well today i finally got my Infinity Kappa 3-way 6x9 speakers from ikesound. i was putting them in when i noticed that the sound dampening material inside the cavity was in the way of the speaker. so i ripped it out...is that OK? will that hurt the sound performance or anything?

and the sail panels dont seem to fit over the new speakers now . the tweeter tower seems to be sticking out to far. any remedy for this?

also the 6x9's came with a little crossover box with in/outs to the woofer and tweeter. do i use these when going to my head unit?

and finally, im not sure which wires are the positive and negatives. if i hook the speakers up reversed, will that damage the speaker? or the crossover box? thanks

 

The deadening material wont really hurt the sound, but it may produce unwanted rattles. How much was actually needed for space? If I remember right, the deadening material is about a 1/4" thick, right? I'd suggest, in as much of the area as you can, to install some Dynamat or similar product. At least to get rid of vibration and help project the sound better.

On the sail panel, about the only trhing that I think would work out is to remove some of the "cardboard" material on the grill part. I had to do that to get my Alpine 3 ways to fit in my RS.

The crossover is a big speaker saver if there are seperate terminals on the speaker. I don't know since I never used Kappa's yet. If they do have bacicly 4 terminals or at least hook ups for sub and tweet, use the x-over. It'll sound better and last longer. The setup may work better if you push them with a proper sized amp going through the x-over to the speakers.

If I remember right, if it's set up how most are, usually the smaller terminal is the positive. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though, without flameing, lol. Or there should be a marking and that, I think is Positive. If you hook them up backwards, it will just sound flat and wont really hurt anything, but it's not good to keep running like that. I'm assuming with that question, there are no instructions? You'll know as soon as you use the fader and it's louder for each side than it is with both working. So switch one around. But there should be a way to tell.

Hope this helps at least a little. If I'm wrong on anything, let me know.

 

i thought the smaller was neggy, but i could be wrong. havent had a chance to look at my speakers in a while. but like you, i could be wrong

 

Yeah, it's odd. I've installed a ton of em, but I can never remember something so simple and common with every brand. So the smaller could be a negative. Thats where the instructions are for though lmao.

 

smaller = negative, larger = positive. the speakers came with directions, but my problem is i dont know what wires from the car itself are positive or negative.

yeah these kappas have a seperate hookup for the tweeter and the woofer, so i guess they are good speakers, eh?

 

kappas are a good mainstream speaker. yeah, make sure to use those crossovers. should be labeled

 

If the wires haven't been cut, then an easy way and cleaner option would be to buy speaker wire harnesses from Crutchfield or Parts Express or some stereo shop. The leads are labeled for positive and negative. I have always used them when available incase I sold the car or change speakers. This way after time, the wires don't get so small you have a ton of splices and speakers cutting out.

 

heh, i chopped em off yesterday . the stock wiring is VERY short, so i soldered in an extension so i can remove the speakers without unplugging them.

i drove the car today and damn, that sh*t rattles a lot now lol. i took out all of the sound dampening meterial in the sails, but i dont think i had to. i should be able to put some pieces back in, to help with the rattles (im pretty sure is the crossovers that are bouncing around in there)

hmmm i just thought of something. i could just do a continuity test on the 2 speaker wires from the radio pod to the sail cavities. then ill know which whire correspond to each other at both ends, and ill mark em off with tape. when i get my head unit ill just make sure it gets hooked up correctly

 

I have the same speakers and the same problems. I had to cut the foam behind the speaker in order to get them to fit. I'm going to get some foam baffles from crutchfield to try to stop the "rattles", also if you look at the black spealer wire terminal (the car side not the speaker side) it sould say A and B, B is positive and A is negative. I took the speaker side terminal off the stock speakers and sodderd them to the kappas, than they just snap in the the factory speakers.

Oh ya those baffles are like $9.00 so if they dont work no big deal.

 

well i got the 6x9's in now and they rattle pretty good, i took out that massive piece of interior plastic so i could tighten the plate up...that helped a sh*t load, but it STILL rattles. should i just make a new one?

 

Dynamat is your friend or some other sound deadening material. Go to Parts Express and you can get most of it pretty cheap. Or try Select Products for the materials.

 

how would dynomat reduce rattles? i thought it was only for sound dampening. i was thinking that it was the plate that was shaking because its metal on metal...

 

It pulls a double duty. One as a sound deadener and another as a vibration damper. The material helps in keeping the sheet metal from vibrating. When you get a chance, have a look at a Dynamat display at a local stereo shop. Usually it's a pair of desk bells, one bare and one with Dynamat on it. Ding one and it rings, ding the one with Dynamat on it and it does next to nothing.

Or you can use the spray in stuff known as Roadkill I think, or something similar. It's basically like undercoating, but thicker and does the same job as Dynamat. Check all these options out when you can.

 

should i get the slim-line baffles or the 5" deep baffles?

 

The small er ones should work with the infinity's, just check the mounting depth of the speaker, If I remeber they are smalelr than 3 3/4"