New JBL P660c don't sound very good...

[rtuite]

I got a new set of JBL P660c component speakers, and had to jump through a couple hoops to get them installed. The woofers are mounted up front in the kick panels & tweeters are up in the A pillar. Due to space restrictions, I had to wire the crossovers in the back. It's not a big car, so it's not a ton of wire, maybe 6' total on either side. I still over-sized the wire a bit using 14g from the rear channel (where the speakers were mounted) to the crossovers (in the trunk) and from the crossover to the woofers and 16g from the crossover to the tweeters.

First, they don't seem to want to play very loud without distorting. Almost sounds like clipping if I lay into them. Second, this seems to be much worse with any bass being pushed to them. Third, these symptoms improved when I removed the cheap Bluetooth module I was using (connects to Aux input). I pulled all of the "Bass boost" out and turned down the bass in general, and that helped. a bit too. They just don't have the depth to them I expected, maybe my expectations were too high?

None of this was an issue with my old cheapo speakers (SSL "force" series) that were in the car when I bought it. Of course, they just wouldn't play bass at all... the cones were super flimsy, almost like Mylar balloon material only a bit thicker.

I am thinking there may be multiple things going on here, and I wish I could figure it out on my own. I don't need to be spoon-fed answers, but admit that I'm kind of at my wit's end here...

They're being fed from the rear channel (with the fader 100% to the rear) of the head unit, a Pioneer DEH-P4900IB that came with the car (going to upgrade, but just haven't decided to what). Could it be that my head unit just can't power these beefy speakers? Or am I missing something else in the mix? Maybe I just need an amp to feed good, clean power to these speakers?

Open to suggestions, ideas, troubleshooting, and an opportunity to learn! Thanks in advance!

Click to read more...

 

[Slobalt]

Do some research, it sounds like u have some learning to do. If u want good sound an amp is a must Imo

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I got a new set of JBL P660c component speakers, and had to jump through a couple hoops to get them installed. The woofers are mounted up front in the kick panels & tweeters are up in the A pillar. Due to space restrictions, I had to wire the crossovers in the back. It's not a big car, so it's not a ton of wire, maybe 6' total on either side. I still over-sized the wire a bit using 14g from the rear channel (where the speakers were mounted) to the crossovers (in the trunk) and from the crossover to the woofers and 16g from the crossover to the tweeters.
First, they don't seem to want to play very loud without distorting. Almost sounds like clipping if I lay into them. Second, this seems to be much worse with any bass being pushed to them. Third, these symptoms improved when I removed the cheap Bluetooth module I was using (connects to Aux input). I pulled all of the "Bass boost" out and turned down the bass in general, and that helped. a bit too. They just don't have the depth to them I expected, maybe my expectations were too high?

None of this was an issue with my old cheapo speakers (SSL "force" series) that were in the car when I bought it. Of course, they just wouldn't play bass at all... the cones were super flimsy, almost like Mylar balloon material only a bit thicker.

I am thinking there may be multiple things going on here, and I wish I could figure it out on my own. I don't need to be spoon-fed answers, but admit that I'm kind of at my wit's end here...

They're being fed from the rear channel (with the fader 100% to the rear) of the head unit, a Pioneer DEH-P4900IB that came with the car (going to upgrade, but just haven't decided to what). Could it be that my head unit just can't power these beefy speakers? Or am I missing something else in the mix? Maybe I just need an amp to feed good, clean power to these speakers?

Open to suggestions, ideas, troubleshooting, and an opportunity to learn! Thanks in advance!

you are getting some distortion because those are 2 ohm components and your head unit was mainly designed to work with 4 ohm speakers, internal amp cannot handle that low of an ohm load.

definitely need a seperate +100w rms per channel amp unless you wanna fry the internal h/u amp.

Head unit processor quality is rather low too.

Make sure its not a phasing issue either, check doing the 9 volt battery speaker polarity test(google it) and if needed, wire one set out of phase to see if it helps

 

[rtuite]

Wow...I feel sheepish.

I didn't even realize those were 2 ohm speakers. I would have never thought of that... I'll go ahead and order that amp.

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

Still don't expect any midbass out of them I have them on any base whatsoever distorts the crap out of them. And they only get so lout I'm running them off an amp also and i want more sometimrs

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

yeah, if your car just doesnt get good midbass, then its the vehicle design. You can acoustically treat doors and try to make the best environment for the speaker to work in but it takes a lot of work. Check out keep_hope_alive's accord build log in the build log section of the forum to see what it takes to get proper midbass out of the doors. ITs a sh*t ton of work.

 

[rtuite]

I'm getting a sub, it's in transit now. Stupid slow FedEx... Anyway, my Sundown SA-8 and PPI BA2600.1d should be in Friday. I'm not looking for ridiculous amounts of bass, just good, clean, occasionally loud music.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I'm getting a sub, it's in transit now. Stupid slow FedEx... Anyway, my Sundown SA-8 and PPI BA2600.1d should be in Friday. I'm not looking for ridiculous amounts of bass, just good, clean, occasionally loud music.

The sub is for the sub-bass, we are talking about midbass which is like the is the kick drums from your door speakers, you need midbass to bring your sound stage to the front/encompassing you instead of hearing the bass coming from the sub in the trunk. Its a aspect of music reproduction that most cars are lacking in.

 

[Ridinhi 5,000+ posts]

I got a new set of JBL P660c component speakers, and had to jump through a couple hoops to get them installed. The woofers are mounted up front in the kick panels & tweeters are up in the A pillar. Due to space restrictions, I had to wire the crossovers in the back. It's not a big car, so it's not a ton of wire, maybe 6' total on either side. I still over-sized the wire a bit using 14g from the rear channel (where the speakers were mounted) to the crossovers (in the trunk) and from the crossover to the woofers and 16g from the crossover to the tweeters.
First, they don't seem to want to play very loud without distorting. Almost sounds like clipping if I lay into them. Second, this seems to be much worse with any bass being pushed to them. Third, these symptoms improved when I removed the cheap Bluetooth module I was using (connects to Aux input). I pulled all of the "Bass boost" out and turned down the bass in general, and that helped. a bit too. They just don't have the depth to them I expected, maybe my expectations were too high?

None of this was an issue with my old cheapo speakers (SSL "force" series) that were in the car when I bought it. Of course, they just wouldn't play bass at all... the cones were super flimsy, almost like Mylar balloon material only a bit thicker.

I am thinking there may be multiple things going on here, and I wish I could figure it out on my own. I don't need to be spoon-fed answers, but admit that I'm kind of at my wit's end here...

They're being fed from the rear channel (with the fader 100% to the rear) of the head unit, a Pioneer DEH-P4900IB that came with the car (going to upgrade, but just haven't decided to what). Could it be that my head unit just can't power these beefy speakers? Or am I missing something else in the mix? Maybe I just need an amp to feed good, clean power to these speakers?

Open to suggestions, ideas, troubleshooting, and an opportunity to learn! Thanks in advance!

Dude, when i first read the title of your thread,im like "oh *****". I just ordered a set from sonic and was thinking did i make a mistake. Then i continued to read and seen"they are being fed from the rear channel of your headunit"...whew,what a relief!! You had me there for a minute. Gonna be sending 150 per side to mine!

 

[Ridinhi 5,000+ posts]

Still don't expect any midbass out of them I have them on any base whatsoever distorts the crap out of them. And they only get so lout I'm running them off an amp also and i want more sometimrs

are your dooors deadened? Ive seen nothing but good reviews on this jbl set

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

are your dooors deadened? Ive seen nothing but good reviews on this jbl set

Its a good set for $100 but thats it. No my doors arent deadened but that doesnt change the fact that any bass whatsoever distorts the crap out of them. Not to mention tweeters are stupid sensitive and already have a scratchy problem to them. But as i said its a $100 component set. You get what you pay for. My headunit goes to 35 if i go passed 24 it spunds like complete ****. And yes my gains are set properly.

 

[Ridinhi 5,000+ posts]

Its a good set for $100 but thats it. No my doors arent deadened but that doesnt change the fact that any bass whatsoever distorts the crap out of them. Not to mention tweeters are stupid sensitive and already have a scratchy problem to them. But as i said its a $100 component set. You get what you pay for. My headunit goes to 35 if i go passed 24 it spunds like complete ****. And yes my gains are set properly.

D@MN:crap:

 

---------- Post added at 01:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:58 PM ----------

 

Its a good set for $100 but thats it. No my doors arent deadened but that doesnt change the fact that any bass whatsoever distorts the crap out of them. Not to mention tweeters are stupid sensitive and already have a scratchy problem to them. But as i said its a $100 component set. You get what you pay for. My headunit goes to 35 if i go passed 24 it spunds like complete ****. And yes my gains are set properly.

and from the looks of it,your running them active?

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Are they stock kick panel speaker openings?

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

D@MN:crap: 

---------- Post added at 01:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:58 PM ----------

 

and from the looks of it,your running them active?

Nope using the passive xovers. Im sure if i were to deaden it qould improve but bass would still dostort them. But like i said for $100 theyre ok at low level music they sound nice but higher up not so much

 

[Ridinhi 5,000+ posts]

Nope using the passive xovers. Im sure if i were to deaden it qould improve but bass would still dostort them. But like i said for $100 theyre ok at low level music they sound nice but higher up not so much

ok...i believe you. Just gonna have to experience it myself. Only resaon i got them is beacause everyone saying how loud they got...no one bothered to mention the distortion part!!