUT question significantly better than the drivers which they replaced. MIGHT I ADD almost FREE!!!

I have begun to look for a 4 channel amp, but I have a question, would a 2 channel work just as well, If I wire the speakers in parallel it would drop their resistance to 2 ohm per channel and I wouldn't need as powerful of an amp.

What do you guys think?

 

[XORstatus 10+ year member]

Also I intend to install the crossover network //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[XORstatus 10+ year member]

I got an Alpine MRP-f250 4 channel amp, found a STUPID good deal and couldn't pass it up.

Its rated 40 RMS x 4 @ 4

and 50 RMS x 4 @ 2

I thought it should do rated and have good clarity, and for 40 shipped I think it was a good deal.

Good thought on the amp?

 

[XORstatus 10+ year member]

Any thoughts?

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

I got an Alpine MRP-f250 4 channel amp, found a STUPID good deal and couldn't pass it up.
Its rated 40 RMS x 4 @ 4

and 50 RMS x 4 @ 2

I thought it should do rated and have good clarity, and for 40 shipped I think it was a good deal.

Good thought on the amp?

Sounds like a hell of a deal. Nothin special, but, prolly couldn't get anything better for 40 bucks. A signal processor as recommended by the Cannan above would be a great pairing as well.

 

[XORstatus 10+ year member]

What is a signal processor?

Im assuming it "processes signal" is it and additional amp?

Again Im not expecting the world, but I think the set up will be pretty decent sub $100 total.

 

[XORstatus 10+ year member]

Is this a decent signal processor?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MTX-AUDIO-RE-Q-REQ-OEM-CAR-AUDIO-SIGNAL-PROCESSOR-/250899802217?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6acb2869#ht_500wt_1204

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

the amp is a good choice. have you installed the crossover yet? don't run your system until you do.

The Re-Q is decent

 

[groundpound4200 5,000+ posts]

Yes, you will be much happier with the RE-Q and an amp!