[rightaway]

I have 2009 hifi audio with alpine pdx amp installed. I installed cdt 42 in the front doors and the sound quality is just no there. the volume is half and the sound is just not that good. any reason wy?

[ctuna]

You might not have the levels set right.
The factory speakers for Hi Fi are 2 ohm speakers chances are the aftermarkets are 4 ohms. What are the specs of the aftermarket speakers?
Also assuming you have a component set did you install the crossoever
and adjust it to an optimum settting?
Also how did you configure the amp to all the speakers or what.
How many channels is the amp and how are they routed what are the wattage specs etc..

[rightaway]

I turned the level for the front speakers up and still the same. I did install the crossover overs. I have it set to in the middle of the tweeter settings.
here are the specs.


CL 42 4" 2-way component system
Technical specs and contents

•1 pr CL-4 4" mid woofer
•1 pr EX-540 24dB 4th/5th order 2-way crossover
•1 pr TW-25 1" silk tweeter
•Power handling: 130 watt RMS @ HPF 120Hz.
•Frequency response: 70Hz-20.000Hz
•Impedance: 4 Ohm Sensitivity:91.1dB
•Mounting depth 4" woofer 2"
•Flush and surface tweeter housings

[Dannyboy]

It may have to do with settings. I'm running the same speakers and they sound very good to me. Of course I'm also running a 30 band eq and tuned them with True RTA to smooth some rough spots.

I couldn't be happier with them.

[rightaway]

what are your cross over settings at? do you have the tweeters set in the middle? what about the mids?

[Dannyboy]

I have the satnet 480 crossover, although I think the only difference is you have terminals for an image tweeter.

I have them crossed at 150 and the tweets at 0 if I remember correctly.

I'm using the JL audio XD 600/6 to drive them.

[rightaway]

the crossover have a spot you image and main tweeters. which one should I use?

[ctuna]

Whats the specs and model of your PDX

[Dannyboy]

Originally Posted by rightaway

the crossover have a spot you image and main tweeters. which one should I use?

Use the main tweeter terminals.

[Technic]

The reason I suggest keeping OEM HiFi speakers with the XD600/6 in particular as replacement of the OEM amp is because the OEM speakers are very efficient by design. They are designed to sound decent with minimal power -not necessarily to sound great with minimal power.

Minimal power = cheapest OEM amp possible.

Once way of making efficient OEM speakers on the cheap is to lower their impedance. OEM HiFi speakers are 2ohms. Most aftermarket speakers are 4ohms. So an effective 100% increase in impedance could result in less volume performance by definition.

The "could" part comes from several other factors that compensate for that 100% impedance increase. Like an increase of the aftermarket speaker sensitivity, an increase of gain in the aftermarket amp, or simply that the aftermarket amp -like the PDX- output the same power from 2 to 4ohms. Adding a processor also helps compensate for impedance/performance issues.

In this particular case, I would take a look at the PDX gains for the front channels.

[rightaway]

since installing the amp, I get a loud hum from the speakers. I installed the amp with the technic harness. any way to get rid of the humming noise?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by rightaway

since installing the amp, I get a loud hum from the speakers. I installed the amp with the technic harness. any way to get rid of the humming noise?

That's your PDX amp.

[rightaway]

the amp didn't hum my other car. any way to get rid of the humming noise?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by rightaway

the amp didn't hum my other car. any way to get rid of the humming noise?

Most probably your other car audio did not have balanced outputs.

It is your PDX amp. Its balanced inputs are not native. And some batches were noisier than others with balanced inputs. I used to have one of those and once replaced the hum/hiss went away.

[rightaway]

not sure about the balanced outputs. I have an Infiniti with a bose radio and amp. I replaced the amp with the pdx amp and it sounded great

[tturbolife]

Originally Posted by rightaway

I turned the level for the front speakers up and still the same. I did install the crossover overs. I have it set to in the middle of the tweeter settings.
here are the specs.


CL 42 4" 2-way component system
Technical specs and contents

•1 pr CL-4 4" mid woofer
•1 pr EX-540 24dB 4th/5th order 2-way crossover
•1 pr TW-25 1" silk tweeter
•Power handling: 130 watt RMS @ HPF 120Hz.
•Frequency response: 70Hz-20.000Hz
•Impedance: 4 Ohm Sensitivity:91.1dB
•Mounting depth 4" woofer 2"
•Flush and surface tweeter housings

130RMS isn't very much, and 4 Ohm is too high

[rightaway]

Originally Posted by derekwilkinson

130RMS isn't very much, and 4 Ohm is too high

for front speakers, I think 130 rms is good. most 4/5/6 channel only power 75 to 100 rms. I have alpine and focal in my other car and they were 100rms and sounded good. isn't the stock speakers like 25rms?

[rightaway]

so with a jl 600/6 will the humming noise that I'm getting from my alpine go away?

[Revero17]

Technic is right when he says it is the pdx amplifier. first check all of your rcas and wires you have to make sure you have good connectivity throughout. ground noise is always a possible issue once a 4 channel is introduced. better rcas, better amp, better wiring can solve this problem. i used to use an alpine pdx4.100 in my bmw and got the awful humming and switched to a focal fps4160 amp and all the noise is gone. some amps just have better filtration systems. as for the jl audio xd600/6 i'm not a fan of, but possibly could get the job done. you get what you pay for.

[rightaway]

I change the rca wires still have a humming noise.is there a ground filter that I can add or should I just get jl xd600/6. will that guarantee get rid of the humming noise?

[Stream]

You can get JL XD or stay with PDX, but add DSP with balanced inpt support (MS-8, Bit-one\ten, etc).
I'd also check amp grounding - maybe you can try another GND point (for ex. direct to battery).

[rightaway]

i'm looking at getting just an amp for the sub and use the 5th channel for the under seat subs.