front 4x6's sound funny

[brad_galles16]

The right speaker has bass to it and sounds horrible. The bass cracks. The left speaker doesn't have any bass at all. Just treble. They are rockford fosgates that a friend gave me. They are fairly new. No scratches, holes or anything. What's going on with them??

[brad_galles16]

I just took off the door panel and checked the speakers out and they sound horrible once I turn up the volume...about a quarter of the way up when the bass starts hitting. Does that mean I need an amp to power them?? I have a 250W headunit. Wouldn't that push them enough to have clear bass?? Thanks

[bigd6983]

yes and no. the speakers in your doors arent meant for bass, the bass is just going to distort the voice frequencies, louder you go and the more bass you have the worse it will get. turn the bass on your receiver all the way down(there may be some you dont know of, read the manual) and see if it sounds better, if so thats how you solve it otherwise yes i would recomend an amp with decent high pass crossover controls, mine are tuned to block anything 400 and below, and it works well. hope this helps

[brad_galles16]

Yes that helped. Thank you. The reason I am questioning all this is because I didn't have this problem with the factory speakers. So that made me think that I would need an amp. Is there any way to send all the bass to my subs and have just treble up front?? Thanks

[BLK03GXS]

Well What kind of speakers are they... first off..
Do you have the wireing right now? +??-??

Yes their is a way to direct JUST upper levels to the speakers.. its called a crossover...
If you have an upper model deck you'll have one built in...
My Alpine does

[bigd6983]

yes theres a way, and do what blk03 suggested and check and c if you got the + and - right, i forgot that. but most likely its just too much bass through the speakers and its distorting the trebble that you want to be clear, most amps have crossover settings and most likely your head unit does too, you will have better setting controls with a more expensive deck like blk03 said, the key to quality is not only having the power like most people think, but sending the right frequencies to the right speakers. hope you figure it out

[brad_galles16]

I have a KD-LH3100. It is one of the newer models of the JVC Headunits. Real nice I think but anyway...when you say crossover, you are not talking about the EQ are you?? I can set the front speakers ONLY to play but if I adj the EQ that messes up the bass coming from the subs. If I turn the speakers up real high they sound alright but halfway up they are distorted with bass. I checked the + - and they are correct. Thanks for the help so far

[brad_galles16]

I have a KD-LH3100. It is one of the newer models of the JVC Headunits. Real nice I think but anyway...when you say crossover, you are not talking about the EQ are you?? I can set the front speakers ONLY to play but if I adj the EQ that messes up the bass coming from the subs. If I turn the speakers up real high they sound alright but halfway up they are distorted with bass. I checked the + - and they are correct. Thanks for the help so far.
Oh yea...the speakers are Rockford Fosgates

[BLK03GXS]

I am familier wit that deck...
An "EQ" is kinda like a crossover... that will let you limit the low freq to the speakers, also make sure that you have any "Bass boost" or "loud" garbage turned off...
What series speakers are they? are they just coaxials or are they componants? if they are componants do the have adj crossovers?

If the eq is playing with the sub then you prolly have the rca's to your sub amp hooked into the rear speaker out or front speaker outs... if this is the case turn the system up and fade front and rear... see if the subs cutt out.. if they do then the subs are attached to the wrong rca's. My buddy had a deck like yours.. i put a Alpine r12 in his tunk, i dont think the Eq played with the sub... that i can remember.. so it may be a connection issue...
Basicly you want to adjust the Eq so that the "sliders" on the left are down... cutting the bass out to the speakers.. and then tune your sub to make up the diff...
I would suggest turning off your sub amp alltogether... as it is only going to hinder tuning the speakers.... And then adjusting your deck at max volume to a point where without subs you are getting the most low end out of your speakers that you can without any crappin out...and then adjust the subs

Oh and btw were these new speakers? and if so were they broken in first... or did you just slapp em im and blast your fav song right off the bat?

[brad_galles16]

The speakers I got were from a freind. He just got them but gave them to me cause he didn't need them anymore. I don't know what series they are because he just brought them over one day without a box or anything like that. I will ask him today at school and see if he knows. I'll check out everything you said and I really appreciate it.
Oh...and when I got them...I didn't crank up the volume with them or anything cause when I turned it up a little I heard the distortion and tryed to figure out what was going on. What I don't understand is...my back speakers don't have any problems. They are pioneer 250W 6x5's and they sound good. I don't see why I should have a problem with the front if the back is just fine. Pretty confusing!! Well...thanks for the help

[brad_galles16]

I meant 6x9's in the back.

[dopey]

the speakers are blown.......... thats why they sound like crap

[brad_galles16]

How can you tell if they are blown?? Some say I need an amp cause it is just the bass that sounds distorted. They are pretty new. The treble sounds great.

[BLK03GXS]

UNFORUNATLY Sweet is right :P ... usually when you blow a coaxial speaker the Woofer go's... not the tweeter.. takes a lot to blow a tweeter.. simply because you dont drive around with the treble cranked...
USUALLY its bass...lol
if you havent run wires directly to the speakers from the deck yet, try that too... could be bad wireing.. but they are most likley blown.
It may have been said allready.. take em out.. and push gently on the cone..
If you feel any scratchyness... or it makes poping noises during the throw of the cone they're fryed :ph34r:

Thats the laymans way... the tech way is to take an ohm meter and put one to positive one to neg, and see what the resistance of the speaker is...
If its anything other than what the spec for the speaker is, the voice coil is fryed...(they arent allways EXACTLY 4ohms... but it will be close...)
And even if it reads 4, move the cone in and out.. see if it drops to 0 or changes... could still be damaged coil..

[bigd6983]

another way to check if a speaker is blown is to pop it......meaning hook the speaker up to a battery such as one from a cordless drill, it will pop the speaker it wont harm it, it will just let you know that it is or isnt blown. and your speaker prolly is blown but also 6x9's can handle bass more than the stock 4x6's can, but more than likely they are blown. get some new ones lol

[brad_galles16]

Thanks for the help. I agree with yall....they are blown!! After messin' with them for the past couple of days and listening to all the distortion...I am sure they are blown. I just wanted to make sure because I DID get them FREE from a freind. Thanks for all the help. I'll just hook up the factory speakers again 'till I get some NEW ones. :D Actually...the factory ain't really that bad either. Anyway...thanks