Opinions on car speaker issue

[Sparkyeb]

Hello, i created an account to maybe find an answer to my issue/concern.

Not long ago i go a sub and 2 speakers installed in eclipse cross. Typical loc converter was used for sub and mono amp. The 2 front speakers were simply swaped out and kept connected to stock.

Is it normal that when you go into audio settings in your car, to adjust balance setting to say all left side of speaker that only bass is reproduced on that side. Then when you change balance to right side there is no bass at all. Keep in mind this is with or without sub. Whats bugging me is the left side speakers sound bit muffled or lacking treble versus the right. Could the installation of the sub/loc/amp affect the default car speakers. Because there speakers are still running off of stock, while sub is seperate. I just feel the right side sounds more crisp versus the left. As a whole it sounds ok and dont noticed truly.

Any insight would be great before i start attempting to fix myself.

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[ItsHammer]

Did you install a midbass driver by accident rather than full range or is it a full component set with xover?

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Loc should not affect the speakers. It sounds like your installer forgot to connect the tweeter on the left and voice on the right. Some speakers have separate connections for highs and lows but usually come with a passive crossover. Verify connection in those speakers.

 

[Sparkyeb]

Thanks for the replys. The speakers are rockford fosgate t1650 that were intsalled in front, connected to stock amp, And same brand sub and amp installed with loc. I guess the only true way to verify is to take the door panel off myself wich i didnt want to do in case i damage something. On a side note originally when i went to get fron speakers installed i thought front left speaker was damaged. Turns out water got in through window and was touching the connection causing it to sound bad and crackly. It was an issue he never seen before.Maybe its the same issue with this.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

I am curious as to what you will find. Keep us posted.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

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Drill a small hole in the bottom for drainage.These will help out in the future

 

[Sparkyeb]

I am curious as to what you will find. Keep us posted.

So i went ahead and took the door panel apart, after fidgeting and trying to figure it out(couldn't find info online for my model). Took the speaker out and looked closely. Theres a small tear about inch to inch and half on outer part of the speaker. I tested yhe speaker itelf with multimeter and its showing correct ohms. I also hooked it up to a setup inside my place. Sounds decent. I didnt take the other side out so i cant truly compare sound diff.

I have no idea how a tear appeared. I have few theories. 1 , it was already torn when the guy installed. 2, i played them too loud somehow off stock amp, but i doubt it. Or 3 maybe salt from winter got on the foam and ate away at it. I noticed the center speaker itself was dirty.

Im going to repair it with the proper glue, however my question is how much difference in sound would there be with small tear. Could it of caused slightly muffled sound?

Ill post once i repair

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

So i went ahead and took the door panel apart, after fidgeting and trying to figure it out(couldn't find info online for my model). Took the speaker out and looked closely. Theres a small tear about inch to inch and half on outer part of the speaker. I tested yhe speaker itelf with multimeter and its showing correct ohms. I also hooked it up to a setup inside my place. Sounds decent. I didnt take the other side out so i cant truly compare sound diff.

I have no idea how a tear appeared. I have few theories. 1 , it was already torn when the guy installed. 2, i played them too loud somehow off stock amp, but i doubt it. Or 3 maybe salt from winter got on the foam and ate away at it. I noticed the center speaker itself was dirty.

Im going to repair it with the proper glue, however my question is how much difference in sound would there be with small tear. Could it of caused slightly muffled sound?

Ill post once i repair

A tear in any area will cause the bass to diminish significantly and introduce distortion. That hole could have been caused by installer's screwdriver slipping, very common. Santoprene rubber is highly weather resistant. Also, upon retrospect, it sounds as if your installer connected your sub amp to only one side of the rear speakers. Hence only highs from the right side. You also forgot to mention which side you took off to test inside. The left side with no highs, I figure would be a burned out, or disconnected tweeter. If you have the t1650-s, I would suspect a disconnected tweeter. If they are t1650, which are coaxials, It may be a burned tweeter.

 

[Sparkyeb]

A tear in any area will cause the bass to diminish significantly and introduce distortion. That hole could have been caused by installer's screwdriver slipping, very common. Santoprene rubber is highly weather resistant. Also, upon retrospect, it sounds as if your installer connected your sub amp to only one side of the rear speakers. Hence only highs from the right side. You also forgot to mention which side you took off to test inside. The left side with no highs, I figure would be a burned out, or disconnected tweeter. If you have the t1650-s, I would suspect a disconnected tweeter. If they are t1650, which are coaxials, It may be a burned tweeter.

So i only took off the left side and tested good for ohms. Hooked up it inside to personal amp, sounded ok as it can for a standalone speaker with obviously no box. I just repaired the tear, going to let sit for 24 hours.

Let me kinda back up and explain the setup just to be clear regarding parts of your post.

A few months after i bought my car i decided to upgrade by adding sub and mono amp only. I found a guy professionally does this and had it done. Typical install from what i watched, LOC to stock radio, sub and amp in the back.

I then deicided to add 2 front speakers only connecting to stock radio. Basically just swap out oem speakers and put in new ones for clearer sound. I did this in case down the line id pay more for a 4 channel amp to power these 2 or more speakers. All went good.

I guess what i dont quite understand is the tweeter part you mentioned. When i look at the tweeter on these speakers it looks, well not connected to anything. They are just attached but they do not have wiring unless its hidden within the metal arm holding it in place. So there is no way the installer could of not hooked them up. They are built as one.

The other part i dont get is how can you hook up sub to only one side. Isnt it connected through LOC which just does what it suppose to?

 

[Lasherž]

So i only took off the left side and tested good for ohms. Hooked up it inside to personal amp, sounded ok as it can for a standalone speaker with obviously no box. I just repaired the tear, going to let sit for 24 hours.

Let me kinda back up and explain the setup just to be clear regarding parts of your post.

A few months after i bought my car i decided to upgrade by adding sub and mono amp only. I found a guy professionally does this and had it done. Typical install from what i watched, LOC to stock radio, sub and amp in the back.

I then deicided to add 2 front speakers only connecting to stock radio. Basically just swap out oem speakers and put in new ones for clearer sound. I did this in case down the line id pay more for a 4 channel amp to power these 2 or more speakers. All went good.

I guess what i dont quite understand is the tweeter part you mentioned. When i look at the tweeter on these speakers it looks, well not connected to anything. They are just attached but they do not have wiring unless its hidden within the metal arm holding it in place. So there is no way the installer could of not hooked them up. They are built as one.

The other part i dont get is how can you hook up sub to only one side. Isnt it connected through LOC which just does what it suppose to?

If you're noticing a difference in sound it's best to replace those speakers before you say for sure it's the LOC causing it. A hole like that will affect the sound in the exact way you're describing. In terms of the left to right shift it's pretty clear that your installer didn't do it correctly. Either the RCA is loose on the right side, your right side speaker wasn't tapped for the LOC, or it's possible this was done on purpose because he accidentally switched the polarity and found that only one RCA or speaker output being connected was louder. That's also a common mistake, but in either case it's not very accurate to call the guy a professional any more, it's a half-ass install unless the RCA slipped off.


The LOC should be tapping both sides, not just one (some songs sweep from one side to the other), so I would redo that for the right side. Use a wiring harness to tap the speaker (also if the installer didn't use one and instead snipped your car's wiring then it's just another reason to call him unprofessional). If the audio quality starts to match the muddy performance of the left after that then it's a shitty LOC. Some passive ones are like that where it'll affect the sound quality. They also give weak signal outputs so I'd recommend an active one like audiocontrol LC2-i which also combats the head unit from dampening the bass at high volumes to spare the speakers. In my car the LC2-i was the biggest upgrade in sound quality since the subwoofer itself and also prevented some feedback problems I was having with the cheapo passive LOC.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Just like Lasherz said. The loc needs to be hooked up to left and right speakers for proper operation. If both are hooked up, swap out left to right and right to left on the input side of the loc. Then use balance on the radio to see if bass now goes to right side. If it does, then left and right sides are connected and working. This means your loc needs adjustment or it is bad. If it remains with bass only on the left, then he hooked up only from the left speaker. As for the speaker, that tweeter is connected internally. There is no way to mess up its connection. Test it in home to hear if tweeter plays. If not then it is shorted.

 

[Sparkyeb]

Just like Lasherz said. The loc needs to be hooked up to left and right speakers for proper operation. If both are hooked up, swap out left to right and right to left on the input side of the loc. Then use balance on the radio to see if bass now goes to right side. If it does, then left and right sides are connected and working. This means your loc needs adjustment or it is bad. If it remains with bass only on the left, then he hooked up only from the left speaker. As for the speaker, that tweeter is connected internally. There is no way to mess up its connection. Test it in home to hear if tweeter plays. If not then it is shorted.

I hooked repaired speaker back up. Seems ok but yea the bass is definitely left side only. How could i fix this. The LOC is installed on left side ofnthe car where acess to stock is located. I mean its not a hige issue considering the bass really only needs to come from sub, not speakers.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

I hooked repaired speaker back up. Seems ok but yea the bass is definitely left side only. How could i fix this. The LOC is installed on left side ofnthe car where acess to stock is located. I mean its not a hige issue considering the bass really only needs to come from sub, not speakers.

You take the right side input wire of the loc and connect it to the right rear speaker. Be careful with the polarities, otherwise you may end up damaging the subwoofer. Study the connection on the left speaker and do the same on the right. Good luck, keep us posted.