new infinity speakers. no bass?!

[krackit]

so i just picked up all new speakers. infinity reference series. 6x9s in the rear and 6 1/2" components. well i got one of the back ones in with the stock wiring and just turned it on to make sure it was working. was a little disappointed. for spending over 400$ on speakers...i had no bass. had more bass coming out of the stock speaker....just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to why there's barely any bass coming from the speaker.

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

There are a lot of factors but more than likely there is a crossover preventing bass going to those speakers or the head unit isnt able to power the speakers. Give us some more details and I should be able to figure it out.

 

[krackit]

the head unit is a panasonic CQ-C7205U. the speaker i hooked up is the 6x9 so no crossover on this one. I just hooked it upto the stock wires that were there already. i hooked up the black/white wire to the larger connector with the resistor.

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

The speaker might be internally pacified to protect it. Which could be why you dont have bass. Install both and change the LPF(low pass filter) or bass setting to see if you can make it have some bass. If not, it has a cross over or the head unit isnt able to power the speakers, which means the speakers would sound like shit as well.

 

[krackit]

would the stock wires have anything to do with it? like should aftermarket speakers be wired with new wire to the head unit if an amp isn't being used?

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

Typical 18-24 gauge wiring is fine for the wattage its put through. Until you get into high amperage and wattage flowing will you need 10-12 gauge. Wire Gauge Tables

 

[blkgst97]

Did you listen to them before you bought them? I have the same speakers and they are NOT very bassy at all. They are very clear and that is why I bought them.

 

[krackit]

ya. i listened to them in futureshop and they seemed to have more bass. but i also got them because they are so clear because im puttin 2 12" subs in soon. just wanted more bass until then...but i guess if they are just not bassy ill have to deal with that until the subs are in.

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

Distortion and over powering of mids and tweeters is what ultimately leads to blown drivers or crappy sound. Do it right. Get an amp for your 4 speaker channels, and one mono D block for your subs with an active crossover.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

oh man,

dont panic,

it seems like you installed them properly.

don't scare the guy.

This seems to be a normal occurence. Anyone switching from stock speakers, are thinking they are going to get more bass.

Normally what happens is A LOT LESS BASS, but more clarity. You also get more room for improvement, meaning you will need an aftermarket amp to feed it with the optimal power it needs. That will in turn get it closer to reference spec that they are advertised at.

Also the 6x9 location in our cars SUCK! There is no sealed area back there, so the bass production will lack unless you modify the enclosure back there

The stock speakers are designed to just be "bassy". you will hardly get this with aftermarket, but read again above on what you gain.

But don't be surprised even after you amp them, they won't be as "Bassy" as the stock ones.

Your mids and highs will improve drastically, but with the sacrifice on most if not all the lows unless building proper enclosure.

our door panels up front in the 2g, can still produce good lows with aftermarket speakers.

 

[StManTiS]

YOu don't want bass out of your speakers. You get a subwoofer for that. It will allow you to hear music in higher quality, louder, and NOT blow your speakers.

This is a blessing.

Also you could be under powering them. Seeing as how your headunit is putting about 50W into each speaker MAXIMUM. Meanwhile infinities RMS at 100 and max at 300.

TL;DR get an amp, and for God's sake don't put bass through your speakers.

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

A 50Wx4 head unit is only around 12W RMS. Which is nothing. You need an amp for anything really.

 

[Zdrummer15]

1. Buy a proper 4 channel amp to power the speakers; most likely around 100W RMS per channel. This will let the speakers live up to their potential. As was said above, the amp in an aftermarket head unit doesn't even put out 15W RMS per channel and I believe both those sets of speakers are rated at around 100.

2. Don't even bother trying to get more bass out of the speakers, especially if you're putting 2 12's in anyway. They are designed to produce crisp mids and highs to complement a complete system. If you want the best stereo imaging possible, you want the bass to be coming from the back and filling the car. Most people with a properly set-up system will you use a high pass filter to prevent lows from going to any speakers other then their subs. The components up front then each have a cross over that allows the tweeters to play high frequencies only and the mid-range woofers to play mid-range frequencies only.

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

A good cd player has a HPF built in, if not, you can put one in.

 

[Red4G63]

I thought the same when i put my kickers in my car. But im glad its that way because i can turn the volume way up and the music is still clear. I have a kicker L5 for the bass. Bass kills speakers.

 

[Zdrummer15]

Bass kills speakers.

Exactly. This is why subwoofers are so large. It takes a large surface area and lots of power to accurately produce lows. The small mid-range woofers that are in the doors/rear panels are only meant to accurately produce mid-range frequencies. Asking them to do anything else results in more distortion.

 

[krackit]

thanks guys. ya. the quality is def nice and ya. 2 12" JBL subs are going in. my deck also has a HPF and a LPF built into it so once the subs are in, ill basically turn the bass off to the speakers. just gotta find the time to make the sub box now.

 

[krackit]

so im gonna get a jbl px300.4 amp for the speakers to match my jbl 601.1 amp i have for my subs. but until i get it..can u damage a speaker by underpowering it?

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

No you will not.

 

[jdodds]

You cant really damage a speaker by underpowering it or even overpowering it. The thing that kills speakers is having the wrong frequencies sent to them.

Seeing what deck youre running, the speakers arent getting enough power at all. Someone already said that youre seeing about 12w rms at best. With a speaker thats designed for around 100w rms, its not gonna live up to its potential. Get an amplifier for the front speakers at the very least.

Your sound stage will always be ahead of you. The front doors and the dash are where you want most of your mids and highs. Use anything behind you for strictly rear fill since your ears arent pointed to the back of your head. make sense? 6x9s will have better bass but the design of them prevents them from staying clear at higher power levels. It all comes down to balance on those. The oval shape kinda throws it off if youre trying to push alot of power(speaker moving quite fast) but they should be just fine for a rear fill.

I suggest you try a sealed enclosure for all your speakers and eventually upgrade to components. Amplifiers on everything also. Make sure you tune the crossovers on the amps or the crossovers that came with the speakers if available. After you do that, you wont want that heavy subwoofer taking up trunk space.

I just put a set of 5.25" Phoenix gold Ti5 Elites in an rx7. The guy used to want a set of subs in the car too but after hearing them, plans for the boom boom were canceled. I think its safe to say that its compared to having a smaller sub hidden somewhere in the car but with higher sound quality than youll hear in most cars.

 

[krackit]

thanks for the info jdodds. ya. im gonna get an amp for them shortly. just not for the time being since ive already put over 1000 into it and still have to make the sub box. and the front speakers i bought are components already.

i kind of sealed the boxes for the rear spakers...i coated the whole inside of them with that sound matt stuff. am throwing the front speakers and components in this weekend and hope to do the sub box over the next few weeks. (will have a thread on that too). took my back seats out and started the skeleton for a fiberglass enclosure that sits where the back seats were. used the back seat maybe 10times in the 4 years ive owned the car....no leg room so i figured i wont miss not havin the back seats too much....

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

You can absolutely over power a speaker.

 

[OffTheEdge]

did you check to make sure the speakers are in phase? if not you will have no bass. We get out of phase speakers alot at my shop. easy fix. if you don't know the colors, pull the head unit and look there or take the stock speaker and use a small battery to pop it to check which wire is + or - then wire your new speaker accordingly.

 

[krackit]

well one connector on the speaker was larger than the other, and the larger one had a resistor or some sort of thing soldered inline right after the connector so i assumed that was the positive terminal on the speaker. then i used the black wire with the white line as the positive wire and the solid black as the ground.

 

[jeyventura]

well just make sure they are on phase. And also from personal experience ill i have is infinity, amps subs components you name it, and to tell you the truth they dont have much bass they are made to work with a sub especially the components. So you should be looking at a small sub or whatever to put there but you are not gonna get much bass out of this epeakers