New speakers give off an odor when pushed...

[Rochambeau 10+ year member]

I got my car back from an audio shop last week with the gear listed below installed.

Though the install was poor, I worked out some of the kinks myself as I am waiting to take it back in to let them fix the things that don't work or they didn't have the parts for at the time.

Once I finally fixed the install of the amp (they did not bridge it, it was to be bridged and they had the wrong setting on the input channel selector switch), I tried to see how loud it would go and still stay clear. It got very loud, was very clear at 28 (of 35 max) but then I noticed a plastic-like smell coming from the front speaker grills while playing a Blue Man Group percussion-heavy piece. Needless to say, I shut it down immediately.

My question is this (before I go pulling off the door panel)... Has anyone ever experienced such a thing with new speakers? Like kind of a break-in thing? The first few times you push it, it starts to heat the cone causing a smell or something? Or am I basically toasting the speakers?

The speakers are Boston Pro60s (3ohm) in a coaxial arrangement and the amp in question is an Alpine PDX 4.150 bridged to two channels. The birth certificate on the amp states 159Wx4 @ 4ohms so I am guessing they are getting 318W per channel. Boston recommends between 200 & 400W for these speaks. (The generic specs on the amp indicate that the wattage does not increase with a 2ohm load vs. 4ohm, hence me not taking the 3ohm load into account when calculating wattage.)

PS: The coaxial setup is one of the issues I have with the install and I plan to demand that they be split up and reinstalled.

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[mtdewelf 10+ year member]

gains?

 

[Rochambeau 10+ year member]

gains?

Duh, I shoulda given that.... Set at nominal (halfway point) and the high pass is set at about 100-110Hz. It should be noted that the percussion involved a lot of tom-toms.

Perhaps I should raise my high-pass or lower the gain but I worry that I am risking speaker failure if I test it after making adjustments.

 

[mtdewelf 10+ year member]

if you want no risk of you killing them, then don't do anything else and make them fix it. Should of done that from the get go IMO.

since you paid them to do it, then messed with it when getting home they might find you responsible for the damage

 

[Rochambeau 10+ year member]

if you want no risk of you killing them, then don't do anything else and make them fix it. Should of done that from the get go IMO.
since you paid them to do it, then messed with it when getting home they might find you responsible for the damage

Yeah, I am guilty as charged. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/blackeye.gif.66a1670f5aaf7f406e783a63e3387dc5.gif As we wait for the parts to come in where they ordered the wrong stuff, I couldn't help but think constantly about why I was getting the right channel in both front speaks. Investigating that made me realize they bridged it incorrectly and set the inputs incorrectly.

Also, it's been 9 days that I have been driving around with messed up sound and I just got impatient.

On the other hand, the mistakes they made have really left me questioning their competence so much so that I now trust myself more than I trust them with the system. However, I have never done a 'take the car apart' level of install and didn't wanna mess up my pretty 06 Mustang. So I think I will let them resolve the remaining issues seeings how I took care of the amp issues.

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

why would your high pass be at 110? you should have your lowpass around 89

 

[Rochambeau 10+ year member]

Oh, bloody hell...

I got the specs on the Pro60s confused with those of its big brother, the Z6s. 125RMS is all they are rated for. I was scorching those puppies.

Unbridged the amp and changed the inputs around so that I don't fry them. Now I have more power than I have use for.