So I have decided to change out my factory speakers for something a little better.

lawrence · 10-09-2004, 11:07 PM

What I have now is Chrysler Infinity 10 speaker system with the amps on the main speakers and satellites driven from those amps. One in each front door w/amps driving a 5x7 in the door and a 5.25 two way in the dash with separate feed for the two coils of the dash speaker. In the rear I have a 6x9 two way speakers with an amp in the side panels driving a 31/2 in the rear pillars.

This all sound quite good with the factory Infinity radio, not so good with my Sony head unit. As it sits right now I have very low volume and the speakers start clipping at about half volume.

The next thing that I tried was a “Scosche” 4 speaker level converter, needless to say it su*ks. Worse then before, sounds like an AM radio or a bad cassette.

So now I think that my only alternative is to change out all the speakers. I don’t want to spend too much but I am willing to “invest” in something decent. I really don’t want to set up amps now and just use my head unit’s internal amp. Then a subwoofer with its own amp as my head unit has a sub out.

I want to retain the factory locations and sizes for the speakers, as to keep the inside of my van looking clean and stock.

The head unit has an out put of 52 watts @ 4 ohms but also can run from 4 to 8 ohms. I have not found a decent crossover that would run in speaker level. So I am wondering if I can run two 8 ohm speakers in parallel. I do know ohms law and know the wattage will be cut in half. But how will it sound? Will it not have enough power to drive the speakers or is this ok.

On the speakers what are your favorites, I am leaning towards Infinity, JBL or Sony’s
Have JBL’s at home and there great, van came with Infinity and the head unit is a Sony.
So not sure what to go with? Let me know what you think .what sounds good for the cost?

lawrence · 10-09-2004, 11:55 PM

bump

Nic · 10-10-2004, 12:07 AM

The head unit has an out put of 52 watts << i bet thats 52watts PEAK, it probably only puts out 20watts RMS, i dont really understand why you would be upgarding speakers when you already have so many, it sounds to me like you need better amps and a better head unit, are the amps stock? how are they connected to the headunit? line level or rca level

Nic · 10-10-2004, 12:08 AM

oh and do yourself a favor, dont buy anything sony

lawrence · 10-10-2004, 01:09 AM

the amps are mounted to the door speakers and to rhe 6x9 in the side panels
the amps have crossover built into them for the other 6 speakers. i could just hack off the amps and use the bare speakers but , then i cant return to stock and i still have stock speakers without the crossover to the satalites .

Jackso · 10-10-2004, 04:38 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by lawrence

What I have now is Chrysler Infinity 10 speaker system with the amps on the main speakers and satellites driven from those amps.

First question here, is how many amps do you really have running these 10 speakers and how many channels on each amp.

Quote: Originally Posted by lawrence

This all sound quite good with the factory Infinity radio, not so good with my Sony head unit.

Which Sony head unit. Newer Sony head units have two different line out settings. One is higher than the other for "newer" amps and older amps often don't like the higher input votage causing distortion and weird phenoms. Off the top of my head, the pre-outs are 5.5V and 4V, factory default is 5.5V I believe, check your user manual and try reducing this.

Quote: Originally Posted by lawrence

As it sits right now I have very low volume and the speakers start clipping at about half volume.

True clipping is caused by being too loud, and is done in the amplifier. Clipping is generally caused by driving the amplifier more than it is capable of, and is one of those phenoms I was talking about in the last little section.

Quote: Originally Posted by lawrence

The head unit has an out put of 52 watts @ 4 ohms but also can run from 4 to 8 ohms.

Nic was correct in his statement that this is an peak rating, Sony head units supply about 25 Watts RMS @ 4 ohms. They are generally not 2 ohm stable, and as you stated you can connect it to an 8 ohm load (2 speakers in series) it will provide a slightly higher signal to noise ratio (cleaner sound) but only at about 12.5 Watts RMS.

Also as Nic said, what are the brands of amps, how are you connected to the amps (speaker level, line level). Don't let Nic disuade you totally from Sony products, I've had a lot of different Sony items, and have been very pleased for the price I've paid. They aren't the best around, but definately decent for the price. Not to mention finding another brand that allows connection to your computer through USB as a USB soundcard is rough.

Hope I can help.

Nic · 10-10-2004, 08:21 AM

i would have bought sony 5 years ago but now their products are way to cheaply manufactured for my liking. I also have no idea why you would want to put a speaker level convertor in?? are you trying to go from speaker level to rca or the other way around, either way you should have both speaker level and line level out on your headunit.

On another note if your speakers sounded good with the old headunit and now sound crap dosent it seam logical that the problem would be the headunit or the way its wired?

lawrence · 10-10-2004, 09:31 AM

[QUOTE=Jackso]First question here, is how many amps do you really have running these 10 speakers and how many channels on each amp.

there are 4 amps the front runs 3 speakers per channel and the rears are two speakers per channel.

Which Sony head unit. Newer Sony head units have two different line out settings. One is higher than the other for "newer" amps and older amps often don't like the higher input votage causing distortion and weird phenoms. Off the top of my head, the pre-outs are 5.5V and 4V, factory default is 5.5V I believe, check your user manual and try reducing this.

the head unit is a CDX-M630 It was buoght about six months ago but i done know if it is a new or old model, i think it is a new model as it uses the small 16 pin conector

Jackso · 10-10-2004, 10:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by lawrence

there are 4 amps the front runs 3 speakers per channel and the rears are two speakers per channel.

How are these speakers connected? Do you have them in series or paralel? (see attached) Connecting more than two speakers in any situtation is VERY uncommon and may be part of your problems.

Also, I see by checking your product manual that your system has some built in EQ settings, have you tried to play with these to make sure you are on the one that sounds the best to you? It also has the sony DSO which you may want to try turning off.

If you're using an AUX input, your head unit allows for adjusting the input level expected from that device. You may have that set incorrectly and are overdriving the amp in the headunit when turning up the volume, you might want to check that setting.

Try those things and let me know what you find out. Here is the link to your manual in case you don't already have it. http://www.docs.sony.com/release/cdxm630.pdf

Good luck

lawrence · 10-10-2004, 11:29 PM

there are actualy factory Infinity speakers with amp intagrated on to the main speakers. i have decided to go with line level from headunit >
2 2way crossovers >
2 4 channel amps >
2 6x9
2 5x7
2 5.25
2 3.25
sub out from headunit > 2 channel amp
2 10's

just need to tell the wife2b i about to spend $$$ 1100.00 for speakers-
oh ya she just boughta dyson vaccum 600 bucks so i dont feel so bad

christmaspie · 10-11-2004, 07:34 AM

Yeah, this is problematic. Basically, your entire factory system is designed to be compatible only with itself. It seems you've already found that out. Here's the thing. That Sony deck is only gonna be able to run four speakers so if you get new ones you're kind of bumming as you miss out on the 10 speaker system. I've heard that system before and I was pretty impressed. Had a guy with that exact system come in with a deck that couldn't play CDs and I had to tell him he was basically screwed. Way too much money to get a new factory deck that will work and terrible sound if you get an aftermarket deck. That system just isn't gonna work. So if I was you I would find a way to maintain my factory radio if at all possible. It will be cheaper and sound very good. You will need to spend a bit of money to have an aftermarket stereo that sounds like that. Just my .02.

nzKAOSnz · 10-28-2004, 07:37 PM

oh- and another thing- some factory systems come with all the speaker -ves wired together. I tried to use that with my pioneer HU - and it was absoloute crap.
Wired again differently, (properly) and it ran sweetas.

pimpJ · 10-28-2004, 07:44 PM

I second that diss on sony

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