Odd car audio question

[old#7]

OK, to start off it seems to me that my door speakers are playing to loud than they should. I first replaced just the speakers (Cerwin-Vega 3 ways) with the stock HU and they were fine. But once I got a new HU (Alpine 7893) they seemed to be playing louder than they should. The volume really jumps up from notch to notch and i can't stand getting it higher than a volume level of 10 (out of 30). I have a friend with the same HU and his doesn't seem nearly as loud as mine at the same setting. I was wandering if anyone has any suggestions as to what the problem is or if it's just something I'll have to deal with. Thanks for the help.

 

[DrPhibes]

Sounds to me like your new HU is overdriving the factory amp. This assumes you have connected directly to your in-dash wiring via an adapter. If the head unit was connected directly to your speakers this would probably aleviate the problem. If you are comfortable with finding and splicing wires in your truck, the speaker wiring can be tapped at a connector behind the kick panel. LF, LR, and RF can be tapped under the passenger side kick panel. Left rear factory wiring has been a problem to find so I generally wire that one separately.

Tom

 

[Redrig]

i have the same hu with no factory amp atleast i dont think i do? anyway i have 2 pioneers and 2 boston acoustics. and volume no. 15 is extremely load but good. anymore volume wont cut it. so to add a question here is it to much for speakers or not enough.

 

[mohog]

i have the exact same problem with my speakers powered by roughly the same alpine hu. i think one model under. my question is that i thought the amp for the speakers is by where your rear window washer fluid/ car jack is. are you saying that there is an amp in each door?

 

[DrPhibes]

There is a single amplifier behind the rear panel on the opposite (passenger) side. Did your factory head unit have 2 connectors on the harness? (one single strip gray, and the other square black)?

Tom

 

[mohog]

i think it did, i don't really remember.

 

[old#7]

Thanks for the responses so far, at least I'm not the only one in this situation. But one quick question. Are you basically saying that I'll have to bypass the factory amp to get rid of this?

 

[old#7]

Actually, would it just be easier to run new speaker wire from my HU directly to the door speakers?

 

[rydinhigh]

Actually call up crutchfield tell them you need an amp bypass harness for you truck send them $15. Recieve amp bypass harness, undo the two screws under the carpet holding the plastic molding down, undo some of the little pop things, install amp bypass harness and be done with it.

 

[huskyfan23]

Does everyone have a factory amp? I didn't use a harness but I still connected all the wires. I have a '94 XLT w/ non-cd player. At 3 my sound is incredibly loud but at 2 it's a lot less. It's strange how that one jump up will make it so much louder. With your question it may be because your new HU has more power then your factory HU, and obviously better sound.

 

[mohog]

not just louder but distorts easier. i thought the amp was by where the carjack was

 

[DrPhibes]

If you search " factory amp location" on the board, you will get more info than you probably wanted to know about it. Chances are, if your new head unit was wired into a premium sound system harness, it was not done with the necessary level reduction circuitry (small black box) in line with the speaker harness. The factory amps were not mean't to see the kind of output voltage your new head unit is pumping (overdriving amp). If you have a high power head unit, you certainly don't wan't that factory amp in the mix anyway

Here is a site with wiring info, if it is any help to you:

Dead Link Removed

Tom

 

[mohog]

thanks i'll try that

 

[mohog]

i found the perfect site http://carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalFordExplorerFrntDrPnl.htm
only it says that the speaker sizes are 5x7s and everyone else has been saying that they're 6x8s.

 

[metalhed]

They're the same size.. Dunno why they have two different names, but they both fit in the stock location.

 

[ShadowA2J]

Some 6x8s wont fit. Only buy 6x8s for your explorer if they're listed as a 5x7/6x8. If its listed as just a 6x8 it probably wont fit. 5x7 and 6x8 have the same plate, but the stocks are actually 6x8's.

 

[old#7]

Thanks a lot for all the help. I just got done ordering an amp bypass kit from Crutchfield so hopefully I'll be done with this by this weekend.

 

[izackary]

this a bad thing??? if you're looking up door speakers, make sure you don't get ones that are too deep. the last thing you need there is to put them in, install the door panels, then go out for a sunny ride, try and lower the window, and get i wonderful gash on the glass from a bigass speaker magnet!

 

[mohog]

are you talking about the 6x8s

 

[izackary]

yeah. i think the clearances (for 2nd gen 4-door at least) are 2-9/16" in the front doors, and 2-7/16" in the rear doors. but don't take my word for it....in fact i just found my old crutchfield from when they still printed speaker guides...a '94 is actually even better: 3.5 inches up front and 4 inches in back. i doubt there's many if any speakers that deep so i'd say go for whatever you want. for best efficiency, i'd reccomend dynomat in the doors, or at least foam baffles that crutchfield carries... i'm getting baffles shortly for my front doors, only because the lip around the speaker mount is smaller than the original ones, and it leaves a slight gap, killing my efficiency! and the better your efficiency is, (i.e. less sound leaking outside the truck, etc, and keeping it inside where YOUR ears are) the fuller and richer your sound is.