Polk MMC5250 tweets crackling

atxlonghorn

I just finished installing my new MMC5250 components, powered by an alpine MRP-F450 amplifier (70 watts x4). I elected to biamp the components, giving them 140 watts rms each.

Now..the problem..the tweeters "crackle" at certain frequencies, even at very low volumes. The only thing I could think of would be that the tweeter's speaker wiring's gauge is too low. I'm using the stock wiring from a 97 bmw 328i, and i estimate that the wiring is about 20-18 awg for the tweets.

Can speaker wire that is too thin cause audible distortion? Or should I be concerned with a faulty amp/HU?

Edit: also, I'm not sure if the wrong tweeter housings were packaged or what, but I had a very difficult time trying to get the tweeters into their flush mount housing. It seems like the tweeter is just too big for the housing. Anybody else heard of any problems like this?

Installer4life

Did you use the passive crossovers that came with the MOMO set. If you didn't you need to change that now because the crossover in the amp will not crossover the tweeters high enough. The factory BMW speaker wire will work fine. If you used the MOMO crossovers and wired them with the dual inputs you should be ok and if the crossovers are not defective then your problem is somewhere else. If you wnat more power to your components you might try bridging the Alpine amp and use the single input on the amp. If the bi-amp method is loud enough then leave as is. The tweeter is a tight fit because if it wasn't it would spend inside the housing.

MacLeod

What kind of music do you listen to and is the distortion in the same spot or does it occur randomly regardless of whats playing?

If its hard rock or metal and the distortion appears at the same places in the music then chances are youre hearing the distortion in the recording.

Im a headbanger and I have several CD's that have quite noticeable distortion in certain spots (am currently listening to Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime and it has several places it does this). I reckon its one of the hazards of recording heavily distorted guitars.

Now that youve got a much better set of speakers and plenty of clean power, all the little nuances are more apparant and that includes the bad parts.

An easy way to test this would be to take note of where the distortion occurs and then put it in another good quality home or car audio system and see if it still does it.

exalted512

Go K State!
-Cody

atxlonghorn

MacLeod wrote: »

What kind of music do you listen to and is the distortion in the same spot or does it occur randomly regardless of whats playing?

If its hard rock or metal and the distortion appears at the same places in the music then chances are youre hearing the distortion in the recording.

Im a headbanger and I have several CD's that have quite noticeable distortion in certain spots (am currently listening to Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime and it has several places it does this). I reckon its one of the hazards of recording heavily distorted guitars.

Now that youve got a much better set of speakers and plenty of clean power, all the little nuances are more apparant and that includes the bad parts.

An easy way to test this would be to take note of where the distortion occurs and then put it in another good quality home or car audio system and see if it still does it.

I listen to a wide range of music (country-hip hop-alt rock-classic rock), but the distortion only appears on certain songs, in the same places. "Icky Thump" by the White Stripes is by far the worst I've heard thus far. Every hit of the bass drum causes the tweeters to crackle. Some country (hank williams III mainly) does the same thing (crackles in the same spots). I'm thinking it is most likely the recordings then (they also are mp3 so that undoubtedly makes things worse anyways).
I'll take your advice and try to find a good home or car system to compare to (we've got a bose system downstairs, but I hesitate to call it "good quality").

Installer4life wrote: »

The tweeter is a tight fit because if it wasn't it would spend inside the housing.

It just is strange, since my previous DB series components were not nearly as tight of a fit, and could easily swivel inside their housing. The manual says the momos should swivel as well, but they're pretty much locked into place.

I'm using the momo crossovers, and have my amp crossing over at 90hz for the components up front.

exalted512 wrote: »

Go K State!
-Cody

I gotta hand it to ya'll...you guys played one helluva game, and we just didn't show up. Ya'll have got our number for sure.
Hook 'Em


Edit: Well I'm pretty sure I've found the problem. Turns out it was actual recordings after all. I plugged a few tracks into audacity, and sure enough, the tracks that exhibited the crackling made audacity's clipping light go off light crazy.