need major help, please!

[teamd0m1nat3 10+ year member]

I'm desperate:

I cannot figure out for the life of me why my system isn't working correctly, and why it does the things it does... i REALLY need help.. and i can't afford to replace everything right now. I have an MTX Thunder 4244 amp, which has been bench tested so that shouldn't be the problem (right?). I've got DEI Viper 550.2 speakers and crossovers, is anyone at all familiar with these? i've found barely little information about them on the internet, all i know is my friend originally bought them new for around $400 a few years ago, they seemed to work fine for him, but i have no manual or anything to go with them. My head unit is a pioneer, it was only around $100 (i'm starting to wonder if this is what's making everything sound funny). My biggest problem right now is that the right tweeter stopped working a while back, it would just come on and off, as if there was a short...untill it stopped working completely. so i re-soldered the wires to the tweeter, but still no signal, and i already tried connecting it to the same connections as the tweeter that is working, nothing. what in the world could it be? does that mean it could be blown? i don't believe i can take it apart anymore without breaking it. i could really use some suggestions in repairing tweeters.

So other then all that, i'll give a history of what's been going on... it was about two years ago when all this was installed (with the help of a "car audio expert" friend). at first everything seemed to be working, including both tweeters. but there was this terrible alternator whine always. i have the power cables down one side and the speaker cables down the other... but still a horrible whine, even though i got used to it. then one day..... i turned my car off to pump gas, and then when i turned it back on the whole thing just starts this realllly loud buzz.... i didn't change a single thing between turning it off and back on. and even if i reset the amp and whatever, there was always that constant extremely loud buzz every time the car was started. so eventually i just unplugged the amp, and had no music for months, because that's all it would do. then i can't remember what i did, if anything at all, after a couple months i hooked everything back up and it comes back on without the buzz, but it's never been as loud as it was when i originally installed it, and it doesn't have that alternator whine like it used to. i've made sure all the fuses aren't blown, and that the amp settings are correct: it's set to high pass on the front channel (i can give you a more detailed explanation of how it's wired if i need too). it still never sounds like it did originally, and i have no idea why. the speakers aren't nearly as loud as they we're before it started that stupid buzzing thing. i feel like the speakers can't handle as much now, the gain is set really low and if i turn it up at all it just distorts. even though it's not as loud it still sounds fairly clear, just at a medium volume, the tweeter(the one that works) will starting clipping if there is alot of bass though, even with the gain set all the way down.

I apologize for the wall of text, but this has been frustrating me for so long and i've tried everything i know. I would appreciate any help or advice anyone has to offer.

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[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

break it down and dont explain your self so much. i havent read anything, and most people wont, give us a basic problem and break them down and we will ask our questions and you answer them and we can work it out together

 

[teamd0m1nat3 10+ year member]

ok. my biggest concern right now is my tweeter not working, it makes absolutely no noise at all. i've tried resoldering the connections and replacing the wires, so if no one thinks it's fixable can anyone suggest somewhere i can find a replacement tweeter?

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

cliffs?

 

[goonandbuck 10+ year member]

cliff notes: his sh1t sux and dont work right

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

cliff notes: his sh1t sux and dont work right

response: get new sh1ts

 

[goonandbuck 10+ year member]

tru dat

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

My opinion: Tweeter - one of the wires is broken. Could be tough to fix. Probably will need to be replaced.

Hum and Buzz - Loose ground wire on the amp. Bad connection caused hum. Finally dislodged itself enough to cause loud buzz. Driving car around jiggled it and it caught a better connection. This needs to be checked and maybe grounded better or in a better location.

Volume problem: system needs tuning, search for thread about it. It's here somewhere.

 

[goonandbuck 10+ year member]

My opinion: Tweeter - one of the wires is broken. Could be tough to fix. Probably will need to be replaced.
Hum and Buzz - Loose ground wire on the amp. Bad connection caused hum. Finally dislodged itself enough to cause loud buzz. Driving car around jiggled it and it caught a better connection. This needs to be checked and maybe grounded better or in a better location.

Volume problem: system needs tuning, search for thread about it. It's here somewhere.

he said he replaced the tweeter wire and all that good stuff=not the problem=blown tweeter= buy new

 

[teamd0m1nat3 10+ year member]

My opinion: Tweeter - one of the wires is broken. Could be tough to fix. Probably will need to be replaced.
Hum and Buzz - Loose ground wire on the amp. Bad connection caused hum. Finally dislodged itself enough to cause loud buzz. Driving car around jiggled it and it caught a better connection. This needs to be checked and maybe grounded better or in a better location.

Volume problem: system needs tuning, search for thread about it. It's here somewhere.

I think you're right, i think there's a broken connection inside the tweeter, and it would be really tough to fix without destroying it. so i'm looking for replacement tweeters, i could use some suggestions... something that would match the crossovers?

other than that i don't believe it's a ground issue, but i could be wrong.. and i am going to try re-tuning everything.

thanks for your help.

 

[teamd0m1nat3 10+ year member]

i found a couple sets on partsexpress.com

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=270-013

would those work or are they crap?

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

he said he replaced the tweeter wire and all that good stuff=not the problem=blown tweeter= buy new

I meant inside the tweeter, he understood me.

As to the Goldwood Tweet, I'm not sure. I never heard them before so I don't know. I'm sure they'll work, just don't know what type of sound quality you'll get from them. I'd do it. It's $10. They ****, no big loss. They sound good enough for you, then you got them nice and cheap. No loss situation.

For your hum, you mentioned that you had a pioneer Headunit. You might need to ground the RCA's. Search the forum for RCA Ground or something and you'll get a description of how to do it. If it's not whining anymore though, you're probably fine.

 

[teamd0m1nat3 10+ year member]

that is one thing i need to do, but the alternator whine isn't nearly as audible as it was when my system was working originally, which is really weird. isn't it possible to wrap a little bit of speaker wire around the rca's near the HU to eliminate that?

also, is it bad to have the head unit turned all the way up, because that's how i set the gain on the amp, and i think the hu is outputting way too much when i do that causing slight distortion. so should i turn it about half down (45 out of 62) and then adjust the gain?

 

[teamd0m1nat3 10+ year member]

and i'm a little bit skeptical about the goldwood tweeter, but for the price it's better than not having two tweeters. at least until i can afford all new speakers. will a new tweeter work with my current crossovers?