hi does anyone else have these speakers? i want to know because im not so sure that they are better than the stock ones. for some reason i feel that they DO NOT produce more bass than the cardboard stocks. also they seem to distort juss as much at high levels... is it just cause they are just strait out sucky speakers or are they speakers that require an amp to sound correctly? if so what kind of amp should i get? wattage ect...

MIke

 

I've got Sony 1631's, so I can't answer your ? regarding their quality, but I can take an educated guess and say, YES, they ARE better. Hell, ANYTHING is better than stock at this point!

You can throw in a $5000 speaker and it's going to distort at high volumes using the stock head unit. You need to either replace the head unit, or run an amp, or both. and if you want MORE bass, you need MORE power...something the stock unit just can't provide.

Hope this helps...

 

Well, I wish that I never, ever got into this. First I bought a pair of Polk ex602a's, but returned them after someone said they didn't fit. Then I bought these Infinity 652i's and discovered rust in my door after taking the panel off. I was set to return them and get the Sony 1631's after I found out that the Infinity's don't
drop in," but I did cut the rear of the baskets out last night and was set to finish the install today. Now DJHohum says that they don't sound any better than stock???? ARRGGHHH!

I give up.

And I can't believe there were no replies to the rust issue on the other forum. Thought that would raise some concerns here. Bottom line is that I told the dealer, they wanted to see it and fix it. They were shocked.

 

Oh wait a sec........ Mike- was that an April Fool's joke???

 

sorry bro, its not an april fools joke, i wish it was... like you i also had the polks but i heard that they werent that great. so i opted to get the infinites, which required removing the entire backing of the basket, ouch! well i guess what MacG said its the headunits fault... install'em and get an amp, thats what im gonna do

 

DJHohum-

I installed the same Infinities. Major distortion at modest volume here too. Bummer.

I have hard time believing that these are no good. They just look so solid! Maybe it is the stinkin' headunit. Don't feel like installing an amp, but it looks like I'm gonna have to.

BTW, anyone else figure out that the stock harness comes apart very easily, leaving individual female connectors? One of them even slips right onto the male speaker terminal with no modifications. Sorry I don't have a digital camera to better explain.

 

Hey fellas I have the those Infinitys in my Z. You must have a amp. for them. I am using a Infinity Kappa Amp. 50x4 and that doesn't seem like enough power. However, I was using a stock radio. THose speakers are better then the stock speakers and with alot more power will give u alot more bass.
Hope this helps.

 

Thanks, NDAZONE. I now feel ready to proceed with soldering my home made harness onto these speakers.

For anyone who's interested- If you look carefully at the factory harness (the part that's left in the door), it disassembles easily leaving bright, shiny female connectors on the ends of the wires. I purchased some male terminals to fit, crimped those onto some 16g wire, and soldered (or will solder tomorrow) the free ends onto the speaker terminals directly. Then it's just plug-n-play.

Wish I had a digital camera.

 

i have first installed Infinity Kappa 3 way without the amp--and i admit there was a minor improvement on the bass. i don't think the stock unit has enough power for the bass for those speakers. the treble, however, was noticibily better. but a week later, i installed an amp, and everything changed. i still kept the head unit in order to keep the remote buttons, but the Infinity speakers really can take some beating. i had to turn the bass control down A LOT. they are waaaayyy better than the stock speakers, no doubt about it. now the treble is even more crisp. in fact, it's too crisp that i have to turn the treble control almost all the way to the left (minus). and it plays pretty loudly without distortion.

but the weakness for the Kappas is the midranges. while it has good high and low punches, it lacks solid midranges like MB Quarts. in fact, if you set your amp to give out full range signals without hi/low crossovers, the midrange will distort in high volumes even before bass and treble can distort. and because they are mounted on the door, you can't expect a deep bass from them.

another problem i have is that there is higher treble on the driver's side than the passenger side. i have tried everything to fix it, and found out that the problem is in the head unit, not the speakers. it seems give out uneven high frequencies. (!!???????????) i thought the head units were alpines!!

 

Guys & Gals...

Amplifier sizes will dictate the listening level achieved before clipping... Every amplifier has a maximum output before the sinusoidal soundwave loses its smooth shape and exhibits "clipping".

The greater the wattage of the amplifier, the louder it plays before it reaches its limits. Depending on the quality of the amp, at that limit they do different things: clip (obviously), "soft clip", attenuate, etc.

Clipping is extremely damaging to speakers (regardless of their quality). I damaged the voice coil on my Dynaudio 7" woofer by clipping with the built-in amp from my IVA C800 (40watts x 4 max <-- that's another story). I replaced the woofer and finally installed my 150x2 (1500 watts maximum) amplifier and the music is wonderful.

Bottom line... more power than you need is better than less power. If you always supply a speaker with good clean power, it will always play extremely well up until its maximum power handling. The further you are away from an amp's maximum, the cleaner it will play and the cooler the amp will run...

Final point: Headunit amp ratings. Headunits sometimes have outlandish amplifier ratings (like 40x4). A powerful clean amplifier must have a good power source (you need power to make power) and good surface area heat sinks for cooling. There is no way an amplifier that occupies a 5"x2" space in a headunit can make 40x4 of good power. Typically, they produce 10, 12, or 18 watts x 4 at ~1% THD and achieve their 40x4 maximum right before clipping at ~10 - 12% THD. So be cautious when using built-in headunit amps. That also goes for small amplifiers with 400, 500, 800 watts written on their cases. If the amp physically looks diminutive and is relatively inexpensive, expect those wattage ratings to be at extremely high distortion levels and when supplied by an unrealistic voltage level... like 14, 14.4, 14.9 volts, etc. Conversely, many high end amplifiers are rated much lower than their maximum output really is. My Alpine MRV 1507 is rated at 150x2 into 4 ohms (impedance is another topic that will be discussed another time) at 12 volts with <0.1% THD. Its certification
sheet tests at 202 watts x 2 into 4 ohms, 398 x 2 into 2 ohms and 743 x 1 into 4 ohms bridged at 12 volts. It has a maximum output of 1500 watts at 14.4 volts and 1% THD... so 150x2 is very conservative. Also, the amp is 20lbs, 22" long and 11" wide, so it is physically robust...

Okay, one more When purchasing a speaker that you intend to use with a headunit's internal amp... look at the speaker's efficiency. The higher the efficiency the greater the output you will receive when powered by the small amp in the headunit. Maybe the Infinities previously mentioned have low efficiency, so you reach the small amp's maximum (clipping) at a lower volume level... which leads people to believe the speakers are "crap"... you just need a larger amplifier to make the lower efficiency speakers play louder.

Well, that is my manifesto... if you have any questions please PM me. Another note, Pinky is our resident audio expert so always ask him for a second opinion!! Plus he's a nice guy...