i have a problem with my system, whenever i crank my system about halfway up, my midrange just disappears, and it sounds really really crappy and its actually kinda annoying lol, i have an alpine CDA-9885 head unit, kenwood speakers with tri-tweeters in the back, just regular kenwood speakers in the front, californian 1000 watt amp, and 2 alpine 10" type R subwoofers in the back....the system sounds really good until i put it up to 22 (halfway about) then it just takes a dump....please help guys, thanks
-brian

 

what size of wire are you running from the 12v power source to your amp

 

4 gauge, just like it called for...its like not my subs, its either the speakers it seems like, or the head unit is programmed to kill sound at that level or something...i dunno, someone told me its because my front speakers arent beefy enough, i dunno...i was hoping you guys could help

 

have you seen if your amp is keeping up with the power needed maybe it might be to weak for all the speakers

 

he said the mids, the amp is only being used on the subs if i'm reading correctly, so more likely to be the headunit or speakers, not the amp. if anything, maybe the speakers are distorting at those levels? try disconnecting the amp and playing the system at the same level and see whats happening there.

also, if using the stock front speaker location, you're pretty much outta luck with any mids because they are too small to really make any noise at higher levels.

 

yeah i'm still using the stock placement for the front speakers, from what i remember the kenwood speakers i got for there were paper cones, just like the stock ones...but i will try disconnecting the amp but i dont think that has anything to do with the problem, i actually kinda hope that its the speakers cuz i like this head unit and i dont want it to have this little problem and really kinda screw it over for me lol cuz when i take off the t-tops and i put the music up loud, it sounds like crap now when i put it up just a little too high...i really hope it is the speakers though....thanks for all your help guys

 

I had a similar problem with my set up in my grand am... At the time i had my alpine cda-9831 powering a pair of boston 746 s (front) and some kenwood 6x9s.. Any time the volume got high enough (usually 21 or higher) the bass would sound crappy and mid range went south, same problem your having. The problem isnt the speakers its the stereo- it doesnt have the power to play the speakers at that level or higher, and since bass requires the most power to reproduce it gets killed first- but in your case the subs handle that so u notice the midrange taking a hit. If you havent already run a cross over on all your speakers (excluding subs) to block out the bass (your sub does all the bass work) and that should help..

Derek

 

thank you derek, you certainly are great haha...but yeah, i was kinda thinking that it would be the head unit, unfortunately...that thing cost 350 brand new from crutchfield i think lol....damn, maybe i need a small amp for my speakers?

 

Well you couldnt beat a small amp for your speakers in terms of sound quality. However u might be able to get away with just using cross overs on the speakers. Id cross the 6x9s over at 100 hz and the fronts at 200-250 hz. Since the crossover's job is to cancel unwanted frequencies it will help to free up some of the deck's power.

 

how exactly would i do that? i'm not all that great with sound/audio equipment, the last thing i want to do is majorly mess this up haha

 

Well, your stereo has the "high pass" feature which is a crossover- what levels does it have and does it give you the option to set the high pass filter for the front only, rear only, or all speakers? My cda-9831 has 90hz and maybe 180... I just trashed the rear speakers again (Boston SL95's) and they were crossed over at 100hz, so next set is gonna be crossed over at like 120-150.. Bah i should just leave the rear torn apart because i am constantly blowing the rear speakers.....

 

ive been staring at this owners manual for a few days now, and i dont think it has a high pass filter for the fronts or backs at all (i say staring because this stuff doesnt make much sense to me anymore) and ouch, i'm not too sure if i wanna blow these speakers, i mean they are decently old...but i'm not about to redo these speakers yet...maybe in a year or two lol

 

is your wiring connected right on the back of the deck, sometimes that can happen if you cross the front 2 speakers or rear. or if its not that the amp is probably over powering the stock speakers, if thats it try bass blockers for thoes that are lossing mid range. O and another thing that happend to me was the audio wires were bad. hope this might help.

 

Well you certainly dont want to blow up speakers that are doing their job- those gotta sound better than stock. Ever since i hacked up my my vent ducting to fit thos 746's i have regretted it.. Hmm... Now ur gonna get into the manual labor here... If another amp is out of the question you could always take a trip up to radio shack and buy a set of capacators. These are your crossover as they will "absorb" the undesired frequencies (bass). To install these you need to snip off and strip back the positive lead at each speaker. You need to solder the capacator on the postive wire and back to the speaker. I am completely unsure of the right capacator for you needs- luckily the amp ive got (alpine mrp-450) saved me from that chore. Maybe NeedAZ will chime in here...

 

there is not a radio made that has a good amp (that's why high end ones don't have amps at all) most amps today have crossovers built in that are fairly decent, if your worried add an outboard one

 

Also, set the fader slightly to the rear.