New install of dash speakers, need to reduce volume.

[wildredwood]

Hi and greetings to the forum- this is my first post.

I'm installing into a fullsize conversion van- 6 speaker system, Stock Door mounting 6x9 and dash mounts 3.5 in., and some kind of 6x9 placed/glued into forward facing panels in the rear.

New headunit is a Kenwood K100U media reviver. (I got this model for it's ability to read FLAC files)

I just wanted a basic upgrade from the stock 1998 tape player.

I installed 2 way 6x9's Fosgate Punch speakers into the doors- then due to lack of treble I purchased 2 way dash speakers (same kind as door) and installed them into the dash mounts.

I also wired into the positive leads a 99uf 100V Non-Polar 10% Capacitor 400HZ @ 4ohm.

It seemed like common since to block some of the bass to the smaller speakers.

Not very happy with the sound, esp. in the front seats- it seems like the little speakers are getting all the power.

I was also curious about the total ohm's - do six speaker stock systems have different ohm speakers front and back ?

I've looked around for a answer to my question and the best advice so far was to wire in a 1 W 2 ohm resister into ea. positive lead. Will this work, will it waste what little power I'm getting from my headunit ?

Thanks in advance for help, I want to put my dash back together ;-)

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[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

if you have the 6x9's and dash speakers running off the same channels the dash speakers will reach max output way before the 6x9's will. You could try the resistor trick and see if you are happy with that. Typically the factory either has different ohm speakers or amp pushing them. For the best results get an amp. Run 2pr 6x9's off half and dash speakers off the other half. If rear speakers are not that important then rewire to run dash off front signal and doors off rear then you could use the fade to control the output.

 

[wildredwood]

Thanks for the help. I do want the rear speakers so I guess I'll try the resistor- did the spec make since to you?

1 W 2 ohm, sounds low for the wattage, In your opinion did I get the right "bass blockers" for the dash speakers?

I will get a amp eventually, I know it will rock.

I do use this van for camping and I want to keep power consumption to a min, it would be great if I could find a low power & decent sounding 6 channel line level amp that I could fit under the dash.

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.

Heres a good small amp you could use to run the 6x9's and just leave the dash speakers running off deck power. The bass blocker should be fine but it will probably change the crossover point when you wire in the resistor.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

should have got 6x9 split's system for the front

 

[wildredwood]

I'm not sure what a "split 6x9" is, like separates with a crossover?

Basically I installed the 6x9's first (found them for cheap-amazon warehouse) then really wanted more treble, the 6x9 are way buried at the bottom of the door.

A couple of months later I found the matching 3.5s on the cheap and figured what the hell I cna just drop these in and toss the stock ones.

It's not bad if you are in the middle seat row, but in the front the speaker is too directional.

I like that amp the CrossoverOre pointed out, there is lots of room behind the mediaplayer head unit for mounting but it looks like its RCA on one side and wires on the other, would be better if I could just wire into the harness, not exactly a big deal tho.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

splits = mid driver and tweeter with passive crossover left and right.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

maybe try fade your stereo towards the back speakers giving the front speakers less pwr

 

[dmruschell]

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.Heres a good small amp you could use to run the 6x9's and just leave the dash speakers running off deck power. The bass blocker should be fine but it will probably change the crossover point when you wire in the resistor.

What CrossoverOre said is the way to go. I've never use the amp they mentioned, though, so I can't speak about that. I will say, get a 4 channel amp that has an adjustable low pass filter available on one of the sets of channels. Then, run the dash speakers from the speaker outputs of the head unit with the bass blockers installed (you may need to try different Hz bass blockers to get the best sound). Run the front 6x9s off of the amp with a low pass filter enabled, so that the 6x9s handle the lows/low mids, and the dash speakers handle the mids/highs. You will need to mess with the adjustable crossover and gain settings on the amp (and maybe the bass blockers, though the ones you have should be workable) to get a good balance. Then, run the rear 6x9s off of the amp without any filters.

I just re-read the first post, and saw the mention of the rear speakers. If the rear speakers are stock, you may want to run them off of the head unit and just purchase a 2-channel amp for the front door 6x9s and then blend the door 6x9s with the dash speakers as I described.