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July, 2025

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Car Audio Help

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tBatt
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 580
So, I just got a new head unit, rear deck speakers and door speakers for my 03 EX Coupe. I didn't have time to make the bracket for the door speakers, but I pulled off the panel and plugged one of them in just to see how they sounded. The new door speakers were noticeably quieter than the stock ones. I searched and someone suggested that they're underpowered and need an amp, but I have a hard time thinking that is the only solution. I have read of two other people with the same problem, not necessarily with the same car or head unit. Pos/Neg wires can't be switched since they're different sized spade connectors. Unless there is a stock crossover in there (which I'm almost positive there isn't), then I have no crossovers between the woofer and tweeter.

Kenwood KDC-252U head unit
-22W RMS

Alpine 610c in the doors
- 2-80W RMS
- 88dB @ 1W
- 4Ω impedance

Alpine SPE 6090 in rear deck
- 75W RMS
- 91dB @ 1W
- 4Ω impedance

I currently have the tweeter spliced into the OEM wires which went into the stock tweeters.

halp?
13 years ago
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volvotom
Posts: 2045 - Karma: 712
bad wiring?
13 years ago
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Lé.Skiing
Posts: 10035 - Karma: 8,128
could be the culprit.  double check your wiring.
13 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6213 - Karma: 2,170
Didnt check the stereo but you probably are underpowered. If you are getting any sound you probably are wired fine as far as connections are concerned.

Next culprit to check is the ground. Bad grounds rape any electrical circuit and since a car only has a chassis "ground" available, it can be hard to get a good point without causing cross coupling or loops as well as noise form your suspension.
13 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6213 - Karma: 2,170
Also, if you are using the stock wiring, it may be undersized. You may need to up the AWG (lower number thicker wire) a little to allow the power through the loop.
13 years ago
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tBatt
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 580
Should have mentioned that the rear deck speakers work fine.
I'm positive the HU is wired in properly.

underpowering may unfortunately be my culprit. I just have a hard time believe that since the front and rear speakers are pretty much the same, and rears are working fine.
13 years ago
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tBatt
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 580
Bump?

Thinking that being underpowered is probably the case.
Boooo.
13 years ago
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steezypink21
Posts: 135 - Karma: 17
Could have been the fact that you spliced the crossovers into the stock wiring, rather than using the factory supplied crossover.  Could also be underpowered, but i doubt it, I have built 10+ systems over the last 2 years, most involving multiple amps although a few without amps, and I have never had a problem with dim/quiet speakers.  My bet is that the crossovers or tweeters are wired wrong.  Yes, amps do make your speakers a little louder, but the biggest purpose that they serve is cleaning up the power that your speakers see and offering greater tunibility.  Check your wiring and grounds
13 years ago
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volvotom
Posts: 2045 - Karma: 712
now it seems like a crossover issue.
13 years ago
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tBatt
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 580
I didn't wire in any crossovers. I don't even know if there are stock crossovers.
13 years ago
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grown-ninja
Posts: 3031 - Karma: 175
sounds like a waste of money.
13 years ago
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steezypink21
Posts: 135 - Karma: 17
Thats the problem, the Alpine 610c's are component speakers.  Component speakers generally have separate woofers and tweeters, and require an active, or passive crossover, or an 4 channel amp with the woofers and tweeters wired separately to each channel and correct tuning on the amp's eq.  Your speakers will probably have a passive crossover which usually looks like a small black box that's separate from the speaker or a little box on the back of the speaker with connections to hook the tweeter too.  It is absolutely critical that component systems are wired and tuned right, because if they arent one generally gets dim sound at low volumes, or blows up their tweeters.  I'd double check your wiring once again.     
13 years ago
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tBatt
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 580
Why would you fly to Jackson Hole when you can just ski Huntah?
Sounds like a waste of money.

Besides, If they can't hear my radio over my 5" axleback exhaust and don't see my 36" tall spoiler, then how will they know how fast my civic is?

Now that that is out of the way,
My stock system is a component system. 6.5" woofer in the door, 1" tweeter in the sail panel.

Currently, the only thing I have changed is putting in the new 6.5" door speakers, which involved plugging in a harness so the Alpines will fit the civic harness.

Before:
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Click for larger image

After:
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Connections are tight, positive and negative terminals can't be switched due to size differences.

I'm thinking the problem is that the rear speakers (and probably stock) have a 92dB sensitivity and the fronts are 88dB.

So now my question is, if I run everything off of only one amp, am I still going to have the same problem due to the sensitivity differences?
13 years ago
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tBatt
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 580
Well, I just pulled my HU and tapped the speaker directly into the wiring that comes out of the back of it. Sounded exactly the same.

I'm thinking I need to get an amp...
or a more efficient speaker.
13 years ago
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