Want front stage to be louder... critisize my setup and suggestion welcome

[tpivette]

A little history: I dabbled in car audio about a decade ago (maybe slightly longer), so a lot of this is new to me. I recently took a renewed interest in the hobby, and installed a number of components in my DD 97' Saturn SC2. They include...

- Eclipse CD3000 source unit (5v/55ohm preouts)

- JL Audio VR650cxi coaxials in the doors (HP xover at 80hz)

- JL Audio 10w3v2 subwoofer (wired into 4ohm mono, built in the recommended size sealed box... 18"x11"x9"), (LP xover at 100hz)

- Eclipse 3322 (80w x 2) powering front stage

- Kenwood KAC-818 (200w) powering sub

Power supply is 4ga wire off the battery split into (2) 8ga power cables into each amp. RCAs are Stinger SHI2117s to each amp. Speaker wire is 16ga Monster cable for both front stage and sub wiring

My problem is this... years ago (around 2000), I had a low budget setup in my 89' Corvette consisting of: Eclipse 5303R, Eclipse 3242 amp, and Eclipse 3way 6x9s. From what I remember, that setup sounded much louder and cleaner than my current setup.

So my question is this... what am I missng or lacking in my current front stage setup? How can I match or surpass my old setup? Or am I just older and my hearing has degraded?

Thanks in advance

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[Z1NONLY 10+ year member]

If it was a hatchback vette, the bass should have been considerably louder in the vette. But your thread title mentions front stage so it sounds like you want more highs rather than more bass.

Not sure what the issue is there.

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

change frt speaker to components,sell the kenwood amp ,junk,get a more powerful amp ,find out what woofer will take ,power wise ,i believe 300 watts rms or more not sure.you may wanna different sub that will take more power too.start here first

 

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

A little history: I dabbled in car audio about a decade ago (maybe slightly longer), so a lot of this is new to me. I recently took a renewed interest in the hobby, and installed a number of components in my DD 97' Saturn SC2. They include...
- Eclipse CD3000 source unit (5v/55ohm preouts)

- JL Audio VR650cxi coaxials in the doors (HP xover at 80hz)

- JL Audio 10w3v2 subwoofer (wired into 4ohm mono, built in the recommended size sealed box... 18"x11"x9"), (LP xover at 100hz)

- Eclipse 3322 (80w x 2) powering front stage

- Kenwood KAC-818 (200w) powering sub

Power supply is 4ga wire off the battery split into (2) 8ga power cables into each amp. RCAs are Stinger SHI2117s to each amp. Speaker wire is 16ga Monster cable for both front stage and sub wiring

My problem is this... years ago (around 2000), I had a low budget setup in my 89' Corvette consisting of: Eclipse 5303R, Eclipse 3242 amp, and Eclipse 3way 6x9s. From what I remember, that setup sounded much louder and cleaner than my current setup.

So my question is this... what am I missng or lacking in my current front stage setup? How can I match or surpass my old setup? Or am I just older and my hearing has degraded?

Thanks in advance

few factors to consider. Its hard to compare a new setup to one that no longer exists. You could fee like this one isnt as loud when in actuality they were about the same. Another thing too is that you previously ran 6x9s as opposed to the 6.5s youre now running. How did you set your gains? Are your doors properly sealed and deadened? What I can say is though...if your amp does 80x2 then you have adequate power for those speakers you have so I dont think thats an issue.

Oh and you do need a better amp for that sub but since we're talking about your front stage I wont really go looking for another amp or anything.

 

[tpivette]

The setup in the Vette had the 6x9s in the rear hatch. Power was 50w x 2 to those speakers. No sound deadning of any kind. No sub stage or front stage whatsoever. Just the rear mounted speakers crossed over at 100hz.

Current setup is as described above. However, even though my main speakers are up front where they're supposed to be, I feel my old rear mounted 6x9s were louder and clearer than my current setup. Don't know if the difference is in my power wiring (8ga in my current setup vs 4ga in my old setup), speaker quality (I remember the old Eclipse 6x9s were around 96db sensitivity vs about 92db or so for the VR JLs), or perhaps the head units are the difference (the old Eclipse 5303r was the gold standard back in the day VS my new CD3000).

Both setups have the gains set at the minimum level (as both head units had 5v preouts and the amps could take that amount maximum).

The bass isn't an issue... even though the trunk mounted 10w3 only has 200w going to it (rated at 250w RMS), it obviously out thumps my old hatch mounted 6x9s. My problem is that those 6x9s... even when rear mounted... seem to outperform my front mounted JL VRs in volume/soundstage/quality.

Hope the above info helps

 

[The_Grimy_One 10+ year member]

Well they will seem louder, for the most part, since they are mounted up high, sending my sound towards you head. But I would definitely opt for some components, where you can bring the sound stage up... Also, 80 watts per channel is fine, but get some speakers that can carry closer to 150 watts or so and you are money. Then throw a stronger amp on them. No matter how you look at it, the more clean wattage you have, the louder it is going to be. I remember I had some 6x9s in my Camry and they were loud as all hell, but they were in separate boxes on my rear deck pointing the windshield. If anything, get some strong 6x9s and cahnge our your 6.5s, if you dont want to run components and throw 150 watts at them. Should be much louder.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Those VRs are pretty low budget. Just cause they say JL dont make them good.