need to fix distortion and unbalaned sound with out breaking the bank.

[ncc74656]

I have never used an active cross over or EQ before so this is all new to me. I want a crystal clear and very loud stereo, when i mean crystal i mean totally clear and pure volume, Broadway style clarity of sound. i wish to be able to max out my systems potential volume with out any part of it distorting.

i want to do this on the cheap, used parts instead of new ones and let me know if i dont need something i think i do.

here are my current issues: my tweets will 'pop' every now and then, i suspect its an issue with the amp but not sure what. i tend to hear it more on highly vocal song and songs with higher frequencies so maybe its just the tweets themselves. when not popping the tweets sound great except when i turn up the volume, my mids do not max or distort but it sounds like my tweets are getting bass. they have a passive cross over that came with them, is it possible this is not filtering properly? certain songs can sound... im not sure how to describe it, the words are there but there not. its as if the sharpness of ones voice were to be removed, you would hear the enunciation of the words but not the crisp and sharp endings to certain sounds. so you know what there saying but you dont truly hear it. if that makes sense? I also get feed back when i turn on my power inverter, is there anyway to stop this?

my thought was to add a dedicated amp for the highs and the mids, my component mids have been replaced with 10" drivers but the sets tweets are still there. i got pissed when the mids were not audible in the slightest over the tweets and subs so i just cranked them until they burnt up in a puff of really bad smoke and melted stuff...

from there i think i want to buy a cross over that can set upper and lower limits for everything, highs, mids, and lows independently. does this sound like a good idea?

from there i have been debating on buying a new deck. if i upgraded to the DEH-80 by pioneer it has a built in 16 scale EQ dedicated to each RCA. would it benefit me more to run with this or to keep my current deck and buy an external EQ? do i need an EQ?

my current system specs:

MTX 4204 - dedicated tweeters

eclipse 34320 - dedicated mids

Kicker ZX2500.1 - sub

crachendo 10" mid range (i might add a pair of crachendo 6.5's later)

alpine SPR-60C tweets with factory crossover

Fi SP4 18 sub

pioneer deh-7400HD deck

0, 8 and, 4 ga power wire respectively to the amps. tipple shielded gold contact RCA's, ground loop isolators on RCA's.

thank you.

[THEKINGsBACK]

DD1

[ncc74656]

i will pick up a DD1 and check for clipping, given that my mids and highs are both on the same amp (eclipse) right now and i only hear distortion from the tweets i would think the amp is not clipping. the gains on the eclipse are 1/4 up with no bass boost and the amp is 1200W where as each door has 300W speakers. i would think id hear the mids maxing if i were pushing to much power. or perhaps i am pushing to much power as 300W to the mids is over kill for the highs... bi amp will fix that tho.

should i just start with the DD1 or are there other things you think i might need to do regardless of hte DD1 results?

[ncc74656]

when a cross over has a subsonic filter on it the switch to turn that on and off is just to basically turn the sub ports on and off right? you would never use the sub output with out that switch on would you?

the sub cross over value is an upper cut off. the other outputs operate on a lower cut off right? they would have to wouldn't they? it wouldn't make any sense to set the sub to 80hz and the mids to 2Khz just to have the mids get 0-80hz to them as well.

would a 3 way cross over be all that i need? one RCA out for sub, one for mids, one for high and just run the rear speakers off the head unit?

i was expecting to see crossovers that allow you to set ranges like 2 dials for each output to control say 200-1.5kz on one and 20-80 on another, 1.6-5khz on another. im surprised that its one setting per output. is that just not needed?

[Kevin M]

Big post. Ok to start let's talk about the tweeters. You say they are getting low fequencies? How do you have the crossover hooked up in line with them? Those Alpine tweeters are titanium dome and a little harsh. I had 2 pair in my car a couple years back. I think they are crossed low too.~2k if memory serves me right. That is where you ears are most sensitive. Tuning 1-3k helps alot to bring accuracy when it comes to most vocals.The Crescendo 10" you have are much more efficient than those tweeters. You will need another tweeter to match. If you had that eclipse amp on those other mids you were overdriving them. It sounds like you are having to really push the speakers to get the volume you want and when you do you are running into problems with distortion. The crescendo 10" is a step in the right direction to get the output you are after but you will need to be careful with the gain on that eclipse amp. If you were to run something like the pioneer prs it would work in a 3 way. The 16 band eq would also be beneficial. Before that happens you will need to pick a tweeter that will work with those nendo's. A supertweeter will work but it isn't the only option. A planar, large format, or ribbon tweeter will work too.

What are you using a power inverter for? They don't work in a car audio setup. Waaayyy to much noise.

[ncc74656]

my thought was to move my front tweets to the rear and upgrade but what to upgrade to? my size location means the current alpine tweets are as large as i can go. I could buy a gauge pod for the a pillars and install a 3" tweeter there, or i could place a larger tweet in the location of the door i thought of adding 6.5's.

the xover is in line just as it was with the 6.5's, i removed the 0.2 ohm coil and placed that on the crachendos.

recommendations on the tweets i should buy? could i run a super tweet with no regular tweets or would i need both? what exactly makes them 'super'?

edit: many xovers list 12, 18, 24 db and so on. what makes a good xover? the 24 means that every octive 24db is removed from the frequencies outside of the set xover point right? so by that logic i would only ever want to run a 24db xover. why would you ever want to run less?

[Kevin M]

I would keep it as simple as possible. No need to add a 6.5 to the front or the Alpines to the rear. When you get your frontstage set up and tuned you won't need them most likely. Did you disassemble the x-overs? Seems to be alot of work. The values of the coil weren't meant for the Crescendo either. It will work but it won't be the right tool for the job. Could you take a picture how you have it wired? They could've been damaged during that time. Does the eclipse not have a built in x-over of any kind?

A supertweeter is a tweeter that typically plays from ~3k-upwards of 25k. Some even play to 40 yet you will never hear that. Most are also highly efficient. Upwards of 100db 1W/1M. The ones in my car are 111. lol They are able to get very loud on minimal wattage.You need something to play from at least 2.5k and that scratches most supertweets. The question comes down to do you want it really loud and have sound quality? It can be a little expensive. Here are some tweets I would recommend with your amp that will play low enough and fit in the door of your volvo. These will be very loud and accurate.

http://www.usspeaker.com/ciare%201.38tw-1.htm

If you bought the prs in addition you would be able to have all you speakers active. You would have the tweeters for one pair of rca's, mids for the second, and the third for the sub. Then use the 16 band eq to dial everything in. Once you start adjusting the eq you may find it isn't volume you are needing to add because the clarity and accuracy will be there. This should give you a good basis to get that SQ you feel you are missing.

[ncc74656]

the cross overs are a seperate unit, the 0.2ohm coil is not in the xover but rather was glued to the back of the speaker. the wires go from amp to push down terminals of the crachendos, one wire comes out of negitive terminal to negative of cross over and the positive comes from the 0.2ohm coil in the punch down of hte carchendo and into the cross over. the cross over then goes up to the tweeter. identical to the setup on the factory alpine. i will never buy alpine again, they are junk.

the prs will be able to handle the cross over then? i wont need to buy an active xover unit?

those speakers would fit nicely in the doors. i drive a full sized 2500 dodge ram diesel, not a volvo.

the tweets would be at about mid chest level. would that be an issue? would i want to keep the alpine tweets at a lower volume or remove them all together? OR would i want to modify the clarie tweets to fit into the a pillar ear level locations?

edit: the eclipse does have a cross over but its off, i do not wish to remove bass from my mids. this is why i am planing to bi amp it so the MTX can run HPF on the tweets and my eclipse can run full range on the mids.

i just noticed those tweets are 8 ohm. my amps are at 4 ohm right now, would i want to keep those tweets on the eclipse and not run the MTX or still stick them on the MTX?

[ncc74656]

id be paying about 170.00 for the prs80 after selling my current deck. a cross over is about 50 bucks on ebay, what is my best route? the cross over would take my 4V pre amp up to a 18v output so that increases quality right? im uncertain if my best route is a new deck or to add a processor to the deck i have.

[Kevin M]

the cross overs are a seperate unit, the 0.2ohm coil is not in the xover but rather was glued to the back of the speaker. the wires go from amp to push down terminals of the crachendos, one wire comes out of negitive terminal to negative of cross over and the positive comes from the 0.2ohm coil in the punch down of hte carchendo and into the cross over. the cross over then goes up to the tweeter. identical to the setup on the factory alpine. i will never buy alpine again, they are junk.

the prs will be able to handle the cross over then? i wont need to buy an active xover unit?

those speakers would fit nicely in the doors. i drive a full sized 2500 dodge ram diesel, not a volvo.

the tweets would be at about mid chest level. would that be an issue? would i want to keep the alpine tweets at a lower volume or remove them all together? OR would i want to modify the clarie tweets to fit into the a pillar ear level locations?

Sorry on the volvo thing. I was responding to multiple posts from different people and its late. Lol The prs can handle all the xover duties. The tweeters will work in the door but might be better in the pillars. The thing is the ones I mentioned are huge. Like 6" diameter. That's why I mentioned the door. With their off axis response and the prs's time alignment you can make a less than ideal speaker position better. Eq can help raise the stage as well.