A few weeks ago my factory head unit died. Brought it into an audio shop and had a new aftermarket deck installed. I had made a thread here about how poor the audio quality was and reached the conclusion that my best bet would be to get aftermarket speakers.

I hit up Crutchfield and ordered a pair of polk audio speakers for the front and eclipse for the back. Popped off the door panels and went to go install the front speakers. I installed on of the polks in the door and went to give it a quick test (left speaker factory installed - polk on the right at this moment.) Now initially I figured the reason I had such poor audio quality after the deck install was because the factory speakers were poor. Not exactly. The front speakers aren't even working. The reason it sounded so bad was because after the deck install...only the tweeters were running in the front. I'm positive now that has been the case since the new deck install.

At first I figured maybe they just didn't reconnect the front speakers right...so I took out the deck. Nope...everything looks to be connected fine.

Now they did bypass my factory amp when installing the aftermarket deck - but would that have anything to do with as to why the front speakers aren't working? I'm new to this...so I'm having trouble understanding what the problem could be.

I have a 8 hour road trip coming up in 6 days...really hoping I can get these new speakers installed correctly before then. Thanks in advance..

 

im not posative on how you factory amp worked. but my factory one came with "effectivly" a crossover, that was internal. i ended up running new wire from you sorce to the speakers.


lamens terms. the amp was 4 channel, it should of had four sets of speaker wires coming out, but there were more. not sure if it was 6 or 8 sets.


like i said b4 im not sure if yours was the same as mine but i wasnt getting any "bass at all out of my 6x9s. seems like the same deal.

not sure how you fix that besides running the new wires, cause i have no clue how they bypassed your factory amp. they must of did a lot of guess work, and not enough homework.

hope that helps.





also after reading your post twice im not sure weather your just getting highs or nothing at all??????????????????

did you check all your settings??? fade, high/low filters.

i cant believe you got it professionally installed and didnt listen to it b4 you drove away. none the less they should fix it for free.

 

Sucks that it took you a few weeks to figure out the speakers weren't working, doubt they'd fix it on their dime now since it's been so long. If you run new speaker wire from the deck to your door speakers then your problem will be solved.

 

Oh no - I most definitely did listen to it before I drove away. I even went back inside and asked them why it sounded like such crap. The tech that installed my deck came back out to my car with me and adjusted some of the levels. He told me it sounded poor because 1) the factory speakers were only receiving 2 OHMS and the deck was putting out 4 OHMS and 2) because the factory amp was no longer being used. I'm new to car audio...so I believed him. Not sure if he was intentionally lying to try and sell me new speakers or if it was an honest mistake.

The front tweeter is separate from the factory speaker. The tweeter is working but the main speaker is not. I didn't even know they were split until I took the door panels off (told you I'm new to this :p.) The front speakers are not working at all - and now I'm positive they haven't been since I had the deck installed since the sound from the tweeters (which I thought were the crap speakers) sounds the same then as it does now.

Installed the rear speakers and they're working great...so thats a plus. Now I just gotta get those fronts working. Obviously since It's been 2 weeks and I have done some of my own work I'm sure they won't do it for free...I just wanted to check and see if there was anything I might be able to figure out before I took it back in.

Thanks for the comments guys...I'm learning...slowly.

 

first off, most ppl in sales are trying to sell you something. but its not all for the sale. they want you to be happy with the way your system sounds.

the 2 ohm thing is true.
they would only be recieving half the power. but i think aftermarket decks were rated at 2 ohms. not posative.



so you had factory tweeters??? maybe your wired to your factory tweets instead of your speakers.

or your new speakers came with seperate tweets???


can you tell us what the model number of the speakers you got or a picture.



oh ya and the sounding like crap thing might be your settings. front speakers, unless there nice components wont take that much bass at higher volumes. they also wont accuratley play frequencies under 80 hrtz.{lower bass}


can i ask where you got it done at. im sure i wont know the place but its worth a try. some dealers have bad reputations.



oh ya and running new wire from the deck, through the gromet in the door hinge will solve all your problems and give you better sound then the tiny stock wiring going to the trunk and back.

 

Ok, this is kinda what happened to me.... I put in all new aftermarket speakers and after a couple days they would just not work, first the front ones, then the back. Turned out that the factory amp did not have the power to power the higher watt speakers so it started dropping them once it got to that point (if that makes sense). But you also said that they bipassed the factory amp for your front speakers??? Well that would make me to believe that you would need an aftermarket amp installed to run them then, which they might have done so you spend more money there by having to put that in. If you feel ambicious, dont waste your time with them and disconnect your back speakers to, and run all four off an aftermarket amp... completely bypassing the factory amp. It sounds like a lot of work, but its not and its def worth it, I could send you the wiring diagram to do this if you wanted to go that route. The sound quality will be a lot better to out of your aftermarket speakers!

 

Like I said before, run new speaker wire to your front speakers and your problem will be solved!

And just so you know going forward, speakers don't "get 2 ohms"....speakers are rated at a level of resistance, 4 ohm, 2 ohm, etc., an amp (either external or internal like on a deck) does not "put out 4 ohms"....the level of resistance measured in ohms is dictated by the impedance (ohm rating) of the speaker on each channel. An amp "see's" the impedance of the speakers that are connected to it. So if you have an amp that does it's rated power @ 4 ohms (like all aftermarket decks) and you put a 2 ohm speaker on it chance are it's going to be a little louder than if you had a 4 ohm speaker on it because there is less resistance with the lower impedance speaker. I'm not 100% sure that the amp in a deck works that way, it may just be the same but it definitely won't be quieter unless you damage the deck due to the low impedance you put on it.

So what that guy meant was "your speakers are 2 ohms and your deck is rated at 4 ohms so that has something to do with your problem." We don't know if the front speakers stopped working right then and there because you weren't able to confirm them not working until the other day, but the fact that he didn't pull the deck to confirm everything was connected right and to "pop" the speakers is half a*sed on his part.

The fact that the factory deck wasn't being used anymore means nothing because that amp is rated at 200 watts max, which is 50 x 4....that number should look familiar cause it's printed on most aftermarket decks nowadays.....see where i'm going with this? So a good aftermarket deck will put out about the same power as our factory amp, just at a higher impedance so you should change out your factory speakers when putting in a new deck so it "see's" the right impedance because depending on the amp it could decrease output or damage the amp. I know when I put in aftermarket speakers on my factory amp/deck the output was significantly decreased...it sounded better due to more efficient speakers but it wasn't as loud because the impedance was 4 ohms instead of 2.

So he wasn't blowing steam or trying to get your for something you didn't need, but that was only part of it and he should have doubled checked his work to get the other part.

When you use a factory harness, there's only 4 sets of speaker wire to connect to so that tells me the tweets are either in series or parallel with the door speakers cause there's only front left and right, rear left and right. I'm having a hard time understanding how only the tweets would work but the mids won't. Very strange. But since he's got new speakers for the fronts, coax i'm sure, he can simply run new wire to each of the new front speakers and it's a done deal. I mean, we could get into a whole troubleshooting instructional but he wants to get his fronts working, rewire them and they'll work!

Aftermarket decks are rated @ 4 ohms BTW.

I can almost guarantee you he's got coax speakers front and back so I doubt he would need an external amp to run them. I think the problem is between the harness and the speaker because I'm positive they wouldn't have taken the door panels off to install a deck. Still stumped at how the tweets are working but not the mids, but it's a moot point cause if he just runs a new wire to each front speaker he'd be good to go.

 

Yes...There was a factory speaker installed and separately about two inches above is the factory tweeter. Tweeter is working - but the speakers are not. Do the tweeters and speakers share the same connection/wiring/power source? The reason the speakers sounded like crap was because they weren't working...all I was hearing were the separate tweeters.

My new speakers are 6 1/2 Polk Audios - http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DB65...51s.html?tp=95

The place I had install my deck (JVC KD R210) was done by Installations Unlimited. I believe it's only in Syracuse, NY but I'm not positive.

I'm bringing my car into Installations Unlimited tomorrow at 10AM to have them install the Polk Audios in the front.

 

Lot of good information here - thanks, I appreciate it. Now I know what my mom felt like when she would try to watch a football game with me. I'm having the speakers rewired and installed tomorrow and hopefully then its a done deal.

My deck is rated at 4ohms and 50W x 4.

Like I said - I installed the rears and I'm very happy with the quality. Much happier with them over the factory set. I don't think I'll have to worry about an amp (at least for the sound I'm looking for.)

 

If a shop messed up something as simple as a deck install, best believe the only way I'd be going back there is if they were doing something under warranty! And even then I'd be hesitant!! But good luck to you, hope it all works out.