lanceflame44

Hi
I have a used electronics store near me that is selling boss 4x10 speakers for $20, should i get them? right now i am running the stock 4x6 speakers at 25w each with a low pass filter at 125hz, they dont distort but i wanted to up my speakers so i dont have to use a low pass filter, right now i have 2 stock 4x6 speakers in the front, running from one 50w channel off my pioneer deck, so 25w each. i have 2 sony xplods in the sail panels running at 50w each, a 12" bass speaker i pulled from a broken yorkville speaker box running at 50w and 2 12" insignia subs that are running at 300w each. i know the setup isnt the best but all these speakers were free (the sonys i already had, the yorkville was my brothers but the amp for that broke so i got the speaker, and the insignias, the 600w amp and the wiring were from my dad's mercedes, he didnt want them). would the boss 4x10s work for me? or are they not that much better than the 4x6s i want to put the 4x10s in the dash and run 50w to each of them.
thanks in advance
Jeremiah

cdoyle

I don't think there is any way possible to fit a 4x10 in the dash, there just isn't enough room. And honestly, it wouldn't sound all that great if you could.

I think you need to step back and look at the rest of your system first. There are some red flags for me here.

The current 4x6 have a low pass filter? You're only passing low frequencies to these speakers? 4x6's were not meant to act like subs and can't reproduce those frequencies. If these are running off the deck, I would just run them full range, or maybe high pass.

Also why are you running them off of one channel?

From how you describe it, it sounds like you have the front 4x6's running off the left channel. Then the rear speakers running off the right?

Next are your subs, I'm trying to figure out how you have these wired. You have 3 total? Are they all running off the same amp? What type of amp, and how do you have them wired?

lanceflame44

sorry, i ment to say high pass filter, the deck i have is a pioneer, it has a high pass filter setting, i have it set to 125hz. the deck has 4 channels, the front left is for the front 4x6's becuase if i run 50w per speaker i get distortion, i have a 12" SPEAKER (not sub) in the trunk running off the front right channel. the sail panel speakrs are running from the rear right and rear left at 50 watts each. the 2 12" SUBS have a wire running from the positive end of the battery to a 2 farad capacitor which runs to the 600w 2 channel insignia amp. each sub is using one channel on the amp, 300w each. i guess i have to run and look for some 4x6 infinity speakers, i already found 6x9 infinity reference x (as i recall) speakers at the used electronic store for $50. here is a pic of my system:
the white stuff on the 12" speaker is patches, i got it with a small hole and a small tear, i patched it up and it sounds amazing. despite the make-shift-ness of my system, it is loud and doesnt distort, i am planning to improve it little by little.

ringo234

You're using the left front channel to drive both front speakers?
You're using the right front channel to drive the a 12" speaker in the very back?
Sounds a little wierd to me. I would ditch the 12" speaker and 2 good front sprakers that won't distort and connect everything correctly.
Front left channel to the front left speaker the front right channel to the front right speaker, and done with it.

lanceflame44

lol, payday is on thursday, i think i did pretty good for a budget of $0. and there is no distortion, here is a set of 4x6s i found http://hamilton.kijiji.ca/c-cars-veh...AdIdZ510097114
I will go to see them on the weekend if i have the funds (ran the credit card a lil this week) are these any good?

cdoyle

OK, Here is what I would do for a budget system.

Ditch that odd woofer you have back there. It's not doing anything.
build a proper enclosure for those subs. It looks like you just have a plate free air? I'm not sure, but I doubt those subs were meant for that. You'll eventually blow the subs using them in this way.

What is the ohm rating on the subs? and what is the max load bridged for that amp?

Get a set of 4x6's and hook them to the left and right channels of the deck.

I would also clean up that wiring.
Your ground wire from the cap should be the same size as the positive.

lanceflame44

Yea, thats what i was doing, replacing the 4x6s first then the 6x9s and wiring them to the right channels. Then i was going to grab 3 12" alpine subs and a better amp to drive them. And i will get better wiring for the stuff, i might need a new capacitor, the sidplay wont read a charge. The bridged output of the amp is 500w, or not bridged is 600w. That is the amp that came with the subs.

lanceflame44

*display. And i wired it right and everything but the capacitor's dusplay light blinks wether thr car is on or off.

devestator_x

iTrader: (1)

I see one real problem with this setup first and formost. Running 2 front speakers off one channel. Your stereo is setup to use a 4ohm load per channel. Wiring 2 speakers together will do one of 2 things depending on how you wired them. Either it will drop the load to 2ohms or raise the load to 8 ohms. If it drops to 2ohms, there is a good chance you will burn out the amp inside the stereo. If its raised to 8ohms, the speakers will get hardly any juice. The 50 watts is not actually 50 watts at anything other than 4 ohms. If it's at 8 ohms, that would most likely be putting out 25watts, then split to each speaker for 12.5 watts each. If it's at 2 ohms, then it would be closer to 100watts and the amp will over heat. Im going to guess you got lucky and wired them into an 8ohm load.

What I would do is disconnect them all together until you get some better speakers. Even after you get better speakers, use that high pass crossover. It will help your speakers sound soooo much better. 4x6 speakers are so small that the low frequencies like 200hz and under are VERY difficult for them to reproduce accurately and they will distort the sound.

lanceflame44

i guess i have 8 ohms, i will see if the person with the 4x6s can deliver. i have the stock alternator, should i get a better one? and what is wrong with my capacitor, it doesnt drain the battery but when it was in my dad's car the cap shut off when the car shut off, i know i wired everything correctly but the cap refuses to shut off when i turn my car off. even if my car is on the cap just blinks, the display doesnt show the charge of the capacitor like before. should i get it replaced? do i even need a cap?

devestator_x

iTrader: (1)

If the lights are dimming when you crank the bass, then yes you should get a new alternator. Capacitors are just fancy band aids for the under lying problem, not enough output from the alternator. If the lights dont dim without the cap, dont bother with it. If they do, upgrade the alternator and sell the cap to help pay for the alternator upgrade. I've been following Steve Meade on Youtube for quite a while now and he has over 30,000 watts of power in his Tahoe with 4 or 5 alternators to power it, but not a single cap.

lanceflame44

Ok, thanks, ill see when i can get the 4x6s. And report back.

cdoyle

Caps just disguise the real problem. not enough current for the amount of power draw. They were marketed as a fix all, and I fell for it back in the day too. Just get rid of it, and make sure your wiring is all correct too. Do a search for the 'Big 3' in this forum too.