I have the Pioneer DEH-P880PRS which has a ton of settings. Now I'm starting to think the crossover is just working too well and I don't like how it sounds. I think I need more highs out of my woofers and less from the tweeters. I get no voice or high notes out of my woofers. I'm almost thinking I should pull my sub to free up the additional channels and run individual channels per speaker and remove the crossovers.

I did try to cut some of the bands you listed here and it helps but still the sound just isn't right. I think it's the voice notes primarily that kill me.

 

LG: It's a commonly known problem with more mainstream products (Alpine, JL, MB Quart).

It's done for marketing purposes. Most kids that buy these products want to "hear" their speakers - not so much the music. To that end, HU's and speakers are designed to be peaky, and no amount of tuning will cancel it out.

I had the same problem with Diamond Hexes (silk dome), JL XR series, and an Alpine HU - all variously mixed and matched with different amps and each other. Ultimately, the smoothest sound came when I ditched the Alpine HU and Hex speakers for something higher quality out of the car audio market.


Josserman: Yes, the SEAS tweeters are a direct replacement. You'll need to modify your tweeter mounts (there are threads here with pics of how I did mine...I can relink the pics if you'd like), but it's well worth the trouble. Hell, come down to Poughkeepsie some weekend and I'll do it for you

The biggest drawback to the SEAS tweeters is you'll realize just how bad your woofers sound

 

Voice stuff is around 1kHz, so it's not the tweeters (primarily) as the crossover point is probably somewhere around 2.5-3kHz

Have you run the auto EQ and time alignment features on the HU (page 68 of the manual)?

One other thing to try is to wind the windows down. This will reduce the effect of the window glass on the tweeters. If it still sounds bad like that, then a tweeter change may be the only way to fix it.

 

Neutered, we've done this before

My similar Alpines work extremely well and are in no way too bright. That HU is of a high quality and hugely adjustable so should produce good sounds with whatever speakers are thrown at it. Source is king

My guess is that the HU is not set up correctly, and it's certainly well worth trying to fix things there before spending more money on new tweeters, especially when the problem seems to be in the mids rather than the highs.

Replacement tweeters should only be considered as a last resort IMO.

 

We have? Sounds familiar.


Anyway, looks like my advice is no longer desired in this forum. People ask for sound quality, and when I lay it down for them, others pop in to say I'm wrong.

And yet. And yet, I know this because I've experienced the ear-ache-inducing highs from Alpine, JL, Diamond, and MB Quart products. These products are designed specifically to cater to people that don't understand how tweeters should sound - and want their $200 investment to be audible. So the speakers are very peaky - so that high school student can hear his new speakers, not so he can hear the music accurately.

But don't listen to me. It's not like I spent more time trying to weed out those bright peaky signals than I did enjoying the music. Or upgraded from crappy tweeters to the SEAS tweeters because I could tell the difference between music in my truck (that had them) and the S (that had the Diamond tweeters).



I do believe that at this point, I will take my leave of the EJ forum.

Good luck to all and sundry.

 

with component speakers and a x over should you not hear high notes out of your woofers at all? I'm wondering if maybe my xovers are just damaged as they are in the door and while they are wrapped well the previous owner did not have them wrapped as well and maybe the moisture broke them

 

btw here is the user manual for my hu...if anyone can help me with settings in addition to basic eq adjustments that would be very cool http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/i...ationManual.pdf

 

Wait! Before you go (f'n quitter! ). I need to know more about the SEAS tweeters. I HATE my Diamond Hex silk domes. Peaky is an understatement I thought they would be smoother than most but find them absolutely ear splitting.

At least point me in the right direction. I'm coming to the conclusion that my Alpine 9833 may not have been the right choice either but I suspect that the tweeters on the Diamonds may be a big part of the problem.

 

I assure you, it's a mixture of the two. The amplifier you have could even play a role in it.

Perfect example:

Years ago, when I first installed the Diamonds, I was running an Alpine 7995 (the old dead-head unit), upgraded to a 9835 (I think it was, been 4 years or so since I ran it). Those HU's pushed a DB drive 2-channel amp and the Diamond Hexes.

I spent hours agonizing over the ridiculous highs that I just couldn't tweak out. Eventually, the amp died. Went to the local audio shop (who so happened to be an Eclipse/Alpine/Audison dealer) and spoke with him. He set me up with an Eclipse PA4522 amp (back when Eclipse made quality amps) and that helped - a lot. There was still quite a bit of peakiness to the music, but it was at least bearable. 6 mos to a year later, I wound up getting a good deal on a pair of Eclipse CD8442 (I think it was?) HUs from the dealer (one for me, one for my roommate). I couldn't believe the difference it made. My music was instantly much smoother.

Following that, a year or so later with that stereo transplanted into my S, I upgraded to an active setup using an Audison amp (the Eclipse had been stolen shortly after it was installed, I had replaced it with an Audison 2-chan). The difference was, again, quite noticeable.

Recently I upgraded the stereo in the truck. Went with SEAS woofers/tweeters. Shortly after that install, I came to despise the tweeters in my S. The Diamond tweeters just...weren't there. That crisp/smooth sound coming from the SEAS tweeters in the truck just blew the Diamonds away. So, I replaced the tweeters. Music was, again, much improved.

The woofers, however, were severely lacking at this point...so I decided to go all out and drop some 5 1/2" ScanSpeak Revelators in and OMGSEX in the car at 70mph with the top down!

And we're talking classic rock here - Bohemian Rhapsody, Stairway to Heaven, November Rain. I remember taking the first drive with the new woofers, turning the music down a bit so I could yell to Christine (my +1) "OMG...listen/feel that reverb off the guitar!" and then promptly turning the music back up



Moral of the story: Upgrade your tweeters

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/index.php...fcc46c277ce9dbb

 

NS, I suppose that the amp is reasonably solid -- at least it has a decent reputation. It's a Zapco Reference 350.2. Rated at 100x2 at 4 ohms. I'm really not in a position to be pouring a lot of money into the system these days but I'm not sure what would happen if I tried to use the SEAS tweeters with the current Diamond Hex midwoofers and crossovers.