did i blow my alpines on the first day?
 

(preface: i just want good loud mids. i don't want booming bass, i don't want highs. i just want ear shattering midtones like you are standing infront of johnny ramone's guitar amp, and good resonance on tom-toms.)

For the past 5 years I have been dealing with factory speaker and blew one REALLY bad so figured time to update them. I wanted to get 4 alpines, but the ones I wanted they only had 1 pair, so I went with one pair, and do the back pair later on.

I mainly listen to metal, rock, punk, indie-alternative, and then everything else the rest of the time, i have a factory deck (I want to keep it that way so it doesn't get stolen. I've had 3 decks stolen already) and all my tunes are on an iPod through an aux line.

I came home and decided to push the speakers to see how well they perform, I put on demon hunter's new record, and put them at 28 of 31. Drove around a couple songs, and noticed on a chorus the clean vocals had some static. When I got home i noticed it was coming from the brand new alpines.

I tried some good Midtone rock, I play ac/dc "Shoot To Thrill" and the guitar part at the beginning has some fuzz to it too. It wasn't as clean as it is on my over ear headphones.

Listening to CDs it doesn't seem as apparent the mix is good, the drums have depth, guitars are front and center, and loud. but the iPod definitely sounds... grainey. What's the deal?

I have had Walmart (legit no name) speakers before with a kenwood deck and it PUT OUT and those were like. 40 dollar Walmart speakers. I had them on a. 300w amp and I don't remember much fuzz or grain. i had them on full blast and didn't notice much distortion or fuzz. the goal is to have the new speakers on full blast and not worry about blowing anything.

Could it even be possible to blow alpine speakers with a factory deck? It just sounds comical to think about.

With CDs it doesn't sound as bad, but the aux input is way hotter than CDs. Is it settings? The iPod? Help!

I'm thinking of going back to the audio place and have the sound guys take a listen. :-/

ps: ipod is all aac m4a in 192-320 kbps, depending on artists, and importance to me... so the digital quality is decent.

First off with AUX input you're losing sound quality right off the bat, and are you not using an amp right now to the speakers? 28/31 volume is pretty high especially without decent power, you'll likely be pushing the speakers into clipping and with boosted EQ it's pretty much guaranteed.

for starters, ever since i've had a "system" i had always done MP3-discs. (you know, 10-15 cds a disc) so,i know good and well what i'm getting into as far as the compression factor.

i really do think this is a clipping level issue, because when i put the ipod EQ to acoustic, or r&b, the distortion gets way worse at about 18 and up (which isnt loud at all, i can talk to passengers fine at that level), when i put it to bass reducer, its minimal at most (still there, though). now, as far as the pure volume or power of the audio.... is an amp *necesary*? or just recommended to completely round out the package? the reason i ask is car 1 (10 years ago) had the "system" car 2, i didnt feel like redoing it so i just had a kenwood deck (50w-x-4 mosfet) and the walmart speakers still in that car too, in the back, and factory speakers in front, fade to back by 3 notches... it still sounded kicking, and i regularly maxed out the volume on it, and no problem.

as far as the problem is described, would it fix matters to just get a decent 50w x 4 deck like i had (reluctantly, of course), and disregard adding the amp? if i sell the vehicle... i just want to minimize the efforts of getting extra crap out. and an amp is... ALOT of hassle to remove. (mine was anyway) i'll have to check if it is 2 or 4 channel.... i can't remember... (it's in storage) i just remember it is 300 watts and had great power.

You can absolutely trash a set of speakers on deck power.

IMO you should consider installing that amp you have and cross the Alpines over at 60-80hz to take out the deepest stuff.

You likely notice the hash in the music because the stock speakers probably didn't have tweeters so their response is going to roll off lower and mask it.

Does the factory deck have a true line-in or how are you connecting the iPod?

It's an aux line in, 3.5mm jack

I would still try to use CD's (even if MP3) when possible. You've said it yourself that you've noticed the difference. I would also amplify the speakers if the budget allows.

Are you running type e, type s, or type r speakers? I've personally found the type R to be leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. I would rather get a customer one set of type R for the fronts versus two pairs of type S. The R's are much more efficient for bass response even with less power. There's also the perk that they can take a tone more power/abuse. No comparison on the high end either.