briandors Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 Got a fairly new to me 95 Cutlass Supreme convertible. I had the driver's door panel off for some work, and when I go to put the speaker back, the tiniest amount of bass causes a lot of distortion. So I unscrew it, and it sounds clearer all of a sudden! Put it back into its mounting position and distortion. I thought maybe it was going bad internally or something so I bought a new pair of Pioneers and dropped one in. Now I wasn't sure whether to keep the original component tweeter connected, but since the pioneer was a 2-way i did not connect it. I still get the distortion when mounted! Then I pull it and hold it in my hand, sounds fine. The head is a new Pioneer, I did the wiring myself and I have stereo install experience, but this problem has me baffled. I did use Dynamat Extreme, where I usually use the regular stuff, but I don't think the metal liner of the Dynamat is doing this? Any thoughts? I noticed the speaker is surrounded by an air tight foam thing, I think made by XTC.... is this not allowing the cone to vibrate freely? Were the speakers originally cradled in foam or was the back of them just hanging inside the door in open air? Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 The speakers were originally screwed into a plastic basket. If the plastic basket is still there, it could be one of the grating vents behind it is cracked and vibrating. A wire could also be shorting. Lastly, it could be the speaker polarity is reversed. You would then experience phase-cancellation which would result in little bass, but much distortion. Pulling the speaker out would sound a lot better, because the sound coming from the back of the speaker would be in correct phase with the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briandors Posted June 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 Thanks, I'll double check the phase. This car didn't have a separate amp from the head right? Also, leaving the tweeter disconnected is recommended when replacing the stock speakers with 2 ways? Otherwise I'd be too tinny I'd think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 I don't know if 95+ had a separate amp or not, but I don't think so. Yes, you should disconnect the factory tweeter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briandors Posted June 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2003 Well the speaker was out of phase, but I had my colors right. I would have thought that red was positive and red/black was negative. Apparently either GM or the guy who owned the car before me doesn't follow standards. Pulled out my multimeter, put the black on positive terminal of speaker and red on negative and things improved. Still wasn't happy. Took the Pioneer 1347's back and bought 1357's... MUCH better sound. Thanks for your help Gnat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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