[Beachboy]

I finally got my antenna straightened out and reception is now great. I discovered that the 5.25" door speakers are wasted and I have replacements that have a voice coil and tweeter included. I think the small tweeters on the upper part of the door and the smaller voice coil speakers are gonzo too. I'm not looking for the ultimate in sound, just want it up to good performance.

Here's the question: The existing speaker wires are three pairs (I think), one set for each of the three speakers. Am I OK just wiring the new combination speaker to the old 5.25" speaker wires and leaving the others open? Am I then missing power from the amp? I am assuming that this amp setup does not have an internal crossover or that there is one in the car apart from the amp itself. It's a Sony 25W with remote CD changer.

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[Beachboy]

OK I got the new speaker in one side. It did not function with the old tweeetr disconnected. Reconnected the old tweeter with the new 5.25" speaker connected and nothing but fuzz. Ok sound through the other channel and OK sound through the rear speaker on the same side. I don't think it's the amp.

I pelled out the plastic mount for the speakers and discovered the crossover. My guess is that it's the culprit.

Now the new question: The crossover is four wires in, four out. How do I wire a bypass of the old crossover and run the new 5.25" with integral tweeter. I would keep the old 2" speaker in place as a passive radiator.

Or, are new crossovers available?

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[flash]

man it sure seems like you are going about this the hard way



first, are you sure your deck is in good condition? test the speakers on a known good source - the factory deck is less than optimal in the first place, and a lot of people have had it fail - check the amp if you have one too



then, if you go to the DIY section here and pull the manual, there is a wiring diagram there which will tell you which wires are the main leads - if you are determined to bypass the stock setup, and insert a full range speaker like that, you only need the one pair of wires per side - you can snip the others and go with those



a passive radiator is a sealed chamber woofer thing - leaving a speaker in a door will not help you or function as a passive radiator - might as well pull it out



i don't recommend what you are doing though - the sound quality will likely suffer - the location of the speaker is really too low for good fidelity - it's definitely the least expensive thing to do though

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[Beachboy]

I underestimate this website. Found the diagram. Now I could wire it the way I want to. But...

To answer your question I tested the head with a known speaker and it was good on that channel, I'm fairly sure it's not the head but it could be just a connection, I'm going to clean up the plug next.

Flash, the Sony with the cd changer is OE?

Without getting into the big power amps and new sub and all, what new changer/amp fits and works with the stock speaker locations in my coupe?

When I try to use the sites that tell you what fits in what car none of them have our little jewels listed.

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[Beachboy]

The signal going into the crossover is not a signal (or current) that the speaker can use. I guess I'm stuck with getting a replacement crossover.

Any hints with this?

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[Beachboy]

I get 10 volts coming into the crossover that will not produce sound to the speaker, don't understand that, and about 7 volts coming out to each speaker. I guess the next test is to take the speaker assembly, including crossover, from the right side and try on the left side wiring. That should give me the definitive answer with the exception of a wiring fault between the head and the speaker wire feed in the door.

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[flash]

sorry - skipped over where you said it was a sony - no, not stock



the signal going into the crossover should absolutely be useable by the speaker, but probalby not if you connect the other speakers - the crossover just spilts the signal up - however, if you load the amp up with too many speakers, bad things happen - the crossover itself may also do the same thing



is the amplifier seperate?



if it is seperate, on the test you did, when you tested a known speaker on the head unit, was this pre or post amplifier?



have you disconnected the wires going into the crossover and tested a speaker there?

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[Beachboy]

I disconnected the crossover and could not get the speaker alone to make sound although it showed 10V.

I just swapped the left speaker assembly with crossover to the right side and it functioned fine.

So, barring a wiring fault on the driver side it must be the amp. I remember taking my small rear channel house speaker out to test it and got sound but I must not have been listening very well because at high volume it spits out sound but it's really crappy.

Time for a new head unit. I'll call crutchfield and see what they have. I like the fact that they have plug and play harnesses made up.

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[Beachboy]

OK I give up. I ordered a new Panasonic head with 25W x 4 RMS. Should be plenty for me. For $56 they install it... deal. I'll let you know how it sounds. I think I'll still use the new 5.25's though. Thanks for the help.

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[flash]

no worries - glad we nailed down the problem though



quick question - does the new deck have a parametric EQ? (the single most important feature for getting good sound)



if not, pioneer makes one with a parametric EQ that can be bought and installed by Best Buy for under $200



just a thought

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[Beachboy]

Cannot answer that one Flash. But probably not as I don't remember it being mentioned.

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[Silver BLT]

As to post #8, Home and car speakers have different Ohm loads. As such they are not compatable....(unless you are VERY creative, Flash) hence crappy sound. You may also burn out one or the other trying to drive the delta of the load.



Renron

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[flash]

yup yup yup - that's exactly why i recommended against hooking them all up - (remembering back now to a time when we hooked up 8 8" woofers to one amp - oof! - very bad)

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[Beachboy]

The rest of the story. I got the new radio C/D player whatever you want to call it. It's a nothing fancy Panasonic 25WRMS x4. I like Panasonic in general, have had good reliability with their stuff and this was a solid 25% power increase over the Sony I had. As mentioned previously I replaced the antenna base/ amp and the two 5 1/4" speakers. Really nice sound, noticeableably better on the far ends of the sound spectrum, with plenty of volume for these ears. Sorry Flash, no equalizer other then the 4 preset programs plus the ususal Bass Treble etc. adjustments. No sub either. It sounds terrific to me. At $150 installed it was a great deal too.

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[flash]

cool - as long as you're happy



if you change your mind, another great deal is the pioneer (i think it's the 4700) for about 200 installed at best buy - 50w x 4, sub out, aux in, parametric EQ



side note: matsushita (panasonic's parent company) has a standing policy of only supporting products with parts for 5 years - i have a lot of their stuff, and like it, but also expect to have to replace it after that time

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[Beachboy]

Ok Flash, not to argue or anything but...

The Pioneer 4700 has 50Wx4 of what is commonly called peak power or music power. The real deal is continuous power or RMS watts. The Pioneer has 22W RMS, my Pano, 25W RMS or about 14% more. Not a big deal but the Pioneer is definitely not twice the power of the Pano. I doubt parts would ever be needed as these things are not worth fixing. I do have a sub pre-out that I might use in the future but right now it sounds really great. I remember how much better my home system sounded when I added a sub though, it might be worth doing sooner than later.

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[flash]

fair enough - no worries



i haven't had issues with the 3 watt difference in my cab - the parametric has allowed for a cleaner signal at higher volumes (the mids, especially low mids, are the issues in this car) - i currently get 108 db out of the rig before any signs of audible distortion (can't remember if that was a or c weightd when i tested it - i'll do it again)



just pointing out options near the same price if, after living with it for bit, you decided you weren't happy

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[Beachboy]

In my coupe I'm finding the tingling super high-end stuff is much better, but then my old ears clip off the high stuff for sure so the extra boost at the top works for me. I'm very interested in measuring db levels. What instrument are you using and what is the cost?

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[flash]

spl meter - radio shack - pretty cheap - i think the digital one is about 70 bucks

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