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Wondering if anyone has ever experienced this issue.
I connected my aftermarket amp, and the door speakers work but the tweeters are not working. I am confused by it because they are supposed to be wired in parrallel with the door speakers.
I merely connected my amp output to the Gray connector where the factory amp is located. I never touched any door wires or tweeter wiring.
I double checked the polarity, and it appears to be correct.
I also removed 1 tweeter, and it is connected.
disregard. I am being a bozo again. The last time I used my amp, I had 2 of the 4 channels bridged. The bridged channels were powering a SUB. And I had the low pass filter turned On.
zoinks.. haha
edit: something else.. I had to turn the gain down below normal function (marking). It was overly audible at 7. And even at 1, it was not super quiet.
Amp= Pioneer D9500F 4-ch amp. plenty power, and maybe the factory head unit is not as low level as a typical aftermarket radio? I dont know but I had to turn down the gain. It was too loud. haha
This is the first time I had an aftermarket amp on the stock Head Unit.
yes I adjusted the gain down a lot.. As if the output was too high.. Still, you must be correct about being low level, because supposedly my amp will automatically turn on if speaker level is detected. And it would not turn on without the remote. So I connected the remote.
On other subjects, I have a pair of these JL C2 650 speakers and they do not fit the rear dashboard and they do not fit the front doors. They are too large. On the rear, they wobble in the hole. On the front, the speaker wire connection is hitting something. *SIGH* https://www.jlaudio.com/products/c2-...-systems-99617
I found another pair of 6.5" speakers that I have.. They are POLK.. And these fit Even WORSE.. I dont know how people say 6.5" speakers fit??? So I tried to fit the speaker in the door hole without the White mounting bracket.. And it had no impact on fit. And by the way, the rear speakers are the same size as the doors. I have both out.. Not sure why the part numbers are different..
actually, this is probably the correct way to measure the speakers
Stock is def not 6.5"
I know what matters the most is the backside / mounting side... But I think unless it is a shallow mount speaker, then the smaller outter diameter does translate to a smaller backside as well.
Either way, at the end of the day, finding a pair of speakers that fits and has better range and better base than the OEM speaker can be challenging. I mean this stock speaker is only 2 ohms. So it will output more bass with less power than a 4ohm speaker. So I have to be careful to bot shoot myself in the foot when trying to get a better range speaker , but acquiring a speaker with little bass.
And if you buy a 5.25" speaker, those inherantly have less bass than a 6.5".
Hey thanks for the link. Those adapters look like a good possibility. Just have to make sure they dont cause the speaker to sit too far forward so the door panel still mounts properly. Some speakers also are not "flush" by design within themselves. The OEM speakers are flush. So that can add height too, and interfere with the door panel.
I did not know the tweeters will come apart (dismantle) like that.. Good to know!
And I am glad to see an adapter for the aftermarket headunit. But I decided to stay with my OEM CD player for several reasons. (see below)
In the video, they did a lot more work than what it appears!. They removed the seat and added a 150ohm resistor and did all that cutting, and at the end, you could tell that the end result wasn't quite what they had hoped for. They said it sounded good, but it seemed like to me that were just "saying that". This is what I think about ALL 6.5" speakers. They don't really have a lot of bass. And if you disocnnect the factory SUB or fail to install a new Sub, then you will not get very much low frequencies, and that will be a frowny face. =( Did they connect the sub in the video?? I skipped through some of it. I tested my car without the sub, and it too sounds "just okay".. but nothing to brag about.. And totally missing the low freq's.
In the video, the man said "acquire a 6" speaker"... Notice he did not say 6.5". And think that is good advice (if you can find one) because 6.5 is TOO BIG. And this is the reason: I think the outter mounting holes are correct at 6.5" however, the speaker itself is slightly smaller and plus it is offset from the door, so it Fits. So the speaker is not really a 6.5. Acura seems to have a "non-standard" size speaker in the doors. So finding a replacement is difficult. BUT I DO LIKE how he enlightened me about the Tweeter! I did not know those tweeters can come out. So, I am considering getting another more "full range" tweeter.
-- This is why I may get another tweeter. Because I am leaving the OEM speaker installed in the door!! WHY? Because it is only a 2 ohm and it hits harder than a Kenwood 6.5 speaker set (below) that I have (yes I have 3 pairs of 6.5s) and like I said above, all these 6.5" speakers are not going to have great bass unless you really wallop out the door hole and buy a larger speaker and go to extra expense and effort to install a hard hitting powerful 6.5" speaker in the door. Its just not worth it. Because I went to Cartoys and Listened to Alpine S-Series S2-S65 and the Midrange / vocals was AWESOME, however, the bass was FLAT! All normal run of the mill 6.5's dont really hit hard bass. I think my OEM 6.5" 2 ohm speaker powered with my Pioneer 9500 Amp - it hits just as hard! And it does it with less power and allows the head unit to operate on the lower end of the frequency curve.. (I call it a Freq Curve because the OEM headunits tend to flatten out the bass when you crank it passed 30.) But the only thing the OEM 6.5 is missing is "midrange to upper freq's" So, again that is why I may just add a different tweeter and keep the OEM 6.5 in the door. But I am not sure which one or where to mount it yet. But the OEM 6.5" door speaker with adequate power, Dare I say - "you will be hard pressed to find a moderately priced speaker to beat it". (beat it in terms of bass output) Seriously, I tested my Kenwoods in the attached picture, It fit But the bass was not nearly as good as the OEM. I tested both OEM and the Kenwoods with the door panel on. So I had to flip it around several times, installing the door panel, then removing the door panel, then swapping the speaker and reinstalling the door panel. So yes, I tested it properly, and the Kenwoods did not have the bass that the OEM speaker had. Plus all these 6.5" speakers have mediocre bass. So, I did not want to spend all that time and effort to only get "a little more bass" from the doors. I want this project done to I can move on. (I did Mount the JL C2's in the Rear with a lot of finagling and silicone sealer)
Another thing I noticed with this TL, the car is noisey if you drive around with that backseat out. And I think the backseat must be designed to "INSULATE". Because I noticed previously, that any subwoofer you put in the trunk will be greatly muffled especially with the armrest closed. Because that seat is thick and it weighs like 80 pounds?? It's massive. This is not good for trying to get sound to come through it. So that is another reason to just add an aftermarket amp to the factory sub, or get a replacement for the factory sub, but still use the same 8" hole.
I ahve a 4 channel amp, and temporarily put the sub on 1 channel of my 4 channel amp and I was WOW'd. I get just as much from a factory sub with an aftermarket amp, as I do a JL 12" sub in the trunk... And I get it at a lower volume. So its nice to hear the rumble of the OEM woofer at a low volume. So ya, going back to the video, These TL's have "issues" when it comes to stereos.
Reasons for retaining OEM cd player: I did not want to mess with fixing the steering wheel controls, and I have navigation so I do not want to lose that feature on my screen and plus having to rig up the 100 ohm resistor and that actually totally disables the entire menu on the navi. Also, the cd player works and not broken so its not a must to replace it. Plus, lots of new Headunits do not come with a CD player. I still have some Cd's, So I would have to move everything over to USB. Btw, I do have a USB adapater from GROM. So I do already have that option. Maybe someday I will get an aftermarket Headunit if I want to. But I added JL C2 speakers and a poweful Pioneer 9500 amp that greatly changes the sound of the OEM system without use of an EQ. Now all I need is a Mono amp for the factory OEM woofer and I am calling it a day. I already have the wiring all set and connected to the trunk and ready to install the new mono amp. It will sound just as good if not better than the one in the video. haha I may make a video from my laptop using a Blue Snowball mic
These fit, but I did not use them. Too weak, bad tone, little bass.
Kenwood KFC-16625
I've kinda had the same experience as you with aftermarket speakers.
Right now I have Polk DB651s 6.5 coaxial speakers in my front doors (the shallow mount version fits in the factory mount). Like you discovered, way better mids/highs but they have less bottom end compared to factory. The Polks also have a silk tweeter which doesn't result in overly harsh high frequencies when used in conjunction with the factory tweeters in the dash.
For the subwoofer, an 8" sub in the factory location + aftermarket amp is really the way to go. I had the same experience as you with a sub in the trunk. The rear seats muffle all the sound. Got rid of the trunk sub and went back to the factory sub. Right now I'm running the factory sub off a 5 channel amp from mobile max car audio. The amp really wakes up the factory sub and helps fill in the bass when running aftermarket door speakers. About 2 years with this setup and still haven't blown the factory sub. I've debated upgrading to a sub that can take full advantage of the amp's full 200W, but I'm concerned 200W is too much for the stock wiring and I'm too lazy to run new wires.
Im still tweaking and tuning up my amps. Yes I have 2 amps i have always had my pioneer DF9500 (4ch) but we have 6 channels, so I bought a pioneer 8704 for $139 but they sent 874 because they were out of the 8704. I didn't really want a mono amp. I'd rather have the flexibility of the 4 channel amp and bridge 1 output for the sub
I kept the factory front door speakers for now. But your right, an aftermarket amp does wake up the OEM speakers to a degree. The 2ohm factory 6.5 in the doors are great for bass. Just contemplating a better tweeter, one that has better vocals..
I also am running the factory sub on my 9500 because the 9500 has slightly less power than the 874.. but still the 9500 is capable of over powering the sub, but I choked the frequencies down so that sub is not playing the upper freqs. Plus I backed off the gain somewhat. But I have a 2nd 12" subwoofer that I have in a ported Probox. I am bridging that box on 2 outputs of the new 874. This 2nd box is controlled by the subwoofer control from the head unit. After tweaking the gains and filters and moving the inputs around from 1 amp to the other, I basically am only using the factory sub to "fill in" some of the lower freqs at normal listening levels. But if I want to bump up the bass then I will hit that 2nd sub.
Muffled sound:
So far I cocked the armrest and I am getting bass through it. But I may be able to reduce the "effect" of long-soft-muffled bass by swapping out my ported Probox for a sealed box. Reportedly a sealed box provides more shock absorption for the woofer so it seems to play a bit sharper. That may reduce some of the rumbling on effect. So I just bought a $47 schoche sealed enclosure at Walmart. The box is smaller but still exactly within spec per JLs manual. Sealed boxes require less cubic feet which is welcomed because my Probox is big, and heavy, and slick surface so it slides on carpet. So before I tuck away my wires, I'm going to swap out the woofer box and see how it goes .
Ps I did have the factory sub bridged, but I unbridged it. And it is fine when unused as merely a backfill and I filtered out some mid freqs that it was trying to play but they were too high for that sub and it changed the tone of that sub and the entire rear panel and i didn't like that. It sounded a bit OEMish.so I filtered out the midbass and turned it down a bit using the gain. I have JL C2 6.5s in the rear and they do best of my 3 pairs of 6.5s. (no I don't know why I have so many pairs of 6.5s).
Tweeter: I was thinking of getting a Alpine tweeter for better vocals. I was at car toys sampling some speakers and those Alpine 6.5's warrant any better than the factory 6.5 when it comes to base. But the tweeters were much much better than OEM tweeters. Because the tweeters they had was covering more range. And the vocals were really good. So I thought about keeping the factory door 6.5 and just getting a different tweeter. But yes I thought about also doing like you said and running the polks in the door because of the soft tweeter which you're correct they are a really soft tweeter and sounds good. But you somewhat have to sacrifice the bass by doing that. So for now I just chose to leave it the way it is since the aftermarket amp is helping to wake it up a little bit.
You know if you can find an affordable DSP that will solve all your problems on the factory system. In fact I bought the Jensen four channel DSP at Walmart and brought it home and connected it and I was hearing sounds that I've never heard before from my mp3s on any of my systems but the floor noise of that DSP was unacceptable and when I started my engine the wine was horrible. So when I shut off the engine I heard a big popping noise. So I don't think the DSP was going to work although I will say I was very disappointed that I experienced all that with the DSP because I really like that little tiny Jensen amp. But a person may be able to work around some of those ailments that I said by tweaking but at the moment I don't want to tweak that much. I want to install it and get it done and move on. And it's so affordable though, regarding the Jensen that I've contemplated just buying it anyway and putting it on the back burner. I mean it has little lights and all kinds of stuff and it actually has plenty of power for the OEM system. He'll take any MP3 and make it sound better and with a built-in EQ you can remedy all those little OEM speaker issues and the head unit sound curve can be altered so it's a great thing but as I said you got to get around some of the characteristics of a DSP like floor noise and engine wine. But I didn't know that dsps had that many problems until I started reading about it. Some other people was using that term for noise so that's where I got it from.
So I took it back to Walmart because I was getting into a little rabbit hole and I didn't want to go that far now. But thinking about it now you might be able to buy a more expensive DSP like for $1,200 instead of $100 and you won't have to bother with floor noise but I wouldn't guarantee it. But if I was going to spend 1200 then I would just buy different head unit that has an EQ built in and forget the DSP. So some of these dsps are a little overpriced
regarding your "200watts on the sub OEM harness".
Since I have 2 amps, (and even just 1 pioneer amp would be too big for the passenger kick panel) I put both amps in the trunk. The benefit is I ran my own speaker wire to Everything in the rear (both Subs and both 6.5's). So I only used the OEM speaker harness for just the front doors. And since I only used the harness for the door speakers, I did not buy the mobilemaxx harness adapter for 60 dollar. I just created my own little pigtail for those front speakers. ( I did this install as cheap as I could)
but anyway, I would not worry about the 200 watts on the oem harness. Because you would have to be punching it continuously for a long time to get the speaker wire hot enough to break. I mean it is only Sound. And worse case senario, you pop a fuse somewhere along the line. (like either the amp or the fuse panel) So its not the end of the world. You know, the 200w rating is also MAX. The actual measured value is going to be less most likely.
you would probably break the OEM sub before your oem wires broke. To break the wires, you need to have a continuous current that most likely the sub won't do for very long. So I would not worry about breaking the OEM wires
Why are you trying to use that plastic speaker spacer garbage?? Put in some serious components with proper mounting rings and you will not have any issues. the stock drivers are absolute crap.
I run Image Dynamics Chameleons CXS64-v2. And a single 15" in IB with proper amplification and your set. This is using the OEM HU of course.
ya those look like they would play well. For $300 I hope so.. Maybe someday I will upgrade. But my main goal was to fix my AMP. Maybe I failed to mention that above? I dont remember. But my oringal amp failed and the second oem amp lasted a year.. So I am not buying anymore oem amps. They ALL are Too Old.. So, I removed the amp and installed PIECES from my old system. Plus I ordered 1 new pioneer amp. And I got a new sealed box which I have not installed the box yet. Maybe I will this afternoon, but I got to put it together. I hope that I will be happy with THIS BOX. If I put it together, walmart might not take it back. But I have no other way of testing it. So as I sit here, I am contemplating not installing that box and go get my $50 back haha
03-21-2024, 06:55 PM
