My New Infinity Kappa 4x6's plates Sound Terrible!! Please Help

[mnjhartke8t2v]

First off let me explain that I am an Auto Mechanic and not a Stereo expert by no means. I do have a vast knowledge of car electrical. Here is my situation. I bought a 1999 Grand am GT 4 door that had a blown speaker in the front door. It has the stock headunit and stock rear speakers that have good enough bass for me. I am a perfectionist so I decided to by the best 4x6 speakers I could find. I think I went overboard or something. I installed my speakers in the car and they don't sound anything as good as I expected for the price. I know they are not meant to handle bass but I can't even turn my stereo up as loud as I used to with the stock speakers in without them distorting which I am very carefull not to do much. I now have to use the built in factory equalizer to turn down the bass to get the volume where I like it but doing this kills my overall bass from my rear speakers. Do I need to add an amp just to power the front speakers which I am not crazzy about doing but will if I have to or do I need bass blockers for them or something. I need some advice. If I should go with an amp, how much power?what brand? The speakers are rate at 60watts rms and 180 max. I am happy with my rear speakers and almost wish I just had a new set of stock fronts. I know that sounds crazzy but I guess I just need some guidance. thanks

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[LinxuS 10+ year member]

It could be the stock head unit / stock amp. Did it come with a factor bose system?

I had some Kappa 6x8s and I was pretty pleased with them. With an amp, and the gains extremely low, I was sending them about 20 RMS, and for that amount of power, they were pretty punchy. I had them as rear fill, and that's the reason why I never really opened them up.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

First off let me explain that I am an Auto Mechanic and not a Stereo expert by no means. I do have a vast knowledge of car electrical. Here is my situation. I bought a 1999 Grand am GT 4 door that had a blown speaker in the front door. It has the stock headunit and stock rear speakers that have good enough bass for me. I am a perfectionist so I decided to by the best 4x6 speakers I could find. I think I went overboard or something. I installed my speakers in the car and they don't sound anything as good as I expected for the price. I know they are not meant to handle bass but I can't even turn my stereo up as loud as I used to with the stock speakers in without them distorting which I am very carefull not to do much. I now have to use the built in factory equalizer to turn down the bass to get the volume where I like it but doing this kills my overall bass from my rear speakers. Do I need to add an amp just to power the front speakers which I am not crazzy about doing but will if I have to or do I need bass blockers for them or something. I need some advice. If I should go with an amp, how much power?what brand? The speakers are rate at 60watts rms and 180 max. I am happy with my rear speakers and almost wish I just had a new set of stock fronts. I know that sounds crazzy but I guess I just need some guidance. thanks

Most stock hu's have a built in EQ. This makes the cheap speakers that they put into the cars sound good. The HU is designed for those particular cheap speakers. When you put in a aftermarket set of speakers, which are designed to sound good on a good signal, they sound bad when you put them on a stock hu. The wierd EQ settings from the HU take effect and it sounds like poo. Plus, most stock speakers are more effecient than aftermarket ones, since the stock speakers have to get somewhat loud off less than 20 watts. I'd start by switching out the hu. That should get you on the right track. If you decide to go this route, give us a budget and we can help you out.

 

[mike dressure 10+ year member]

if you dont want to add an amp just replace the factory deck with a aftermarket deck. that will help a little

 

[mnjhartke8t2v]

If at all possible I would like to retain the factory HU. I like the clean factory look. I know that sounds weird. So basically the best route would be to add an amp. Should I add just a 2 channel amp to drive the front speakers. It seems weird to have an amp on such small speakers. The 4x6 plate kappas are 2 ohm and say they can handle up to 60 watts rms. What amp am I looking at here. I don't want to spend much for than 75 bucks or so on it. Do I have any other options. I don't see any reason to change out the rears because they have good bass for stock speakers. Im not sure if the stock is a bose system or not but It sounds much better than most stock systems. thanks for all your help.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

If you decide to go that route, I'd look into a loc as well. I don't know if your hu has rcas on it, so if they dont' you'll need one anyway. A JL cleensweep or equivalent will also get rid of the EQ preset on your HU, making your fronts sound better.

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

If you can return the 4x6s you would be much better off either buying an adapter or making your own to fit a good 6.5" coax in the front doors, or if you want to amplify getting a set of components. And switching the deck out or going with something like the jl cleansweep, rockford 3sixty2 would help out immensly.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

make sure you have the posotive and negative right, try flipping the wire on one of the speakers

 

[Curel 10+ year member]

Your problem is the plates are not meant to handle bass. They require a highpass. Your radio is most likely feeding it a full range signal. Your options are:

Replace the plate with a speaker that can handle bass (ex: 6.5 or 5 1/4 coax or components).

Wire in a highpass filter.

Replace the head unit with a aftermarket radio that has a built in crossover.

Power them with an amp that has a crossover built in.

 

[mnjhartke8t2v]

I like the wiring in a high pass filter Idea. Is that just like adding a bass blocker? I was reading about people making there own with capacitors but everything involved 4 ohm speakers and the plates are 2 ohm. could you point me in the right direction with what kind of high pass filter I could use on those 2 ohm speakers. My rear speakers put out plenty of bass so I dont need any in the front.

 

[stuckinok 5,000+ posts]

Your problem is the plates are not meant to handle bass. They require a highpass. Your radio is most likely feeding it a full range signal. Your options are:
Replace the plate with a speaker that can handle bass (ex: 6.5 or 5 1/4 coax or components).

Wire in a highpass filter.

Replace the head unit with a aftermarket radio that has a built in crossover.

Power them with an amp that has a crossover built in.

yes.. so true you migght of been better off just buying a 4x6 full range speaker v. buying a plate set-up

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

If I were you, I'd rock this amp:

The Profile 400SX. Its 100w x 2 @ 4 ohms. It's power output is overrated, but it'll provide plenty of juice for the speakers. With the proper gain setting, it'll bring the most potential out of your speakers. It also has a high-pass filter to keep low bass from reaching the speakers.

Profile Amplifiers Go to the 400SX. It's only $45 + ship. I know it's cheap, but Profile has proven itself as a reliable value brand.

 

[mnjhartke8t2v]

So you think that profile amp is the way to go. I am not familar with amps so I have a few questions. Should I hook that amp to both the infinity plate speakers and the stock rears? The stock rears have enough bass for me right now. Will they be able to handle the extra power of that amp. Also, I don't have a sub so will I be able to control the high and low signals seperately from the front and rear. So that I can give the fronts only high signals and the rears mid and high. Is that possible with an amp?

 

[mnjhartke8t2v]

I think I just answer my question about hooking it to the rears also. I just now saw it was only 2 channel, I didn't pay attention. Sorry. Is it normal to hook up speakers that small to an amp but yet leave the rears only power by the factory HU. THat just seems weird to me. What about the 200sx and the 100sx? they won't do the job for those little plate speakers?

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

what I would do is only hook the front speakers to the amp, and don't even touch the rears. It will allow you to cut the low frequencies going to the infinitys