see there are many ways to set up a system...oh, and before you start messing with settings, turn the volume down!!

 

Turn down the amplifier's gains as well, to zero. If there's a switch to select High Pass Filter (HPF) on the amp, set it at that. And start with your dial set at 100Hz. Then slowly bring it down, towards 50 until the speakers (whatever you end up getting) start distorting. Different speakers will result in a different cross-over. If you want more volume out of them, then, you can bring the gains up a little. But be prepared to bring the cross-over on the HPF back up, as the speakers may not be able to handle those lower frequencies with more amplification. I run with gains at zero, and the HPF set at 60Hz. But my Alpine head-unit lets me control its built in cross-overs as well, including slope...

Some head-units send a crappy signal at their high(est) volume levels. What ever you have, turn the volume up to 80% of full. Now you'll use the gains on the amp to get more volume. If you have a head-unit that sends a deteriorated signal at a high volume setting, your amplifier will amplifier that distortion too.

 

yeah... so they aren't blown. Just made a rookie mistake of running the remote wire by the RCA's. The RCA cables I have aren't the highest end, so there was alot of interference coming from it. I ran the RCA's down the opposite side of the car, and everything sounds amazing.. again, thank god. But I still can't seem to get the bass from the speakers I was hoping for. But the sub takes care of it. I must say, I'm rather suprised in the difference that small amp made to the speakers. They are able to withstand much louder volumes and stay crystal clear. Finally, the sub doesnt drown the highs/mids out when I crank it. But I'm going to take the advice on getting some components for the front and 2-ways for the rear down the road.. after I do my research and save the $$$. But again, thanks everyone for helping me threw this!

 

Glad to hear! I felt a little guilty when you posted that your speakers were pooched.

I'm not sure why you'd lose bass. My guess would be that the slope of the cross-over is rather steep. Meaning that it cuts out the lower frequencies faster than the head-unit alone does.

You could try running the amp without the high pass filter. You'd set the switch to full, off, or what have you - different amps refer to filterless operation in different ways. Again, keep your volume and gains down if you decide to do this. In this case, you'd use the parameters of the deck's EQ to control which, and how, frequencies are going to the amplifier.

You should, at the least, be able to get the same bass out of those speakers as you were before.

 

well im back again, with some more problems.. this just doesnt seem to end. So everything was working great, crisp clear sound coming from the speakers and the sub was hitting like a 15 should until I heard it again, that crackling sound (interference?).. everything seems to run great when I first get in the car after it's been off for a while, but about 15-20 minutes into the ride the crackling begins. Right now I have a 4ga and 8ga running down the driver side, under the running boards. Along with them, the remote wire is running through there too.. but I made sure to push it down about 3inches deeper under the carpet (pretty much running on the floor) so it wouldnt be touching the power wires. I have my sub amp RCA's running under the left side of my console and my speakers amp RCA's under the right side (passenger). All grounds are firmly secure along with the connections (everything is heat shrunk). Does anyone have ANY suggestions to what this could be? and how I can make it stop!?

 

Try leaving your volume at half, and see how long it takes for this 'crackling' to occur again. If at all. I'm wondering if the speakers are getting over-worked and are starting to distort/clip.

Its hard to say when we can't actually hear what you're hearing. Are all the speakers making that noise? Or just a particular pair?

Does it sound like its a physical thing happening at the speakers? Or an electronically based sound? (Wow, I'm making a lot of sense here.)

 

haha no I kinda get what you're tryin to say. And I believe it's more of an electrical thing because my highs and most of my mids stay crystal clear.. its just when the bass lines or certain mid-low tones occur that the static seems to occur. One thing that I did try is singaling out the speakers one at a time when this static is present. When I do this it seems to dissapear and retain the clarity?? I don't know if that means anything.

 

You never did post what brand and model of speakers you're using.

Try disconnected the rear speakers from the amp. This'll bring your load back to 4 ohms since you'll only be running the fronts. See if that solves anything. Try again while only having the rears wired to the amp.

You shouldn't be able to fade front to back, only left to right... Unless you've wired your fronts on the left/right channel, and the rear speakers on the other. If you can actually single out each speaker, then the wiring isn't correct. By running two speakers on one channel, the minimum you should have playing by moving the balance all the way to the right or left, is two speakers.

 

the speakers are pioneer. rear ones are TS-A6972R and the front ones are TS-A1672R.. Could this noise be caused by the RCA's? should I invest in higher quality ones for the speakers?

 

are you sure it's not mechanical rattling, buzzing from the surrounding area around the speakers. many times when more power is applied to the speakers, the typical installation area (not properly sound deadened or having good mounting plates) will make a lot of noise from vibrations. You say individually the speakers sound fine, and only with certain low notes and all speakers working that you get the noise...sounds like mounting area resonance could be the culprit as more energy (sound) is causing the body panels, metal, plastics, etc.. to resonate.