New speakers don't sound good
 

Hey everyone, I thought I knew what I was doing but I guess I'm just a novice when it comes to all this so I'd really appreciate some advice from you guys that know what you're talking about. I spent about 600 with installation for a set up that I either had way to high of an expectation for or the guys didn't install correctly. I got my care bone stock, btw.

After decinding there is no room for a sub I went ahead and put more money into getting better speakers, polk mm. I went to a shop to have a guy install them and they ran into some complications. When I went to get my car it sounded terrible and they said that the guy who installed my HU just threw all the wires in so they couldn't tell what goes where. They told me to bring it back the next day and they'll finish it. Next day, I got it back and it seems fine. Some of the songs I play make the speakers sound like they're pooping, other songs make it sound like it's blown out and rattling, and some songs sound fine, just fine.

I have the polk MM 6501 with the JL Audio JX360/2 amp. I'm rationalizing and saying that maybe the woofers can't hit those frequencies with some gongs but then that doesn't explain the rattle and the fact that the stock ones could. They just don't sound like $200 speakers. The tweeters are fine, very loud and clear. I remember the crossovers were an issue. I heard them saying they connected it to the tweeters but common sense tells me they just go to the woofers. But then they added an extra pair soo I dunno... help? The speakers came with a pair and I'm assuming it would just be hooked up to the woofers and the tweeters are just there.

I also got a Pioneer TS-SW3001S4 12" shallow sub and got rid of the spare. The amp that I plan on getting is from a friend. It's a rockford fosgate super tiny amp that I think is 300 watts. This is all waiting on a box to be built before installation so if you see any problems let me know!

I'm really upset. I love bass and I understand the speakers aren't going to come close to a sub but the quality just seems so bad. Regular rock songs and most rap and hip hop sound fine, but holy grail, what's your fantasy, and some edm songs really screw things up. I just don't know why I paid so much to have speakers that sound the same sans the distortion at high volumes. Any help would be nice guys. Thank you

edit: If it helps at all it's set up at 4 ohms

sounds to me like an install issue. I would have been wary once the shop guys told you they couldn't figure out where the wires went because of the last guys install. BS, straight up. A professional shop would have started from scratch, never trust someone elses wiring when you're putting your name on it.
I would look first at your crossover networks, since that was an issue they pointed out to you... It may be that they didn't use them on the woofers, and they are getting low frequencies that they are not designed for. Also, if you are distorting, your amp gains need attention. Take it back to the shop before you blow your components, and have the guys you paid to do the job get it right, or get a refund, and have someone else fix it.
If these clowns can't hook up a simple system like this, run far and fast, and shout it from the rooftops so noone else gets robbed.
Hope I helped.

From experience, any decant after market audio system with amp (even if junk) sounds better than stock. I suspect a crappy install. Another thing to consider is that not all speaker are meant for a specific sound. You have to shop specific speaker for specific type of sound. This "may" explain why certain songs sound good, bad, crap in your set up. Only advice I have at this time is to let the shop finish the install since you have already paid them. It is a very small chance that you can get you money back now. If Your system is still not up to par after they fiddle with it, find a friendly local that knows a thing or two and have him/her take a look.

I have a feeling poor install as the others said. Completely agree with Ron on never trusting someone else wiring. If your popping on certain songs I have a suspicion they might of even bypassed the woofers crossover and ran them straight to the amp. Or they didn't set the gain and or filter on the amp. Or could even be the wrong RCA signal going to the amp.

Sounds very similar to my situation. Took them 3 days to install a new HU and alarm, said they had all kinds of issues with the alarm. My S Mode stopped working after I drove off, the key fob light came on and never turned off and the speakers sound like crap. Took it to the dealer and they said the wires were spliced in places they shouldn't be, just a disaster of an install, wonder if we went to the same place.

It's a shame some of these shops out there are doing they work they do if you can even cal it that. Yours will be taken care of soon :excited:

Is the Z's wiring more complicated than a normal car? Is the Bose setup messing up the installs? It's pretty odd that myself and the OP have almost the same issues.

No the z is a pretty basic car, the bose system just makes it a bit more difficult to install aftermarket speakers and such but still about as hard as any other car.

I'm pretty sure it's a poor installation and a possible blow out of one woofer. They really pushed it during the whole trial and error tuning. I'm just gonna have to take it somewhere for a check up once it's all done. Just for my own reference, the crossover goes between the tweeter and woofer to control what goes where?

And finally, the mm have a 2.7 decibel or something and to me that means nothing but I know it's something unique and I'm thinking the installer doesn't know either. Thank you guys for all the help again. :tup:

What they really mean is 2.7 Ohms, which is what the speakers are running at, they aren't a normal 4 ohm speaker.

crossover goes between the amp and the speakers BOTH speakers, Woofer and tweeter.

Sent you a PM Business Kat

BAF can fix it.

Have you checked the polarity of the speakers? Having a reversed polarity can cause the popping (I assume you didn't mean pooping) sound you described.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

I don't know anything about polarity. Would the fact that it's all running at 4 ohm and the speakers are 2.7 have to do with anything? The guys doing the install aren't total noobs. I'm just trying to figure out the reason why. Again, sounds fine on most songs. Tweeters are amazing. Woofers just get rowdy sometimes. Well I plan on getting to the bottom of it tomorrow so I'll keep you guys posted!

No. The resistance in ohms you are running is dictated by the speakers (or load on the amplifier). Your set being 2.7 ohms will give you a slight increase in output, and a slightly bigger draw on your amp, but not enough to cause the amp stress.
it sounds to me like they hooked the tweeters to the crossover (or they would have fried by now) but bypassed the crossover and ran straight from amp to the woofers. Without a high pass filter on the amp (or without it on and set to a high enough frequency) your poor little woofers may be seeing down to 20HZ. Alot of music out there wont reach that low, so you only distort, or get sloppy on certain tracks.
Let us know what comes of it.

Correct polarity means that they hooked up the negative terminals to the negative outputs and positive to positive. If one of them gets reversed (positive to negative) you can get the popping sound you describe.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Correct. and yes, you "may" get popping if overdriven. Your main issue with being out of phase would be cancellation, and if only one side is out, your staging would suffer greatly. Your out-of-phase side will play at a lower level.

Did you put a speaker baffle on the door speakers?

If not try to enclose the woofer.

To me it sounds like distortion, what kind of files are you playing? off a CD? Radio? or Mp3? If Mp3 make sure your playing at least 328bps.

I would put a CD in .. one that is professionally made. (you bought in a store)

Keep all the settings on the radio at normal.

Do not use the Loud setting on the radio.

Listen to the CD. do you still have the poping?

If so you could have a blown speaker. you could have the speaker hitting a wire in the door. you could be out of phase, but I doubt it.

If you want to check to make sure the speakers are both in fase. Easy way to do this. take the door panel off, goto the amp, unplug the speaker wire coming out of the amp that goes into the speaker. take a 9v battery, touch the positive lead to the positive on the battery, touch the - to the negative of the battery, if the speaker pushes outward, it is hooked up correctly. If it does not push outward then its backwards somewhere. Do the same for the other side speaker, then make sure you hook back up the speakers (now knowing the correct polarity) to the amp with the correct wires going to the positive/neg.

If that all is working, check your settings on the amp, make sure High Pass Filter/HPF is turned off if it is a switch. If your HPF is a dial turn it to 80 or 120 depending on what you like. If it has both a on/off switch and a dial, turn it on and set it between 80/120.

Also check your settings on the radio, it could be a HPF built into your radio.

If you check all this, still sounding weird, you have a blown speaker/amp, or your trying to get more out of those little guys then what they can do. If so, add the sub.

If the bass drivers are out of phase, there will be a noticeable decrease in volume and the sound will become "muddy." Turn the treble/mid down or disconnect the tweeters/mids. Give a listen with the current setup (center your ears between the drivers for best results). Swap the wires on one of the woofers. Listen again. Should be obvious which way is correct. This will check the whole system from source to driver. Works best with a monaural source but not a big deal for checking bass.

The battery trick works very well to check the phase of the drivers but you may have a crossed-wire problem somewhere in the pre-amp/amp/crossover wiring train.

I just had these same speakers installed and heard a lot of "buzzing" coming from what sounded like the speakers themselves. I turned down my gain (a lot) and then was able to turn up the bass and it sounds a lot better. However, since I also have the base stereo, I need to buy an Equalizer to better adjust my sound and get some of my bass back.

UPDATE:

I took my car to nissan to have them turn off the lights that came on and after keeping my car a full day they called me back with some interesting news. They said the speaker wiring is all over the place and they're afraid to touch it. They said that they had drilled into the floors and that it's just a mess. Nissan recommended I take it back and have them fix the wiring without damaging anything so I can keep my warranty.

In my eyes, wiring is wiring, I can always redo it, cut my losses, file a lawsuit or whatever, but I just want my car to be ok :( I'm really ocd about keeping everything meticulous and new and I think I'm at a point of no return with this one.

Bigaudiofanat's going to socal pretty soon, no? your best bet might be to get his help.

here
http://www.the370z.com/audio-video/4...-build-11.html

Are these wires that the shop installed, or wires from the previous owner?

If its new wiring the shop did, I'd take it back to them and demand at least a partial refund.

The car is new, it's all shop. One shop did the HU which was fine but the shop who did all the other work claims the other guys made a mess which is why they had trouble. I honestly don't want them touching my car anymore but I feel like they have the best chance to find what wires they messed up

Why would your speaker installer proceed with the install and blame the other guy? Did it sound poopie before your polks? Even if the first installer screwed up the wiring, a good installer will be able to troubleshoot and find the source of the problem. If you are experiencing varying results at different times, it is possible the your h/u install has been compromised. The best way is to start from the source and head down the chain. Also,if your tweets are fine, then your crossover may be compromised. If you really like good and reliable sound, just redo the install.

Ya I have talked to kat a little bit about doing this.

:iagree:

I just sent you a PM but a complete redo is probably necessary. ugh what a headache. This is heart breaking for someone who loves his music. I'm never going after market with audio again

Nonsense.... Choose your shop with more care, or better yet, Learn to install yourself.
Not that difficult to do a standard install, really.

Replied. I'll take care of it if you hire me.

More updates! I went to a 5star yelp store and had the guy look at it. What a mess. It looks like a middle school kid did the job. The guy took everything out and my engine, traction, and abs lights are still on. We suspect that when the guy installed my amp he drilled too far and punctured my gas tank because the engine code is emissions. We're jacking it up tomorrow to check. I'm surprised my car didn't light on fire after looking at this mess. The guys who did my HU also did a sub par job and used all kinds of colored wire for everything. Lucky me... What a nightmare. I have pictures on my phone so as soon as I upload them you guys can get an idea of what I'm dealing with.