Problem with Infinity Reference 6010cs

[mach999 10+ year member]

I have a 2002 Nissan Maxima without the Bose system. I noticed the front left door speaker was starting to sound very muffled to I decided to purchase a new set of component speakers. Well unfortunately my mother bought me the Infinity Reference 6010cs speakers and had them installed at Circuit City. After waiting nearly 11 hrs I finally was able to pick up my car and I was amazed at the sound. There was absolutely no bass whatsoever. I've heard that aftermarket speakers do not produce bass like factory speakers but this is incredible. I even have the bass adjustment turned to it's highest level and still almost no bass at all. I could understand a slight decrease in bass but this can't be right. It sounds like the music is be played through a set of headphones. Are these speakers just that poor or did the guys at Circuit City install them incorrectly? I don't know what to do because I doubt I can get the infinity speakers replaced with another brand and my old ones were breaking so I'm kinda stuck.

I don't know if this would matter but would it make a difference if the speakers were powered from an amplifier and not the factory headunit? It says the Infinity's run at around 90 rms and my old factory speakers were 40rms. Would that have anything to do with the poor sound?

Thanks in advance.

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[azbass 5,000+ posts]

11 hours?

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

probably wired outa phase.

 

[mach999 10+ year member]

Yeah, I took the car in at 10am and called three times throughout the day, each time telling me that my car was next in line and it should be another hour or so. Finally I just went to Circuit City and by the time I left it was 9pm.

If the speakers were wired out of phase, does this mean they would should be making funny noises, i.e. hissing, buzzing, or could they sound somewhat normal but just not produce the fullest sound?

Thanks for the input.

 

[ismelllikepoop 10+ year member]

there just isnt much bass w those speakers, or most aftermarket in general

 

[Jdizzle 10+ year member]

check the wiring....thats all i know to tell you to do...but one of my friends has infinitys in his blazer, and they're not loud, just more highs no bass at all

 

[mach999 10+ year member]

I appreciate the feedback guys. I just can't get over how seemingly better aftermarket speakers actually sound worse than my original factory speakers.

 

[El Ropo 10+ year member]

Infinity speakers are infamous for their lack of low end response.

It sounds like you're using factory HU with no amp. That is a big no-no with any comps. Comps are designed for best performance with a decent aftermarket amplifier. If you don't have one, your comps will always sound bad no matter what make or model you have.

One more thing, Whoever said comps don't put out bass haven't had a set correctly installed in deadened doors, running off clean 75 to 100 watts rms. Any high quality comp will sound great in properly deadened doors, when installed correctly. Of course Infinity isn't considered close to high quality nowadays, so you will never have great bass response with those comps. I know, I had them in my car before I got my 6500s. Night and day in the SQ and midbass dept.

 

[kingsxman 10+ year member]

Infinity speakers are infamous for their lack of low end response.
It sounds like you're using factory HU with no amp. That is a big no-no with any comps. Comps are designed for best performance with a decent aftermarket amplifier. If you don't have one, your comps will always sound bad no matter what make or model you have.

Ditto!!!

I put in a set of Infinity Reference 5 1/4's in my Grand Prix being powered off the head unit. THey sounded worse than my original speakers. It was a tinny, thin sound. Not much bass. Added a cheap refurb profile amp off profiles web site (80w rms) and the speakers came to life!! You gotta, gotta gotta power those speakers with an amp.

 

[mach999 10+ year member]

I'm hoping they were just wired wrong and can be fixed. I really hope this isn't what I can expect from these speakers. If they really sound this bad, I am seriously thinking about putting my factory set back in. I'm just a little angry that I'll have to spend more out of pocket to fix something that was a gift and was paid for in the beginning.

I don't know if any of you have ever had Circuit City install your speakers, but if I'm unhappy with the speakers am I stuck with them or will they replace it?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[El Ropo 10+ year member]

Well, I used to be in the business, and as a salesman, I would of never tried to sell you a set of comps without knowing that you plan on adding an amplifier at the very least. That's the problem with big box stores, the salespeople don't have a reputation for being knowledeable and or honest. They will sell anything to anyone, even if they know there are better solutions.

I'd even go so far as saying the car stereo manager probably told his salespeople to push infinity comps because he either got a special deal on them, or he's overstocked. You may be able to talk them into exchanging the comps for a pair of decent coaxial speakers, which will sound much more balanced with the 8 or 10 watts your HU is putting out. They might want to charge for installation again though. Good luck.

 

[kingsxman 10+ year member]

Dude, I think your being too hard on Circuit CIty and especially your mom. Its a gift. She meant well. I'm sure she walked into Circuit City and said "I want to get my son a really nice set of speakers" and they obliged. They probably asked questions but she didnt know. You know how moms are...

Anyway I checked and those speakers probably need at least 50-60 watts rms to sound good. Why dont you look here for a refurbed amp that will drive them, get one and if you cant install yourself you'll only be out about $175 for install and amp probably. Then, you'll have one heck of a nice sounding system for next to nothing out of your pocket.

http://www.profilecaraudio.com/amplifiers.htm

The ca640 will drive your fronts well AND you can hook it up to the rears for more power. Set your gains low on that channel so you dont blow your factory speakers.

 

[mach999 10+ year member]

I wasn't trying to be hard on my mother, it's just I had researched speakers for awhile and I knew a problem like this would arise. Anyway I spoke to a salesman at Circuit City who assured me something must be wrong and that he had Infinity speakers and they would take a look at it. I'm taking it up there tomorrow and hopefully I can get this sorted out.

One thing that got me alittle worried was when I mentioned that the phasing could be incorrect and he looked at me with a blank stare and said, "what do you mean?".

I've gotten the impression that it would be very beneficial to add an amp with component speakers. I plan to add some 2 or 3-way speakers in the rear sometime in the future so I'm guessing an amp will be necessary to get the most out of the speakers. Is it very difficult to install an amp?

 

[kingsxman 10+ year member]

Its not difficult, but if your not familiar with it it might be worth the bucks to pay to have it done. The tricky part, in my opinion, is getting the power connected at the battery and through the firewall and to the trunk. I think that I've done my last one of those. What I'm doing from now on in that dept. is I will buy a large enough gauge to run multiple amps off it (4 gauge), then pay a shop to get the power to the trunk. From there I can do the rest. However, I dont know how much $$ it would save me.

I actually paid for an amp to be installed with my last install. They did a great job with the power and a crappy job iwht the amp install.

I was surprised however at how relatively inexpensive it was...but then the nickle and dimed me. ("You had a RCA that was bad so we had to put one in". "Your "kit" was short an RCA") Seriously, thats the crap I heard. I bought a kit from stinger with 4 gauge power, ground, speaker and rca. They had the balls to tell me the kit didnt come with an RCA...and since I hadnt opened the plastic sealed case I couldnt say for sure it did...even though it said it did. Anyway, get a quote from them as to exactly how much it will run...and make them stick to it. Get a 4 channel so you can power everything when you get it. Rears are super easy to install and hook up. (unless you have a Grand Prix..then they're a pain!!!)

here;s link to a good place to get your cables that you need cheap. Go talk to some places and make sure that you can bring in your own wire and cables...then go to it. Look at the 4 guage complete sets. Theres a good one on here for $31. The shop would charge you $90 for this.

http://www.knukonceptz.com/productMaster.cfm?Category=Amp%20Installation%20Kits#

 

[ismelllikepoop 10+ year member]

in my opinion, it is the infinity speakers, not the install. i had a pair of infinity kappas and i felt the exact same way, there was very little bass, but it did sound more detailed. i dont know how oem speakers are designed, but it seems to me that they are tuned to have more bass, not necessarily good bass, but more since that is what most people associate good sound quality with. i was annoyed also bc i ended up pouring way more money into the system than i intended, but thats up to how determined you are to get it right. i ended up getting dls speakers and a zapco amp that solved the bassless problem, but in the end i spent triple the money to fix a system that was a graduation gift.