YM13

I installed my new db6501s and am dissapointed with the harshness at higher levels of listening. They have been getting great reviews online and nobody really says anything bad about them but a couple of people have mentioned that they too think the speakers are too harsh. Now my question is can I do anything about it. I think that the problem is coming from my headunit. I have a 9856 Alpine and it does not offer very much at all in the EQ adjustments. Only Bass and Treble so there is not much I can do there. What are my options? I will upgrade HU if there if there will be a guaranteed differnece but i don't want to fork out $400 dollars and have it make no difference. Any other suggestions? (New crossovers...etc?) Keep in mind that mine are set to -3bd for the tweeters. Thanks in advance

bigt

no you probably need to amp the speakers the head unit doesnt have enough juice to push them...

YM13

they are being amped with 100w rms per channel

yotakid825

by harsh do you mean destortion(sp)? if so turn down the bass

YM13

Harsh as in high notes hurt your ears. At lower volumes it sounds good but if i really want to crank it up it is just unbearable because the high notes will just crash through your head. On a premium sound system that i've heard before you can keep turning up the volume and the highs never really make you shutter, they are just loud...

89macrunner

i dunno if your HU has all of the adjustments that mine does (i have a 9857) but you should be able to adjust way more than just the treble.

stormin94

If you don't want em, let's make a deal....

yotakid825

turn the gain level on the amp down. and set eveything HU to 0, ya know the loudness setting, bass and Treble, fader and balance and set it to the 'flat' EQ setting(it should pre-programed into the HU) so to be you're starting with 0 at every freq. do 95% of tuning with the amp(gain,X-over) if you can and do fine tuning with the HU. see if the speaker X-overs have a tweeter level adjustment, if so you can and should play with that.
that's just kind of a guide line and you should play with the setting until you're happy. tuning is sometimes harder than the installation

YM13

Yah that sounds like good advice but the problem is that my headunit does not have an EQ for some very odd and stupid reason...and it was like $300. The only thing there is is Bass Treble and some other frequency stress thing that you can select a bass and treble frequency that is stressed more which does almost nothing and I have that set at 7.5k (the lowest) for the treble frequency...

YM13

Let me think about it for a while and then I'll let you know for sure. They arn't horrible or anything I was just expecting more that is all. I was going to get some subs next but I don't know i'm still debating....i'll let you know. How much do you want them for (for my record)? They've been used for 2 weeks.

Greg_Canada

Do your speakers have crossovers? Can you lower the attentuation on the tweeters?
Maybe, you should invest in an external equalizer to level out the system.

Oh and what you payed for the deck doesnt show quality, it just means you got ripped off/didnt research it before purchase (youre not the only one that does it).

YM13

Yah I mean i didn't know too much about audio when I bought it and I got it from Crutchfield, it looked good, had good reviews, so I bought it....but yah just didn't know what I was looking for then...oh well.

rocket

iTrader: (1)

Your issue confirms the reviews i've read on different sites describing similar complaints about the db6501s tweeters.

Can you adjust the crossover on them lower than -3bd? Others love the way they sound but I suspect they're fine tuning them by the HU.

ALL low to mid entry '07+ or '06+ Alpine head units are regarded as crap for this very reason. They don't have an EQ worth a damn.

I purchased DB6500's. There still being installed so i can't comment about sound quality yet but every review about them never mentions harsh sounding highs.

If you can't adjust the crossover highs any lower, then look into a better HU.
Besides the obvious, nothing else can change what you want to hear.

yotakid825

I have the Pioneer DEH-5000 and it is the best HU that I've used, tons of adjustments and settings and all for right $200. one of the best deals out there.

Greg_Canada

If you REALLY want a deck with adjustments that is cheap(ish) get a pioneer deh-p880prs, a deh-p8600mp or 860mp.
Great equalizers and crossovers for the price.

YM13

I'm pretty sure those are the same speakers but without an adjustable crossover for the tweeters...I may be wrong...

shancerlelby

kinda an odd suggestion but have you considered doing some sound dampening around your mids? you might need more mid to compensate for the harsh tweeters? tweets up fairly high in the doors too so with the two separated the audio wont really blend that well. correct you are using a 100 x 2 amp for the front stage and not the 100 x 4 deck amplifier?

YM13

Correct i'm using a 100x2 amp. And i think ur right about the seperation of the mids because if i turn up the bass the problem is basically gone but at the same time the mids distort easier. I think I am just lacking EQ options...what I was hoping someone had in mind was to wire a limiter of electric flow or somethig to lower the tweeter level a little, kind of what is in the crossover...think that will work?

stormin94

Are you using high quality speaker wire, or stock?

86tuning

It sounds to me like your tweeters are too bright. Metal dome tweeters are always harsher than fabric or plastic tweets. I'm not familiar with the polks, I mainly dabbled with a/d/s/ and MB-Quart back in the day.

Where are your tweets installed, relative to the mids? You could try crossfiring the tweets, ie, aim the right tweet at your head, and the left tweet at the front passenger head.

An off axis tweeter will attenuate itself.

Funnay thing is that my current vehicles don't even have radios in them. My previous car had 2kw of gear, proper 12" sub in a sealed box, kickpanels built to house mids and tweets, etc etc. And the truck is just for playing with, no tunes.