Front speakers - how do I get a crisp, clean sound?

[Rollin]

ok so I have been reading on here about bass blockers, crossovers and amps for your fronts, so I was thinking about my system and I really need to do something about my fronts, they are only 6 1/2" 2ways, but I only want mids and highs out of them. I'm going for that crisp sound so what do you guys/girls think?????

[livingsacrifice]

I'd say get a nice 6.5" component set but thats just me. Bass blockers suck.

[93MNGT]

Get some good front speakers, 2-3 ways, or components and amp them, even 50 watts RMS provides a major difference and helps out the fronts alot.

[livingsacrifice]

If you want some crisp sound and can afford it get some mb quart or focal 6.5" components, thats some clear sound.

[SkyCatcher]

Good amp with a high-pass filter and an active crossover will do it Make sure you have a passive crossover network if you're going to run tweeters.

[SlothGT]

More distortion comes from the amplifier than from the speakers, provised the speakers are capable of handling the amps power. Under-powered speakers sound just as crappy and over-powered speakers. Compare the specs of the speaker with those of the amp to find a good match.

[ProbeGT96]

Originally posted by SlothGT
More distortion comes from the amplifier than from the speakers, provised the speakers are capable of handling the amps power. Under-powered speakers sound just as crappy and over-powered speakers. Compare the specs of the speaker with those of the amp to find a good match.

I disagree with that! Speakers easily distort the original recording. If they didnt, they would all sound virtually the same. On the other hand, a good quality amp at rated power or less usually only has 0.5% distortion or less. Many of the test reports of amps in car audio magazine would result in the comment that "sounds identical to reference amp", or "great sound quality, indistiguishable from reference amp". Speakers are a much more variable factor than I amp, I think anyway.

[SlothGT]

I'm going to be polite. Study the mechanics of a QUALITY speaker. There's tons of engineering data available, then You tell ME why the speakers are distorting. A speaker will reproduce the sound it is given. If it gets a distorted signal, it will create a distorted sound. Even a very cheap speaker is capable of reproducing a strong amplification signal, just not for very long. Then you get into frequncy response, which is a whole other ball game. The major pitfall most unknowing people fall into is that they buy these $100, or $200 speakers that are designed to be powered by an 80W signal. Then they wonder why their stereo sounds crappy with their 20W deck. The trick is to match speaker effeciency with amp output. Some components will share a "sweet spot" with regards to efficiency and power output. That's why the manufacturers give you all that fine print data. It's there to help you intigrate their products into a system where they will work best.
Of course you also have to take into consideration the internal area of your doors. But for simplicity's sake I'll leave it at that.

[SkyCatcher]

An amp will amplify the distortion if the amp gets a bad signal BEFORE it send it to the speakers. A good headunit will send a clean signal to the amp, and as mentioned above, if you have a good amp that has a low S2N ratio then you'll get a good clean sound out of it.

IMO it's always better to have an amp that has more power than the recommended speaker rating because then you don't have to turn the gain up as high - meaning the S2N ratio is reduced and so is the distortion level.

High pass filters are there to filter out the low end that the speakers aren't designed to handle - I can make factory speakers sound just about as good as any mid-class amp out there. By this I mean kenwood, pioneer, jbl, etc...

There's my $1 1/2.

[Lambch0p]

Originally posted by SlothGT
I'm going to be polite. Study the mechanics of a QUALITY speaker. There's tons of engineering data available, then You tell ME why the speakers are distorting. A speaker will reproduce the sound it is given. If it gets a distorted signal, it will create a distorted sound. Even a very cheap speaker is capable of reproducing a strong amplification signal, just not for very long. Then you get into frequncy response, which is a whole other ball game. The major pitfall most unknowing people fall into is that they buy these $100, or $200 speakers that are designed to be powered by an 80W signal. Then they wonder why their stereo sounds crappy with their 20W deck. The trick is to match speaker effeciency with amp output. Some components will share a "sweet spot" with regards to efficiency and power output. That's why the manufacturers give you all that fine print data. It's there to help you intigrate their products into a system where they will work best.
Of course you also have to take into consideration the internal area of your doors. But for simplicity's sake I'll leave it at that.

If you design a single speaker to produce an "easy" frequency (as in say 500hz) then I agree. But when you need to produce a variety of sounds over a range of frequencies, and crossover networks get involved and speaker limitations come into play (cone mass, etc) then you get distortion. I'm not going to write all about it... I've found a link that covers some very basic ideas.


http://www.audiovideo101.com/learn/a...speakers12.asp

I do agree with you about ppl not matching speakers and amps right - major cause of distortion, and that misuse of equipment is a leading cause of distortion.

Enjoy

Jeff

[Rollin]

So it seems to me, that I should get a good 4channel amp, about 200-300 watt.. I hope thats it I got my bass I just need good highs and mids thanks guys, now I need to know where I might find a good amp I don't have much to spend now but I will soon so can you guys post some sites maybe???



Thanks for all the help

[SkyCatcher]

Originally posted by Rollin
So it seems to me, that I should get a good 4channel amp, about 200-300 watt.. I hope thats it I got my bass I just need good highs and mids thanks guys, now I need to know where I might find a good amp I don't have much to spend now but I will soon so can you guys post some sites maybe???



Thanks for all the help

I agree with the 4 channel amp Best thing you can do. Check out the hz frequency for the high-pass filter on the amp you're going to buy. The higher it goes the more you can filter out the bass. 225hz and more is usually good.

You don't need any bass from the fronts - that's what the subs are for so I totally agree.

Start up another post to ask your latest question about where to buy an amp or check out the other post about best amp for the money.

[1st MP3 in NH]

The honest answer is that it is extreamly diffucult to get great sound in a car. Atleast that would equal a home sytem of equal price. To realy pull it off you need great speakers and electronics, not just amps and head unit but 1/3 octive EQ's and crossovers aswell. Also If you have any serious power you'll need a shitload of dynamat and alot of custom install to take care of problem panels and such. Speaker placement is also very important for proper imaging and depth of sound. You can't just put some speakers in the door and expect great sound, doesn't work. Ususaly the answer is components in kick panels and midbasses in the door. The best sytems I have heard have always had one thing in common. An extream amount of time was put in to makeing the car come out right. Even cars that have 20 grand invested don't even come closs to the clarity of a home system at 1/2 the price.

This is probably way more then you wanted but I felt it needed to be said.

[saginawjuggalo]

if it's distorting just turn it down that mite help

[jmmdm2]

The bass doesn't need to come from the fronts? Um okay. Competitors spend hours and hours trying to get the sound "look" like it's rolling in off the hood.

The use of midbass drivers in the doors is a major factor in "pulling" the bass up front. A speaker that can extend down to 80 hz is helpful in doing this.

You want clear highs? You need all the componants to be of high quality from the source to the speaker. It has always been a practice of competitors to slightly over power their speakers. Like Sky said, you turn down the gain and the noise goes down with it.

1st was right on with the use of kick panels, the probe is great for bass but the high end from the factory locations is horrible. Even with the use of kicks it's still tough to get the image at the correct height. I think a second set of tweets in the dash somewhere would raise the level of the image up without making it brighter on one side.