Help.. I'm not sure what to do

[kchandler]

I'm getting a lot of distortion when my speakers are at moderate to high volume, especially with songs that have a bit more base. I'm wondering what the best thing to do is, and if it even makes sense to buy an amp. I know literally nothing about this stuff!!!!

I have an Pioneer DEHP4000UB deck, hooked up a single pair of Alpine SPR-17C speakers. Will an amp help reduce distortion and make them louder? Should I add a sub as well?

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[GAMEOVERCCA 10+ year member]

I'm getting a lot of distortion when my speakers are at moderate to high volume, especially with songs that have a bit more base. I'm wondering what the best thing to do is, and if it even makes sense to buy an amp. I know literally nothing about this stuff!!!!
I have an Pioneer DEHP4000UB deck, hooked up a single pair of Alpine SPR-17C speakers. Will an amp help reduce distortion and make them louder? Should I add a sub as well?

at a loss on what to say to this..... lol

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

does your headunit have a HPF (high pass) feature? If it does set it to 80Hz. What's happening is your speakers are playing frequencies they arent designed to play (bass) and thus it's distorting it at higher volumes. an amp would help to boost the overall sound of your speakers, yes

 

[kchandler]

Yes, it does :

High-Pass Crossover (HPF) 50/63/80/100/125Hz, -12dB/Oct. I can give that a try... Is there anything else I can do less buying an amp?

 

[grandam888 10+ year member]

i have the same problem too, if i turn my head unit up to 62 out of 62, i get distortion like crazy!!! it almost like my head unit is clipping the audio signal becuase my radio is onlt 17 watts rms!!!

j/k

yes an amp will help as MOST amps have a much higher rms than a typical radio. the HPF thing will "work" but not fix your issue. buy a small good brand amp(kicker, fosgate, etc" maybe 50 watts rms per channel @ 4 ohms. if your planning on running only 4 speakers for your mids/highs even a 2 channel will be fine as long as its stable @ 2 ohms as most door speakers are 4 ohms, and most cheaper speakers(sony walmart style, pioneer walmart style etc) take about 50w rms.

 

[kchandler]

my speakers are 100w rms each, 4 ohms. I only have two of them. My deck is mosfet 50wx4, 22wx4 continuous. Does this mean that my speakers are being underpowered?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

An amp will help, but it sounds like the speakers need to be crossed over.

 

[kchandler]

Can you help me understand what you mean by crossed over?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

You need a high pass filter. It keep your speakers from playing below a certain frequency. For instance, my speakers are crossed over at 100 hz, that means they won't really play below 100 hz.

 

[UMWDawg92 10+ year member]

A high pass filter at 80hz-100hz will probably help a ton and if you're still getting alot of distortion when you turn it up then that means you are clipping the signal from your HU built in amp. If that's the case you probably want to get yourself a nice little amp to put out a clean signal.

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

Hey, that's the head unit I have!

 

[smd4life 5,000+ posts]

you need the SMD meter....PERIOD LOL

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

If he's using the h/u's built-in amplifier, he probably cant apply the crossover functions of the deck.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

I have my speakers crossed over at 130hz you may be like me....I might be half deaf or something but I listen to my music extremely loud and at the volume I'm happy with my speakers will distort unless I have them crossed at 130hz. Part due to my speakers, but they aren't that bad they are actually decent, most is due to the fact I listen to **** way too loud. If you experience distortion at the volumes you like you need to move the crossover point higher so the speakers don't have to play the lower frequencies which they might not be able to handle at that volume.

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

why is this thread so complicated? lol turn the volume down on the headunit, and/or put the 80 hertz filter on, and/or get an amplifier for the speakers. end of story.