voltage problem?

[Etac 10+ year member]

im running two amps - 4 x 75 interior and 250 x 2 subs (both rms ratings) - i didnt use to have this problem with my old headunit (sony) but when i installed my new headunit (alpine) and had to be hooked directly to the battery

my problem is the tweeters begin to crack/distort hard at like 70% volume but they didnt use to do this.. my speakers defently can handle the power cause i can bridge the channel and they'll still play fine (up to the same volume point) but a lot louder and clearer then what they're cracking at unbridged.. they're also defently cracking at notes towards the lower freq they play (cross over is at 5K) so i guess even tho a tweeters doesnt use as much power as a midrange speaker/sub this is where it would require teh most...

my preouts are 2 volts on the headunit but i cant set my amplifer gain at 2 volts like i used too cause of the distortion.. could this possibly do with a voltage drop? im not running a cap and stock alternator - but got the biggest battery i could fit in my car.. i think the alpine headunit draws more power and my electrical system has taken a beating for awhile.

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[GrnEydDvl 10+ year member]

The headunit will have minimal relative impact on the total current draw. It is nothing compared to your amps.

What is possible is that your Alpine head unit is clipping earlier in the volume range than you expect.

Did you set your gains with the volume set to 22 out of 35? That seems to be the accepted sweet spot on the volume dial for late model Alpines.

 

[Etac 10+ year member]

say it is the headunit... would an eq help that (since the alpine one doesnt one) or would the frequency be already clipped as it gets to the eq therefore do really nothing since the eq wouldnt know how much to lower it... cause as i said its only that one frequency range (5-6K) and everything else plays fine above that

 

[GrnEydDvl 10+ year member]

An external EQ will not "unclip" a clipped signal. It will lower the volume of particular frequency but if its clipped when it gets to the EQ, the EQ will not remove the distortion. It will just make that distorted frequency less audible relative to the other frequencies.

What point on your volume is "like 70%"?

I am still going with your Alpine is clipping earlier in the rotation than your Sony did and you are expecting to be able to turn it up as far without the resulting clipping.

 

[Etac 10+ year member]

around 27 out of 35 with gains set directly at 2

the thing is the noise they make seems so bad - almost like you can hear electricity go through them - thats why im starting to think its an electrical problem - gonna rip apart everything tomorrow - but you're right i doubt its a voltage drop now that i think about it

also keep in mind its a sony amplifier - when i bought my first system i bought everything sony - now that i've changed alot of stuff

i got the alpine head unit

memphis audio fronts and backs

sony amps + subs = soon to be gone