power issues?

kieron

hey all ive got a question that i cant figure out. Im gonna get straight to the point - ive got a pair of mmc6500's in my civic del sol and they sound awful and i cant figure out why. The main problem is they are so QUIET!! if i max out the volume i can barely hear them when my windows and everything are down. Heres what I've got. Headunit is a Pioneer Premier deh-p8mp. forget what the amp is atm but its about a one year old pioneer 120x2. Ive got the gains on the amp set to accept 6.5v signal (what the headunit puts out). all equalization is off right now, and the tweeters are set to -3db. im all out of ideas so ill try basically anything right now. thanks a bunch guys.

exalted512

do you have everything hooked up to the crossover right? also, what about the filters (HP/LP) on the amp? Or maybe a setting on your head unit?
-Cody

kieron

all the speaker wiring is 16guage, the amp has a high pass filter set at 60hz right now. the crossover is set to single input and the amp is going to the tweeter input. i double checked the polarity on all the speakers and its all correct. power wire is running down the left side of the car, rca down the right, and speaker wire down the center. the crossovers are mounted where the rear speakers used to be, right near the amp.

-clint

exalted512

disconnect your battery from your car, wait a couple seconds, them put it back on and see what happens
-Cody

MacLeod

That is very wierd.

My first guess would be the amp. Assuming all connections are correct and the gain is set properly, I would disconnect the speaker wires from the amp than get some cheap Radio Shack speaker wire and run it from the head unit's outputs to the speaker wires at the amp. If the speakers are loud now then you know its not the speakers and the problem lies with the amp.

kieron

I went ahead and hooked up the speakers right to the headunit and it almost seems like it was the same volume, just more distortion. I'm gonna break out the db meter and mutlimeter tomorrow and get some numbers if you guys would be willing to look at them, maybe im just being over demanding on the system I've got. Anyway thanks for the suggestions.

-Clint

MacLeod

I dunno dude. 120 watts per channel should be more than enough to make those speakers play plenty loud. Hell, even the head unit should be loud enough to hear with the windows down albeit with a lot of distortion.

May want to contact Polk Customer Service and let the pros help ya out.

The only other little test I can think of is hook up the mids directly to the amp. Bypass the x-over. If the mids are now loud and clear then your x-overs are bad but I highly doubt that Polk sent you TWO bad x-over so this is a longshot.

1996blackmax

Try to readjust your gains. I had a similar issue with low volume when I would change out my older Alpine setup (Alpine 7949 & PXA-H600 processor), and my Alpine CDA-7998. Both of these setups were supposed to put out 4V to their preouts, but everytime I put in the 7998 the volume was too low. I would then have to turn up the gains. When the older setup went in the gains would then have to be turned down. This may not be an issue with your setup, but it's worth a shot.

MacLeod

It could be the gains I guess. Im not really sure where it would be set for 6 volts.

My way of adjusting gains is a little less scientific. I usually just turn it up to the noon position right out of the box and then back it down as I go thru the several weaks of tweaking.

neomagus00

w00t! someone finally asked! here is the frontpage for a gains-setting walkthrough.

AustinKP

yeah mac, he sure showed you