New Speaker Break-in Period?

[Kevin M]

​install is the key. Nothing wrong with the speakers. Reinstall with more deadener.

I'd like to argue that point. 120 sq feet of deadener in my car so far. Thinking about more. AT least 15sq feet per door. As sealed off as it can get. Literally 200% coverage with holes poked(not even cut) through for the clips.

Polk mm6501 woofers can't hit a note under 100hz for the life if them. Either that or I'm expecting hertz XL response out of Polk woofers.

I'm not bashing the polks but they killed me in my last SQ comp. I was doing awesome except for the mid bass and the woofers lack of output "dragging" my soundstage down"

I've done almost everything possible for those speakers besides build custom door panels with sealed door pods which I'm not allowed to do unless I move up a division.

That is an unusual problem. Try using some egg crate foam or deflex pads behind the midbass and see if that doesn't improve things. Usually small rattles or panel buzzing causes the midbass to be localize-able which lowers your sound stage. If you have the speakers phase on lock you may have backwave issues and the foam and or deflex should help with that.

@wrexxy It could be the drivers roll off, lack of xmax, etc. I would lower the x-over to 60 and see if you see any improvement. Some speakers will change over time but if you don't see an improvement after 30 or so hours of listening it probably won't change. The full range in my door had no midbass and was harsh the first 50 hours. After a while I had to eq them again the response had changed so much.

[wrexxy]

Should I just up the midbass response in the eq and reset my gains? And they've literally been in door for maybe 2 hours of total listening

[Kevin M]

As a rule I like to cut not boost but a 3db boost shouldn't hurt anything. I would listen to them for a few more hours before that though.

[wrexxy]

Alright ill cut the mids and highs then and give them some time and see if anything changes

[Swordlordboy1234]

​install is the key. Nothing wrong with the speakers. Reinstall with more deadener.

I'd like to argue that point. 120 sq feet of deadener in my car so far. Thinking about more. AT least 15sq feet per door. As sealed off as it can get. Literally 200% coverage with holes poked(not even cut) through for the clips.

Polk mm6501 woofers can't hit a note under 100hz for the life if them. Either that or I'm expecting hertz XL response out of Polk woofers.

I'm not bashing the polks but they killed me in my last SQ comp. I was doing awesome except for the mid bass and the woofers lack of output "dragging" my soundstage down"

I've done almost everything possible for those speakers besides build custom door panels with sealed door pods which I'm not allowed to do unless I move up a division.

That is an unusual problem. Try using some egg crate foam or deflex pads behind the midbass and see if that doesn't improve things. Usually small rattles or panel buzzing causes the midbass to be localize-able which lowers your sound stage. If you have the speakers phase on lock you may have backwave issues and the foam and or deflex should help with that.

@wrexxy It could be the drivers roll off, lack of xmax, etc. I would lower the x-over to 60 and see if you see any improvement. Some speakers will change over time but if you don't see an improvement after 30 or so hours of listening it probably won't change. The full range in my door had no midbass and was harsh the first 50 hours. After a while I had to eq them again the response had changed so much.

I had deflex pads back there too. The real ones for 50$ that are KNOWN in the SQ world for winning a lot. Installed properly. and deadener everywhere around the deflex pad. Not saying the pads did nothing. But the polk woofer design basically stops waves from going backwards because of the basket and venting. So i doubt the deflex pads had anything to do with my performance.

Overall, If your not competing SQ and you want loud clean clear comps that sound awesome from 125hz-20k and natural at all volumes. These polks were an awesome buy. I absolutely love the tweeters. I just dont think i can keep them in my car and actually win my division.

Hertz XL's on 300+ rms here i come.

[wrexxy]

this is probably a noob question, but if the speaker basket is in contact with the door could that cause a short? or something? there's no way its just a break in issue. no way they're guna get 10x louder after breaking in. i have the mid and treble EQ"d down all the way (for the sake of my hearing) and just to get it loud enough to even start to hear any kind of inclination of midbass.

i'm playing rick ross, and i'm pretty sure there are notes that are just not being played. or is the music i have just of complete shit quality? although the highs sound crystal clear

[wrexxy]

bump for other people's experience with image dynamics' speakers

[Jeffdodge]

Just a thought... Hip hop isnt always the best for midbass, usually upper mids to tweets and subs... Turn up some pink floyd or vail johnson and see how the midbass performs

[bassman619]

I think its a settings problem..you may not be feeding the speakers sufficient frequency range..even if you have passive crossovers inline shouldnt matter...I would turn all eq settings to flat on the headunit because thats probably whats not putting out the right signal...turn of hpf and lpf on the headunit if you can. Then set the 4ch amp to hpf and start tuning at 80hz and move up as needed.. if theres bass boost leave it off..some headunits integrated eq is worthless..had almost the same problem with my pioneer.. band eq..I would change one setting and there would be too much bass in the highs or not enough voice in the highs..

[wrexxy]

Just a thought... Hip hop isnt always the best for midbass, usually upper mids to tweets and subs... Turn up some pink floyd or vail johnson and see how the midbass performs

I think your actually right, i had stock speakers in my last car with a sub and they actually did a decent job hitting low notes. And i started playing some skrillex and i heard the midbass come in.

I think its a settings problem..you may not be feeding the speakers sufficient frequency range..even if you have passive crossovers inline shouldnt matter...I would turn all eq settings to flat on the headunit because thats probably whats not putting out the right signal...turn of hpf and lpf on the headunit if you can. Then set the 4ch amp to hpf and start tuning at 80hz and move up as needed.. if theres bass boost leave it off..some headunits integrated eq is worthless..had almost the same problem with my pioneer.. band eq..I would change one setting and there would be too much bass in the highs or not enough voice in the highs..

I have since turned all EQ settings to flat (that's how the gains were set). i haven't actually set the HPF on the amp (no bass boost applicable), but i roughly set it to ~90 using some tones i had. I'll actually tune it this weekend. I do have the crossovers set on the HU though, so could staking filters give issues?

BUT, the real issue is that it just doesn't seem like the woofers are getting enough power. i'll turn off the HU filters when i set the amp and see how it goes