I finally got around to replacing my stock 00 speakers with a pair of Infinity 6012i 6.5" 2 way and it all went well and I love the difference. I had to cut away the back of the baskets to get access to the wiring connectors. This was minimal effort with a dremel and cutting disk.

They are matched to a PPI 2440 Amp and stock head unit.

They sound great Nothing like waiting 5 years huh?

 

congrats!

but, OMG...

if you change your headunit, you are in for a treat

esp if you think it sounds good now.

 

5 years is a long time to live w/ those paper coned whizzers they stuck in the 2000 and 2001's.... i didn't even last a month...


if you're in the market, a HU upgrade is likely to do you wonders, but you've definitely made a milestone step in improvement.

regarding the PPI - is that a 2240 or 2440? i don't recall the 2440, but i'm not as up on PPI as some manufacturers...
just curious...

 

It might be a 2240 (2 channel 40W per). I was going from memory. A new head unit might be nice but I'm undecided on features. I'm either in my car for a long time traveling long distances or for only a few minutes to the local store. All I wanted to do was boost the output right now so I could actually hear it on the freeway. I couldn't turn up the volume enough before without badly distorting the sound.

Got a question tho...

The amp has a crossover to a sub output that I can set for full, HPF or LPF. I don't have a sub so I don't want the crossover to do anything. I'm thinking my bass is being filtered out setup the way it is. The freq is set to midway between -5dB and -20dB and the switch is on full. Is my bass being sent to the sub I don't have?

 

with your amp settings I would think you are getting full frequencies to your speakers. but check the users manual first, if you can beat phil to it.

The infinity components are notoriously weak on bass. usually they are coupled with a sub, so you might want to up your bass on your headunit.

hate to sound like a scratched record... but an old alpine would make a world of difference in your set-up. I'd scan the for sale threads and see what you come up with. it's just that the signal from the stock headunit is weak at best.

 

well -- perhaps a new HU is something you'll want to think about down the road.

if you're happy now, that's really what matters. that being said though, if you want to improve sound or eliminate distortion -- the HU should be an easy first. there are a ton of options out there from the ultra-bling to the ultra-basic, and many in between. a very cost effective HU would be something like a mid to base model Alpine or Pioneer, probably in the $200 range new. most likely that's a bit more of an investment, so something to just consider.


bah -- it doesn't look like PPI lists their older model manuals online. all i can find is some of the newer models over at directed electronics' website. and searches keep running me into junk ebay sites and misc. search trap sites.


my strong guess (like 99% sure) is that you are not filtering anything out w/ that crossover when set to full. if it's set to full, you should be sending a full range signal to your speakers.

the Infinities have been known to be a bit bass weak, so a bit of tweaking on your bass might help. what i would do however, is start from flat (0 treble 0 bass) and work from there.

2 other things:

-are you 100% sure you've got a good seal between the speaker and the door? air leaks will kill your bass, so make sure you don't have any visible gaps.

-are you sure you're in phase? get a flashlight, and and extra C or D cell battery. pull the speaker wires off the amp, and put the + to + and - to - on the speaker leads. note which direction the speaker moves when you do that. you might need an assistant to help. they should both move the same direction. if they don't, you're out of phase. flip them so they both move the same direction. another way to do this (also a bit less exact and more subjective), flip the + and - on one speaker, and see if the bass is louder one way or the other.


let us know how it goes... we should be able to get you fixed up as is...

 

I have a question for you cthree. How did you hook up the stock HU to the amp? In other words, is the stock HU set up like an aftermarket HU so that installing an amp will not involve slicing and dicing wires up? Or do I have to purchase some sort of molex connection? I want to go your route, keep the stock HU. I have a old 2 channel soundstream amp and am looking at infinity kappas components or better and am wondering if it is easily doable and clean.

 

you'll have to cut into the speaker wiring or use some kind of harness to get access to speaker wiring, run the stock speaker outputs into either speaker level inputs on the amp or a line output converter (LOC).

the LOC will convert the speaker levels to RCA pre-amp levels, which you can then run to the amp....
OR
if the amp has speaker level inputs, it will down convert the speaker levels to RCA levels and then amp from there.

it can be done, it can be (but isn't always) easy, and the wiring can be done cleanly.
the biggest disadvantage is that the output signal will have some noticable distortion however, from an initial moderate to poor source (OEM pre-amp), being amplified (in the HU), un-amplified (LOC or in amp), and re-amplified (outboard amp). amplifiers always add some distortion in their operation. so, with each amplification change, you are adding more distortion, and are amplifying the distortion previously added upstream.

it can be made to sound good, but it's much harder, and will always be at a disadvantage to a direct pre-amp out.
whether you notice it or not, all depends on your personal tastes and criteria.

 

Hmmm, sounds like a ton of fun. Thanks for your comments, I'll have to rethink this.