Base audio with aftermarket speakers - poor results!

[cthomp21]

A good installation is a huge factor when replacing speakers. The front and rear soundwaves from the woofer need to be separated as much as possible. You also need a solid/damped surface, or the speaker's kinetic energy will be dissipated elsewhere as rattles/vibration/heat rather than sound.

Also, I didn't see mention of a proper crossover. Sending a speaker frequencies that it cannot produce (or produce well) which should be handled by a different speaker in the system is a sure fire way to terrible sound. I'm not a fan of caps and bass blockers or letting the frequencies a speaker can't produce roll off naturally. A properly designed crossover that has the correct crossover point and roll off to complement the components is a necessity for great sound.

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[CustomS550]

I hear you, its just that i never meant for this to turn into a pro install. I think that i'll be calling my latest plan of action "good enough" with the exception of a small 8" sub if the amp'd CDTs fail to deliver in their current free air environment.

A good installation is a huge factor when replacing speakers. The front and rear soundwaves from the woofer need to be separated as much as possible. You also need a solid/damped surface, or the speaker's kinetic energy will be dissipated elsewhere as rattles/vibration/heat rather than sound.

Also, I didn't see mention of a proper crossover. Sending a speaker frequencies that it cannot produce (or produce well) which should be handled by a different speaker in the system is a sure fire way to terrible sound. I'm not a fan of caps and bass blockers or letting the frequencies a speaker can't produce roll off naturally. A properly designed crossover that has the correct crossover point and roll off to complement the components is a necessity for great sound.

 

[pinero61]

I'm running two sets of these with crossovers. Really good bang for the buck.

http://www.cerwinvegamobile.com/products/mobile-audio/speakers/vega-speakers/v465c

 

[CustomS550]

Looks like a good setup and similar to the CDTs

I'm running two sets of these with crossovers. Really good bang for the buck.

http://www.cerwinvegamobile.com/products/mobile-audio/speakers/vega-speakers/v465c

 

[carcinoid]

I have Rockford Fosgate 6.75 all around, component up front, composite rear, and a 12" powered Rockford Fosgate sub. I did the speakers without an amp and it was ok, but distorted at high volume and lacked bass. Added a 4 channel 40Wx4 amp and the sound difference is INCREDIBLE. Underpowered speakers sound horrid.

When I did the install I did fatmat on the rear deck and in the doors and used several layers of compressible speaker gasketing between the door panel and mount, and between the mount and speakers. Everything is super snug and sound is crisp.

 

[CustomS550]

How did you wire in the amp?

I have Rockford Fosgate 6.75 all around, component up front, composite rear, and a 12" powered Rockford Fosgate sub. I did the speakers without an amp and it was ok, but distorted at high volume and lacked bass. Added a 4 channel 40Wx4 amp and the sound difference is INCREDIBLE. Underpowered speakers sound horrid.

When I did the install I did fatmat on the rear deck and in the doors and used several layers of compressible speaker gasketing between the door panel and mount, and between the mount and speakers. Everything is super snug and sound is crisp.

 

[carcinoid]

How did you wire in the amp?

My amp has speaker level inputs so I ran the wire directly to the amp, and from the amp I ran 16G wiring to the speakers. I tapped into the rear speaker wires with my LC2i LOC. I have distribution blocks in the back for ground and power, which connects to the sub, the speaker amp, and my LOC.

 

[CustomS550]

Got it.

My amp has speaker level inputs so I ran the wire directly to the amp, and from the amp I ran 16G wiring to the speakers. I tapped into the rear speaker wires with my LC2i LOC. I have distribution blocks in the back for ground and power, which connects to the sub, the speaker amp, and my LOC.

 

[CustomS550]

So...I stopped being hard headed and went ahead with an 8" sub. Will be moving the CDTs back to the front doors and upgrading the pillar tweeters down the road.

 

[CustomS550]

This is what I had mustered up with the front doors

There's a layer of CLD on the back door skin above the brace from the factory, although it isn't as thick as the one that I put on, so I left that alone. The door panel has that filler material that goes into the large cavity of the front door skin so I didn't bother messing with that at this time as well.

 

[NotMarc]

My amp has speaker level inputs so I ran the wire directly to the amp, and from the amp I ran 16G wiring to the speakers. I tapped into the rear speaker wires with my LC2i LOC. I have distribution blocks in the back for ground and power, which connects to the sub, the speaker amp, and my LOC.

Just so you know, I started out with using the rear speaker inputs as well. The signal in that harness is not full range I believe so it wouldn't be appropriate to feed your amp from there. From what I know you want to get full range signal thats unadulterated (rolled off, eq'd, etc.) to feed into your amp and let your crossovers do the job of channeling highs and lows different places.

 

[CustomS550]

The fronts, then?

Just so you know, I started out with using the rear speaker inputs as well. The signal in that harness is not full range I believe so it wouldn't be appropriate to feed your amp from there. From what I know you want to get full range signal thats unadulterated (rolled off, eq'd, etc.) to feed into your amp and let your crossovers do the job of channeling highs and lows different places.

 

[NotMarc]

The fronts, then?

Yeah you'll want to grab it from the front. How did the CLD affect the sound so far? If its still apart by chance it would be worth looking into the 25% method (basically a large majority of the noticeable difference comes from covering 20% of the affected panels). example and example

 

[CustomS550]

I've read similar threads before.

As far as sound, not much of a noticeable difference to my ears, to be honest.

The sub is going in tomorrow. I'm just waiting on a harness for my amp's speaker in plug.

Yeah you'll want to grab it from the front. How did the CLD affect the sound so far? If its still apart by chance it would be worth looking into the 25% method (basically a large majority of the noticeable difference comes from covering 20% of the affected panels). example and example

 

[CustomS550]

Hey, did you use aftermarket speaker baskets or hack up the stock ones? Any issues with the cone hitting the door panel at full extension / high volume?

I'm running two sets of these with crossovers. Really good bang for the buck.

http://www.cerwinvegamobile.com/products/mobile-audio/speakers/vega-speakers/v465c

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