Wojtek

Couple days ago I replaced my stock speakers (20W RMS Onkyo from a '96 Hyundai Accent) with aftermarket pioneer premier ones.

Front: TS-D402P 4" 25w rms
Rear: TS-D602P 6.5" 60w rms

Headunit: DEH-P680MP

I have to say I'm disappointed. The bass is just awful.

Previously with my stock speakers, at 20 volume, with 'powerfull' eq preset, mid loudness and bass at +2, the sound was perfect with solid bass. At 30 volume it got a bit distorted but good enough to be heard when driving on the highway.

Now with the new speakers, the bass is so bad, I have to set eq to flat, loudness off, bass +0 to be able to listen. Otherwise as soon as the bass part of a song starts, it gets so distorted its unlistenable. Though when it's the part of a song with no bass I can crank up the volume to 50 and the sound is still crystal clear. But when the bass starts I have to bring back the volume to 20, and it's still distorted, even at low volume.

I need to set the highpass filter on my headunit to 125Hz to be able to listen at the level I used to before, though now with almost no bass.

Is it normal that this is happening? It feels more like a downgrade then an upgrade from the stock speakers I had.
Are all aftermarket speakers only designed to be matched for a subwoofer for the bass?

Right now all 4 speakers are ran from the headunit's 22W rms aplifier so the rear are 38W underpowered. But I was expecting at least on-par bass as my old stock hyundai speakers.

MTT

iTrader: (17)

How much bass were expecting from a 6.5 and 4inch?
there are no magic speakers, there are no speakers that do everything perfectly, you gave up some bass to gain clarity and power handling.
I can recommend speakers that will have way better bass than your stockers, but you will lose high end clarity....stock speakers try to do everything "fairly well".....you need to decide exactly what you are looking for a speaker to do for you, and if your goals are realistic (laws of physics and electricity) then with some help and some research you CAN be happier.

Wojtek

I really wasn't sure what to expect being it's the first time I changed car speakers. I just bought them since they were the priciest in pioneer's lineup, so they had to be better. hehe
I though maybe they would do everything 'fairly better' then stock, highs and lows.

I'll be putting a subwoofer in there as well so it's not such a big deal. I just wanted to know if that was normal.

MTT

iTrader: (17)

yes, it's normal to be disappointed with aftermarket speakers' bass response.

you could try reversing the phase(+-) (one at a time) on them to see if it improves at all, the improvement will only be slight if any...but worth a shot.

not knowing the T/s parameters for either set of speakers it's hard for me to give any other advice, did you deaden the doors at all?....is the air space behind the speaker completely separated from the front?....

Wojtek

I did try reversing the +/- of the speakers at first thinking the factory power/ground wires were reversed or something, but it made no difference.

The front doors have this plastic membrane that covers the whole metal door panel (excluding the speaker cutout) so the front/back seems separated. As for the back speakers, they're installed on the back deck where the stop light is, and again they're separated but not as air tight as the front since the back seats can be folded.

I did not purchase any sound deadening material. I though it was only for subwoofers to stop the ratting of panels.

What do you mean by T/S parameters?
The speakers did not come with any technical information sheet like my subwoofer did (fs/qts/vas, etc). Only a cutout template and installation pictograms in the middle. The box itself merely reprints the information from the website:
http://www.pioneerelectronics.ca/POC...TS-D402P?tab=B
http://www.pioneerelectronics.ca/POC...TS-D602P?tab=B

MTT

iTrader: (17)

These should sound decent, I wouldn't expect much bass at all, I'm assuming the stock speakers weren't coaxial?, the rear speakers were probably something more closely resembling a midbass whereas the ones you have now would have a real hard time on midbass duty.

the fact that they are coaxial and have a "pole" in the middle reduces effective cone area by somewhere between 3/4 and one inch making them effectively a 3 inch and a 5.5 inch.

once you have the subs in you can decide what to do, but I'd recommend moving the 6.5's to the front if you can, and trying to get your money back on the 4 inchers, if rearfill is what you're after then get something back there that doesn't have a tweeter in the middle of it and is meant more for the application you need it for.

Wojtek

I just noticed, but those specs on the website say this:

Built-in Passive Crossover: -12dB/Oct. LPF/HPF, with Acrylic Cover

But it doesn't mention the frequency. Could it be that that's the thing that cuts my bass?

I've made a few shots in case you might want to look at it:



There doesn't seem to be any adjustment or on/off switches.


So they're basically oversized tweeters?

I'm basically after sound quality. If the ones I have now + the sub are enough then that's fine. I've ordered some bass blockers (800Hz front, 180Hz rear) to get rid of the distortion of the 4 speakers and only have the bass through the subwoofer.

In your opinion, would amplifying the rear speakers make much of a difference?


BTW, here's a few pics of the old rears:

Sasha

iTrader: (10)

Hey, I think that if you dont have to jack any settings up as much, Pioneers are better. It's a different speaker, so it's different tuning. Don't get dissapointed with results of direct swap, cause you're not comparing apples to apples here, just adjust the settings properly with these speakers.

I agree with MTT on all counts too. And amplifying the front not rear would be better, cause you could run rear from deck power and fade them in and out accordingly, or amp all speakers. A sub would help a LOT.

Wojtek

MTT, would those speakers (Link) produce better bass then my current 6.5" (Link)?

Or what would you suggest for good midbass?

Sasha

iTrader: (10)

Just get these ones for the front if you can, and be done with it.

Pioneer of Canada - English - PRS Series Speakers

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-PIONEER-TS-C720PRS-6-3-4-CAR-COMPONENT-SPEAKERS_W0QQitemZ160286183144QQcmdZViewItem?hash= item160286183144&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A7|24 0%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14