HELP! New Kenwood speakers sound distorted at high volume

[abrleslie]

Hi there, I installed a Kenwood receiver, with 4-80W kenwood speakers, and 2 tweeters in my Chevy colorado. When I turn up the volume the speakers sound distorted, I have spent over 500 bucks on this, and not really happy with the outcome, and not sure why this is happening. Any suggestions? Thank you for your time!

Cheers.

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[Umbra]

Hi there, I installed a Kenwood receiver, with 4-80W kenwood speakers, and 2 tweeters in my Chevy colorado. When I turn up the volume the speakers sound distorted, I have spent over 500 bucks on this, and not really happy with the outcome, and not sure why this is happening. Any suggestions? Thank you for your time!
Cheers.

Is there an amplifier powering the speakers or are you running it off the head unit? The head unit puts out about ~15W RMS per channel. High volumes will create clipping and distortion. You'll want a dedicated 4 channel amp capable of putting out something close to what your speakers can handle.

For comparison, I have a Kenwood head unit and kenwood speakers, but I can max out the volume and it sounds crystal clear because they're running off a Rockford Fosgate 4 channel that does about 70W RMS each channel

If there is an amp in place, make sure it's adequate. If it is, there's a lot that can contribute to the issue, but it's most likely the settings are wrong or there's a problem with the wiring.

If you're unhappy with the results talk to you installer to try to rectify the issue before messing with anything yourself.

 

[abrleslie]

Thank you for your reply! No, I did not install an amp. I was wondering if that is the problem, the wiring is definitely correct. I will purchase an amp. I think I will try and find one second hand though. I have spent more then I wanted to already. If I have 4-80W speakers and two tweeters, how do I choose the right size amp? Do I just make sure the wattage for the amp is over the wattage for the speakers?

Thanks again! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[Umbra]

Thank you for your reply! No, I did not install an amp. I was wondering if that is the problem, the wiring is definitely correct. I will purchase an amp. I think I will try and find one second hand though. I have spent more then I wanted to already. If I have 4-80W speakers and two tweeters, how do I choose the right size amp? Do I just make sure the wattage for the amp is over the wattage for the speakers?
Thanks again! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

Sorry it's a few days late. I'm surprised no one helped you since. Second hand is fine, that's usually what I do. Let someone else pay full price.

There's so many amp brands out there, some good some bad. Some of the ones I like to look for locally because they're reputable and available: Rockford Fosgate, Kicker, Alpine. Kenwood and MTX are okay. Sony (the old made in Japan ones) are good, the new xplod line isn't. Avoid Power Acoustik, Jensen, Lightning Audio, Boss. There's tons more good brands if you poke around the forum, but I rarely ever see them locally.

Anything 30W RMS or above would be a marked improvement, but shoot for at least 50W. 50-80W would be golden. Over 80W is okay provided you set your gains appropriately (though poor settings with any wattage could be damaging). Music is dynamic; your speakers shouldn't be seeing sustained high power (you'd get that more with subs). Also more power is needed for low frequencies, so don't have your HPF (high pass filter) too low. The HPF setting tells the amp where to start cutting out the low end. If you have a sub it's good for blending and specifying what speakers play what, but it's also good prevent playing notes lower than the speakers should be playing (look at the starting value for frequency range under the speaker specs).

If one pair of the kenwoods are component speakers and they have tweeters that attach to them with a wire with something bulky in the middle then don't worry about the tweeters as far as the amp is concerned. The bulky thing is a capacitor and it filters out low end before it gets to the tweeter. It won't affect the impedance much and you shouldn't treat them as additional speakers. If that's not the case let me know.

You'll most likely want a 4 channel amp capable of 50-85W RMS (not peak) per channel at whatever ohm load your speakers are (i'm guessing 4 ohms, but check first). You'll also need a way to power the amp, an amp install kit will give you what you need:

Amp Installation Kits

Let us know the amp and we can advise you on which to get.

The biggest pain is going to be running a wire from the battery to the amp, then wires from the amp to all the speakers, but the result is definitely worth it.

 

[Audio4ever 10+ year member]

Wats the model # of your speakers

 

[abrleslie]

Holy Crap, sorry for the late reply, and I really appreciate your help! I just spent all day wiring up the amp in my truck, I had some issues getting the speaker wires to through the front doors, then ran out of speaker wire for my last rear speaker. LOL, so I went with a Hertz 80 watt 4 channel amp. I got a new one, because I am impatient, and couldn't find one online. I have pretty much everything in place except for that last speaker run. I will have to go and get some more wire in the morning. I Have a question about the wiring to the speakers. I'm not sure if you can help me out with this is as well. If not no worries, I will try my best to explain it. The previous wire came with smaller wire, that I wired onto the original stock wiring of the truck and I'm assuming that now with an amp that will put out more power I have to use the correct wire size that came with the amp kit I bought. 16 gauge stranded copper wire. However there was a bulky thing (capacitor) that you mentioned? Connected to the font kenwood speakers that I bought before I knew I was getting an amp. The speakers I bought are 6.5 and also have 2 tweeters that came with the speakers. However it wasn't wired directly to the tweeters, but I had it wired to the stock wiring of the truck to each front 6.5 speaker I had installed. I took them off, because I'm not sure what to do with them, since I am running wire from the amp to the speakers, should I wire them in as well? If I do, is it ok that I wire the two different size wires together? I think I am in over my head, but it is definitely too late to turn back now. I really do appreciate your help! Fingers crossed everything works out!

 

[Umbra]

Holy Crap, sorry for the late reply, and I really appreciate your help! I just spent all day wiring up the amp in my truck, I had some issues getting the speaker wires to through the front doors, then ran out of speaker wire for my last rear speaker. LOL, so I went with a Hertz 80 watt 4 channel amp. I got a new one, because I am impatient, and couldn't find one online. I have pretty much everything in place except for that last speaker run. I will have to go and get some more wire in the morning. I Have a question about the wiring to the speakers. I'm not sure if you can help me out with this is as well. If not no worries, I will try my best to explain it. The previous wire came with smaller wire, that I wired onto the original stock wiring of the truck and I'm assuming that now with an amp that will put out more power I have to use the correct wire size that came with the amp kit I bought. 16 gauge stranded copper wire. However there was a bulky thing (capacitor) that you mentioned? Connected to the font kenwood speakers that I bought before I knew I was getting an amp. The speakers I bought are 6.5 and also have 2 tweeters that came with the speakers. However it wasn't wired directly to the tweeters, but I had it wired to the stock wiring of the truck to each front 6.5 speaker I had installed. I took them off, because I'm not sure what to do with them, since I am running wire from the amp to the speakers, should I wire them in as well? If I do, is it ok that I wire the two different size wires together? I think I am in over my head, but it is definitely too late to turn back now. I really do appreciate your help! Fingers crossed everything works out!

I had a nice reply typed out, but hit the wrong button and lost it. Let me try to hit the bullet points.

16ga copper is a good choice. Run it from the amp to each speaker. Connect the tweeters to the two (I assume front) speakers and make sure you use that in-line crossover network (fancy name for wire with capacitor). Without the cap to filter everything but the highs the tweeters will fry. Don't use any of the stock speaker wiring. Hopefully you're using the RCA outputs on your head unit to feed the amp the signal.

Once you get everything hooked up try it out on low gain and volume. If it sounds right you can set the gains properly. I prefer the oscilloscope method, but failing that check out theis crutchfield article, it explains it pretty well:

Using test tones to set amplifier gain

Give us the model numbers for your stuff and we can better assist you. We can also check that the amp and speakers are a good match.

 

[abrleslie]

Ok, makes sense to not wire the tweeters to the factory wiring. ONE more question, I just want to make sure I do this right. The front speakers are kenwood KFC-P709PS. They are two speakers that came with tweeters. The wires for the speakers came with a capacitor already built in, so I am assuming I wire the capacitor from the amp to the speaker, then wire the speaker to the tweeter? My back speakers I have installed are Kenwood Excelon KFC-X173, the Hertz amp is Hertz compact power series 760 W class AB 4 Channel (HCP4), the head unit I have is a Kenwood DBX502BT... I have run all the wires from the amp to speakers, with RCA outputs from the receiver to the amp, there were 2 RCA's that I ran. Everything is ready to go, now I just want to make sure I wire the capacitor to the tweeters correctly, either before the speakers, or in between the front speakers to the tweeters. You are a savior! THANK YOU!!!

 

[Umbra]

Ok, makes sense to not wire the tweeters to the factory wiring. ONE more question, I just want to make sure I do this right. The front speakers are kenwood KFC-P709PS. They are two speakers that came with tweeters. The wires for the speakers came with a capacitor already built in, so I am assuming I wire the capacitor from the amp to the speaker, then wire the speaker to the tweeter? My back speakers I have installed are Kenwood Excelon KFC-X173, the Hertz amp is Hertz compact power series 760 W class AB 4 Channel (HCP4), the head unit I have is a Kenwood DBX502BT... I have run all the wires from the amp to speakers, with RCA outputs from the receiver to the amp, there were 2 RCA's that I ran. Everything is ready to go, now I just want to make sure I wire the capacitor to the tweeters correctly, either before the speakers, or in between the front speakers to the tweeters. You are a savior! THANK YOU!!!

Looks like the amp does 65W RMS per channel. That should make a massive difference. I have the same components in my jeep. I like them a lot, but I find the tweeter a little harsh. I tamed it with a graphic eq on my phone, but in lieu of that, if you find it harsh turn the treble down a bit.

To address your question you want the capacitor between the woofer and the tweeter. Those speakers have two sets of terminals, the second is meant to hook up the tweeter. Technically the tweeter is wired in parallel with the woofer, so hooking it up directly would be the same as running it back to the amp. Still, you need that cap. If you were to put the cap between the woofer and amp the woofer would only play the highs (4,900Hz, I think for those).

Tweeter to cap, cap to speaker, speaker to amp.

Good luck. Don't use the bass boost knob. If advise against using the EQ settings on the HU to boost the bass, mids, or treble. If you do, do that before setting the EQ, otherwise you might end up clipping

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