Bad midrange speakers? Upgrade?

[Ickabod]

I would highly recommend this Kicker dash speakers. I replaced mine on my 1500 and 2500 as soon as I got the trucks. Makes a big difference in the front sound. Just FYI, I did have to switch polarity on the left speaker in my 1500.

 

[RedRaider91]

I would highly recommend this Kicker dash speakers. I replaced mine on my 1500 and 2500 as soon as I got the trucks. Makes a big difference in the front sound. Just FYI, I did have to switch polarity on the left speaker in my 1500.

Thanks for the recommendation!

And it seems like every time I think I’ve got this all down and figured out, I get tripped up by something new.

It’s polarity this time. If I’m buying the 2 lower front doors (4 ohms) and the dash speakers (also 4 ohms) and the metra wiring harness, will I need to reverse the polarity? Or is it fine to just plug them in and go?

 

[Brunzca]

Thanks for the recommendation!

And it seems like every time I think I’ve got this all down and figured out, I get tripped up by something new.

It’s polarity this time. If I’m buying the 2 lower front doors (4 ohms) and the dash speakers (also 4 ohms) and the metra wiring harness, will I need to reverse the polarity? Or is it fine to just plug them in and go?

some people find that there are polarity issues, some don’t. Mine matched with and without the harnesses.
FYI - CDT offers 2 ohm versions of 6x9 and 6.5, so that would give you some extra power in the doors

 

[RedRaider91]

some people find that there are polarity issues, some don’t. Mine matched with and without the harnesses.
FYI - CDT offers 2 ohm versions of 6x9 and 6.5, so that would give you some extra power in the doors

I’m still open to do the CDT’s but I’m unsure if the factory amp would send enough to them to make it worth it.

How will I know if the polarity is matched up or not?

And does using the harness change the polarity?

This is all new to me

 

[Brunzca]

I’m still open to do the CDT’s but I’m unsure if the factory amp would send enough to them to make it worth it.

How will I know if the polarity is matched up or not?

And does using the harness change the polarity?

This is all new to me

The cdt cl-69s has RMS of 80watts. If the wattage to the stock (4 ohm) door speakers is ~ 30 watts, wattage to 2ohm speakers should be ~ 60 watts, plenty to push them. quite a few guys on here have done a speaker switch to those, with no additional amplification.
All the factory speaker wires are a solid color wire (positive) and another of the same color with a black stripe (negative). Ex - front left door is yellow / yellow black. the harness has white and white/black wires. So, the yellow should match up to the white and yellow/black should match up to white/black. On your new speaker, white goes To Positive, white/black goes to negative. If they DONT match up, you have to switch the wires in the harness, or just direct wire to the speaker.

 

[RedRaider91]

The cdt cl-69s has RMS of 80watts. If the wattage to the stock (4 ohm) door speakers is ~ 30 watts, wattage to 2ohm speakers should be ~ 60 watts, plenty to push them. quite a few guys on here have done a speaker switch to those, with no additional amplification.
All the factory speaker wires are a solid color wire (positive) and another of the same color with a black stripe (negative). Ex - front left door is yellow / yellow black. the harness has white and white/black wires. So, the yellow should match up to the white and yellow/black should match up to white/black. On your new speaker, white goes To Positive, white/black goes to negative. If they DONT match up, you have to switch the wires in the harness, or just direct wire to the speaker.

Got ya! Thanks that’s very helpful.

Is there a reason to ever switch the wiring? I hear about guys reversing the polarity and the only thing in my mind that makes that make sense would be wiring yellow to white/black as an example

 

[Brunzca]

Got ya! Thanks that’s very helpful.

Is there a reason to ever switch the wiring? I hear about guys reversing the polarity and the only thing in my mind that makes that make sense would be wiring yellow to white/black as an example

When you are measuring the frequency response and tuning the speakers/system, you sometimes come across dips/peaks that you can’t equalize, and that may be caused by a polarity issue. Some DSPs actually have a feature that you can reverse the polarity on an individual speaker without re-wiring, for this reason. the sound is really only noticeably different when thepolarity is reversed on subs/mid bass.
if the polarity Is correct,the speaker pushes outward when provided power (think when the bass hits). If it is reversed, the speaker pushes inwards.

 

[RedRaider91]

Man that’s interesting and sounds way too complicated for my smallish brain. I’ll just go with plug in correctly and hope for the best. Thanks again

 

[Brunzca]

Man that’s interesting and sounds way too complicated for my smallish brain. I’ll just go with plug in correctly and hope for the best. Thanks again

Just match solid Color to solid color, and you are fine. Should just be plug and play

 

[RedRaider91]

Just match solid Color to solid color, and you are fine. Should just be plug and play

Can’t thank you enough. This is not my forte so I greatly appreciate the help and insight

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

I know most speakers on Crutchfield are 4 ohm. There is a reason most people go with CDT speakers in the doors and Infiniti in the dash. They match the ohm rating, being more efficient and produce more sound.

There is a whole section on electronics in this forum with gobs of information. Much more than this General Discussion section.

 

[Ickabod]

Got ya! Thanks that’s very helpful.

Is there a reason to ever switch the wiring? I hear about guys reversing the polarity and the only thing in my mind that makes that make sense would be wiring yellow to white/black as an example

I had heard of people saying the polarity was switch, so I bought this cheap tester and found that one of my speakers was switched, so I swapped the wires on my harness. All was pretty simple. I really couldn't tell the difference of switching the wires, but the speakers did make a big difference in clarity up front.

 

[RedRaider91]

Hey guys sorry to bring this all back up, but I just replaced my dash corner speakers with the CS kickers. Haven’t really had a chance to test them thoroughly, but after running some quick music through them I noticed the tweeter is good, but the outer woofer part isn’t moving much (or at all). I was expecting it to produce (move and flex) for than it does. Was my expectation wrong? Is this a power issue?

I’ve wired them both ways and it didn’t change. Maybe I was expecting to audibly hear the bass and that’s not correct.

Any idea?

 

[GMetal]

Hey guys sorry to bring this all back up, but I just replaced my dash corner speakers with the CS kickers. Haven’t really had a chance to test them thoroughly, but after running some quick music through them I noticed the tweeter is good, but the outer woofer part isn’t moving much (or at all). I was expecting it to produce (move and flex) for than it does. Was my expectation wrong? Is this a power issue?

I’ve wired them both ways and it didn’t change. Maybe I was expecting to audibly hear the bass and that’s not correct.

Any idea?

Bass frequencies are cut off to the dash speakers. Should only be midrange and tweeter fequencies.

 

[CalvinC]

Put on a nice podcast. Vocals should get the woofer portion moving. If not try hooking it up to some other source, like a home stereo, by itself (low volume) to test.

 

[RedRaider91]

Bass frequencies are cut off to the dash speakers. Should only be midrange and tweeter fequencies.

Ok well I guess I don’t know what “midrange” sounds like haha. It’s not odd that the woofer cone doesn’t move at all even a high volume and midrange turned up high?

 

[Brunzca]

Ok well I guess I don’t know what “midrange” sounds like haha. It’s not odd that the woofer cone doesn’t move at all even a high volume and midrange turned up high?

No..the woofer part ( the surrround) will only move to create low frequency sounds. Thus why subwoofers flex so much. mid range/tweeter level sound is ”dispersed“ from the cone in the middle

 

[RedRaider91]

No..the woofer part ( the surrround) will only move to create low frequency sounds. Thus why subwoofers flex so much. mid range/tweeter level sound is ”dispersed“ from the cone in the middle

Ok so in other words it’s acting as it should? I know very little about audio other than what my ears tell me. I appreciate all the help

 

[TxRN]

Ok so in other words it’s acting as it should? I know very little about audio other than what my ears tell me. I appreciate all the help

have you tried adjusting fade and balance to isolate it?

 

[RedRaider91]

have you tried adjusting fade and balance to isolate it?

Yes I have and still wasn’t flexing the woofer portion. However I did hook it up to my lower door speaker to test it and it worked fine. It’s clearly a frequency issue as the others stated