Speakers sounding terrible...

[GoldenMonkey]

Hey guys, as some of you may know, I fitted some Alpine SXE-1350s in my Clio the other day, an they're sounding terrible ATM, worse than the stock speakers I had before if I'm honest. They're the custom fit alpines, so the tweeters are filtered and speakers fitted in nicely with the use of a plug adapter. But they just sound terrible if I turn em up. I remember reading somewhere on here that other people have had the same problem when replacing their speakers an there's often a simple reason/fix, however, being the nause I am, I can't remember what people did. An before people say they're rubbish speakers etc, they're 40watt rms, 5 more than the pioneer perfect fit, an whilst I know the aftermarket stereo will only realistically be putting 22rms into them, they should still sound better than the cruddy originals. Any help would be welcomed.

Thanks,
GM

 

[dave_rudabar]

The problem is the standard headunit is matched to the standard speakers. I've also had the problem previously that changing the speakers made it sound worse, that was only fixed by improving the headunit as well. The first one I tried (a cheap alpine) wasn't great, but the later one i've got is a big improvement.
It may be the same in this case, that the speakers just aren't matched to your source.
You should make sure you've got a good seal behind the speaker too, that it's fitted tightly against the door.

 

[GoldenMonkey]

I've got an after market stereo at the moment, it's a JVC KD something or rather, gonna fit a top end Alpine soon though. But I should be getting better sound running them via the JVC anyways. Was thinking of Amping em, but not sure to go about it cause of the tweeters lol.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

JVC aren't great. Decent speakers will make a naff HU sound worse.

What do you mean sounds terrible? First thing to do I would set the balance to one side and turn it up. Still sound naff? If not, you've got the polarity wrong on one of them.

 

[GoldenMonkey]

I'll go try that in a minute actually, cheers. An they just sound abit flat an farty when you turn em up, even the stock ones went louder and didn't act like that. An yea, I only put the JVC in as a temp till I can get that Alpine sorted lol.

 

[dave_rudabar]

You might have the polarity the wrong way, easy to do.

 

[The Fatty]

could be the polarity if your getting no bass, or if its distorting and the HU has a high RMS output, then the HU is probably underpowered (im finding this with mine at the moment). The best thing to do is run a cable back from the battery + to the B+ connector of the stereo (15 to 20A wire with a 15A fuse will probably do).

 

[Dink]

alpine KTP-445 along with a alpine hu

installed one of these in my polo and it has made the standard speakers sound a hell of a lot better

 

[GoldenMonkey]

I've wired em up via this adapter (although in this photo this was me wiring up the tweeters).

I put the red to the larger positive output on the rear of the speaker, and the black to the smaller negative, at least that's how the s**te diagram on the back of the Alpine box pointed it out. Maybe they just are under powered :/

The pins are exactly like the ones on the back of these older speakers.

Negative went to the left and positive went to the bigger one on the right.

 

[The Fatty]

solongs they are all wired up the same way, then it should be fine. even if they are all wired up backwards, it just means the phase will be 180 degrees out.

 

[GoldenMonkey]

Cheers for the replies guys, this is all just a little confusing me now haha. I'm thinking maybe they're just being underpowered by the JVC HU, cause the stock speakers sounded alright through the JVC. Gonna fit an Alpine IDA X001 tomorrow which has 4x60w output iirc, an around 18RMS (not sure what the JVC was) so hopefully might sound a little better. Will be sure to post an let you know! Cheers again for help you're giving me

Ash.

 

[GoldenMonkey]

alpine KTP-445 along with a alpine hu

installed one of these in my polo and it has made the standard speakers sound a hell of a lot better

Yea I was looking at these, was thinking it's the easiest way to go about amping my speakers whilst not having to worry about tweeters or cross overs etc. Just don't wanna part with £100 haha, stingy fooker I am these days!