X-plode speakers

[Alane]

Mornin'
I bought a pair of 350w Ministry of Sound speakers for the back of the 110 so I could hear my mp3 player.

They seem to be a bit quiet!
They're 4 way speaker so they have 2 sets of + and - for the cables, do I need an amp for these.

I know my motor is loud but.....
Many thanks all
Ade

[Satancom]

Most after market cd-players will run a pair of 6x9's without an issue. Its what I have in my landy at the moment! Standard factory fit radios will struggle

[Alane]

I bought a Pioneer head unit from cash convertors (I'm cheap):D but it seems to work well through the speakers in the front.
The only problem is in the rear where I have these.

Good speaker cable needed?

[Jul90]

Many aftermarket radio will run 6x9 speakers, mine, kenwood, runs those, 400W each and a 500W woofer, without an amplifier, even though the bass is a bit low without amp. it seems to hae no problem.

[Mud-Bud]

Have you got the front and rear balance set up? When we did mine, the front was set up with bias, and so we were a bit WTF? until we realised:p Also, what is your head unit rated to run? Mine only runs max of 75Watts, but the speakers are right by your head, so easily audible:D

Oli

[Marc Lurie]

The first thing to check is that your fader setting is set to deliver equal power to front and rear.

If that doesn't correct the problem, then its an incompatability between the speakers and the player.

1) The speakers may be the incorrect impedance for the player. Car audio generally is designed around 4 Ohm speakers. If your speakers are 8 Ohm or 16 Ohm you will have problems. The impedance is usually marked on the back of the magnet of the speaker.

2) The output power of the player might be insufficient to drive the speakers properly. If the speakers are really rated at a genuine 350Watts, you're not going to get much volume with a 15 or 20 Watt player (12dB to 15dB down). In this case, you'll need an amplifier.

Unfortunately , unlike much of the electronics industry, audio equipment manufacturers "stretch" the truth (actually, they flat out lie) when it comes to specifications. Most car audio products are really only 8 or 10 Watt amplifiers even though they get advertised as 45Watts or even higher. Computer speakers are often quoted as being 200W PMPO, but in reality they're seldom more than 18 genuine Watts. PMPO is such a loose term that it actually means NOTHING.

For more explanation type "audio power" into Wikipedia or follow this link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_power).

Cheers,
Marc

[Alane]

It's a Pioneer KEH ????? 4 X 40w

The trouble I have at the moment is when it was put in it wasn't wired straight to the mains so I have to reset all of my sound settings every time I get in.

Another job to do, grrrr

[Satancom]

40w on the stereo will be RMs output, the speakers are probably ratet in uhh i forget the achroname (pmpo maybe). Basically the speakers have A Much lower RMS rating than pmpo, find this number and see if its matched to the stereo :)

Uhh just re-read that and it makes very little sense, doh!

[Mud-Bud]

If it resets each time, it will go to the factory default which almost certainly is equal output through all of the speakers, so you can probably rule that out.

Oli

[Marc Lurie]

40w on the stereo will be RMs output,

Well, not necessarily. The radio says 4 x 40W which is impossible as it implies a total of 160W (just another way that audio manufacturers confuse consumers). A linear amplifier running a genuine 160 Watts at 13.8 Volts will draw around 19 Amps. I can guarantee that the radio isn't drawing anywhere NEAR that.

It's more likely to be around 4 x 10W, but even that's dubious. They really should quote audio power in dBm (but then they wouldn't be able to lie to you and me, would they?)

As for the term "RMS", have a look here (http://www.hifi-writer.com/he/misc/rmspower.htm) for an explanation of why it's a problematic specification. (Although it does make more sense than PMPO)

[Alane]

Now I iz even more confused! I may just spend a few pounds on a good head unit.
I think the reason mine was in cash converters in the first place is that it's pretty old and out of date

[P00DLE]

pioneer head units tend to be pretty good i have always used them.

what sort of wiring do you have to the rear speakers? inferior wiring can make a lot of differance, i would suspect though that you need an amp for those speakers my pioneer head unit says 4 x 45w and will run 2 pairs of 6x9 speakers nicely needs an amp for the 12 inch sub though. could also be that the speakers are poop i dont like sony car audio gear never had much joy with it.

[Alane]

The wiring to the back isn't great, just the normal twinflex but I've had to put a connector block half way through because it wouldn't stretch that far.

I'm now thinking about building a shelf directly behind the rear seats at shoulder level like a normal cars parcel shelf.

[Patriot]

Run good cabling (not the two core mains seen in so many) and check that the speakers are correctly wired, ie:

- The front fade to the front (sometimes the front is not as loud as the back)
- Each speaker is wired correctly +ve to +ve, sounds silly I know but if one is opposite they cancel each other out.
- If they are new they sometimes need a while to 'run in' so to speak.
- Also if they are new do not run them at full power until the have warmed up a bit.
- Also try and make sure they are in some sort of enclosure because if they are in the open they tend to flap and not produce the bass.
- Finally put each one on a short cable to test.

HTH

[Alane]

Absolutely belting up the M20 this evening with my windows open and I could hear it perfectly. I think another problem I had with them was I hadn't attached them into the boxes I'd built.
They were just sitting on top of my bench seats, now they're bolted in they sound OK.
I'll definately get some good cable wired in though.


Oh and when I say belting, I was doing about 50!

[Mud-Bud]

Mine sounded sh*t until i had some boxes around them, as they were just mounted in a piece of mdf, laying on the bonnet with some wires from the stereo shoved in the battery to test if it worked:rolleyes:
All good now though!!

[Satancom]

Mine sounded sh*t until i had some boxes around them, as they were just mounted in a piece of mdf, laying on the bonnet with some wires from the stereo shoved in the battery to test if it worked:rolleyes:
All good now though!!

Totally, the speakers in mine were in my astra years ago, in the parcel shelf. The boot space made a massive speaker enclosure, thats why the work so well in hatch backs. Mine are mounted on a single piece of hardboard and sound poo.. but they do the job :)

[Mud-Bud]

where abouts is the board mounted?

[Satancom]

Shved behind my cubby with the magnets resting on the belkead behind the seats :D

[Mud-Bud]

Haha!! Interesting to see what would happen if the bulkhead was steel:D

[JonathonMarshall]

Nic's got a sony x-plode head unit he had in the pug 306 he used to have in the 90 and until he got the x-plode subs in addition to the tweeters it really did sound naff, not any more though:p...apologies to anyone in a village (don't know which) in Gloustershire who awoke to House of Pain - Jump Around 7:30am August 26th last year:rotfl: ah good times:D