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Bronze Member Username: JaimishPost Number: 26 Registered: Apr-09 | Hi Guys, I really need some expert help. I recently bought my setup from the states(I live in Dubai) and have had it installed at the top rated car audio shop here. after I had my gear installed my speakers are not as loud as the stock speakers( and the magnet on those is tiny!!). The subwoofer is ok though i feel it doesnt kick as much as I wanted.. For now my problem is with my huge amp and comp speakers giving me rubbish output. I really need help as I waited 6 months for this and u guys know how long that wait is!!! the setup is: Original head unit Jl Audio cleansweep(cl441dsp) Rainbow Ipaul 4.300 ( 4 x 90 rms) Rainbow slc265 kick (4 x 100 rms) Jl audio hd 750.1 (750 rms) Jl audio 12w7 in high output wedge. Ur help will me much appreciated.. cheers. |
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Bronze Member Username: JaimishPost Number: 27 Registered: Apr-09 | Oh yeah.. Some additional info I forgot incase it helps.. The tweeter gives a nasty cracking sound at higher volumes( which are not high) and im on my original electrical system.. But in short.. My rainbows arent anywhere near as powerful as a friends sony comps?? and I thought rainbow was the no 1 brand so its frustrating!!! By the way I used home speaker cable to wire the speakers?? U think thats the problem or perhaps polarity is wrong I dono?? Please advise if there are any wiring experts out there!! cheers! |
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Bronze Member Username: ManualrebelloKalyan, Maharashtra India Post Number: 15 Registered: Feb-08 | I guess you have got part of it figured out yourself, why dont you try this, remove the entire setup out from the car and connect it outside and see how it sounds, make sure that you tag the wires too, use oxyfree RF cables for speakers, making double sure the polarities are setup the way it is required by the company (manual setup). also check the technicalities to check for impedence etc and also wattage of the amp and speakers (the amp should have a bigger or higher wattage per RMS than the speakers) etc, hope this helps |
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Bronze Member Username: Nick_belskyNorth Canton, Ohio USA Post Number: 33 Registered: Nov-09 | Rainbows are great speakers, but the best is a matter of opinion... I had Germaniums and tried the References out. Ended up Morels and considered it to be a tremendous upgrade. All depends on the setup. |
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Bronze Member Username: KdrydenPost Number: 19 Registered: Dec-09 | Im wondering if his major problem might be that hes running off the stock headunit, never liked using oem interfaces with high end audio equipment. Fot the money you spent on the clean sweep you could have probably gotten a good head unit |
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Bronze Member Username: Nick_belskyNorth Canton, Ohio USA Post Number: 51 Registered: Nov-09 | In line converters that are usually used for that type of conversion (factory head to add RCA outputs) usually end up with problems. If you are investing that kind of money into after market speakers and such, why not the head? Great sound starts with the Head Unit... I have to agree with Ken, I didn't catch that the first time around... |
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Silver Member Username: MmaudioconceptsPost Number: 676 Registered: Jan-07 | i caught that at first he said he had it installed by the top rated shop then he said he wired it with home audio wires. so who did the install? him or the professional shop |
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Bronze Member Username: Nick_belskyNorth Canton, Ohio USA Post Number: 85 Registered: Nov-09 | I wish I had a dollar for every "professional install" I had to fix from Best Buy or Circuit City. Home audio wires (whatever that means) in a car install is nothing compared to some of the things I have seen these "professionals" do... Not saying that all Best Buys or former Circuit City bays do poorly; most do just fine. Just a few that I have encountered. |
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Bronze Member Username: JaimishPost Number: 29 Registered: Apr-09 | Hey Guys, Sorry for the late reply(especially that u are trying to help me) I have a few answers I figured out over the period of my install. 1) Lenny- I cant remove the whole setup and try it outside. Im not a professional and the guys who did this are rip offs. The amps are exactly the same power as the speakers. But the amps arent underated they seem to be exatly what they are. 2) Nick- yes it appears u are right. I was in a car last week with just 2 jbls 6 x 9s and they have much better bass than my 6.5" rainbows. Maybe something is wrong with my setup or rainbows are overated german tech speakers and maybe a little good on sql but dont perform on spl at all. A friend has 4 6.5" dynaudio in his touareg stock system and is much much better and louder than my 4 speakers with the huge fancy amp. Again perhaps my install problem. But when I raise the gains on the amp passed 25% the speakers distort bad. Funny thing is the amp is 90 watts x 4 at 4 ohms and the speakers are 100watts at 4 ohms?? Really confusing as i thought that means i would be able to put the whole thing to full volume and not distort.. the amp is a rainbow i.paul 4.300 incase u want to google it. 3) Ken) the stock head unit im using has a 30gb hard disk. voice commands/ built in telephone(not blue tooth/ sat navigation/ cd and av input to the 7 inch screen. cleansweep only cost me 200$. Plus the oem looks good and suits the car.I must have a wiring prob I cant figure out. 4) nick-- same answer as I gave ken. 4)No llimit- I bought everything and had it shipped from the states. I made the classic f up of trying to save money on wires in the end and gave them home audio 16 gauge wires from a local shop. But could that cause such a big problem. I know it messes up but not this bad. And by the way this is Dubai.. The place where u get the most rubbish possible service. And thats going to the best place. Now my input. I figured why the jl is not performing as I read on various reviews, The bass is extremely good at low volumes( 10 out of 30) then when I raise it the bass literally stays the same.. the vlume increases and the bass drops a little at high volumes. Of reecent my lights have started dimming also. I guess its obvious to say i Am underpowering the thing. Im going to engalnd in january. I will buy a high amp battery( yellow top) but...... Will that not just screw my alternator up?? I have a peugeot 207 rc,, I dont think a high amp alternator is available. Even if it is my workshop manager is going on about how the car system will get screwed if I change the alternator... Im still in a fix. I hope the info has helped u/ I really appreciate the advice u guys have given me. But my bass problem is solved. IM still stuck with a high end component system and amp that is as loud as a stock unit and lower than a pair of jbls// cheers. |
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Bronze Member Username: KdrydenPost Number: 45 Registered: Dec-09 | One thing u said "once you raise the gain passed 25% you get distortion" you shouldnt play to much with the gains on the amps because that will cause distortion. Leave them as low aas possible. 2) Your running your 4 speakers off of that amp? If they are are the 4 speakers all connected properly on the amp 3) play with the settings on the deck, while leaving the amp flat, make sure you turn on the low pass on the sub amp. Maybe those guys didnt hook up the crossovers properly. I would really start by checking the speakers and make sure they are all connected properly |
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Bronze Member Username: Nick_belskyNorth Canton, Ohio USA Post Number: 94 Registered: Nov-09 | Whow, Slow down there! 1) German engineering is some of the best out, even in car audio. For example, Brax, Helix, and MB Quart. (Not to mention other stuff like...I don't know...Mercedes and BMW). Rainbows are no exception. They are well built speakers that have a solid reputation of sounding very good. I don't see how they can even be compared to JBL in any context. JBL is no match for any Rainbow. When I had Germaniums and the Reference Components they lacked in the high end to me. I never had issues with the bottom end, even the mids sounded amazing. Dynaudio is an exceptional speaker all in it's own. I use solely Dynaudio in my Home Theater setup. Dyns were my second choice to the Morels in my vehicle. 2) I strongly oppose Yellow Tops. They are way too expensive and you can get better for much less. I know not everyone will agree with me on this, but I love the Batcaps. Batcaps, are in essence, a battery and capacitor in one unit. Your lights are dimmer because your electrical system is not able to recharge fast enough to keep the "burps" from drawing more current than the battery can handle on its own. 3) The Rainbow amp is a little under rated. You are probably getting more like 105-110w out of each channel. Like Ken said, double check your connections at the amp and at each speaker. Make sure the polarity is correct and make sure the connectors are crimped tightly and thoroughly. Also check your main power cable at the battery. Make sure the connections there are good and tight as well. Check the ground cables from the amp(s) as well. Any loose connection anywhere in these cables could possibly cause your speakers to do this... 4) If no HO alternator is available, you can upgrade the ground cable on your alternator. The ground cable on the alternator should be the same or bigger as the main lead you are using for your amp(s). For example, if you are using a 4 awg lead from the battery to the amps, your alternator ground cable should be 4 awg or bigger. This helps the alternator charge the battery more quickly. 5) Setting gain...I am not going to repeat this again... Check out this link. http://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm 6) If you are lacking bass from your Rainbows, try using a baffle behind them with some kind of sound dampening on the door panels. Rainbows don't do particularly well with a "free air" setup. You need to "box" them in somewhat. Your bass response will get better with dampening as well. aahhh, my fingers hurt. |
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Bronze Member Username: KdrydenPost Number: 47 Registered: Dec-09 | I think the main problem is, is that there could be so much wrong with the setup that it can be multiple things, or it can be just one thing. At this point you'll have to check your setup as if you were doing the setup all over again. At the same, depending on the amount of experience you have installing systems, you might not be able to find the problem (its just warning) because as you can see from nick's post a sound system, even though some of us make it sound very simple can be very complex. Just on one component system you could have multiple problems, broken wire, bad ground, tweeters and midbass inversed, loose wire, broken speaker... and this is just one side. By any chance is there another shop that maybe might cost more but is more qualified to verify the whole thing. It might cost you a pretty penny but at least you might get the results you were looking for. It's also very hard for us to help you cause we cant see or hear the setup. All i knwo is that you might spend 5 minutes and find your problem or you might take you more than a week to find it just take your time and go over everything. |
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Bronze Member Username: BookeeperLouisiana Post Number: 23 Registered: Jan-10 | DUDE YOU NEED TO LEARN THIS FIRST BEFORE YOU BUY ANYTHING MAKE SURE YOU READ ABOUT STUFF SOUND LIKE YOU GOT RIPRED OFF AND BE MORE CERTAIN OF THINGS YOU DO AND SAY FOR HELP I WOULD RETURN EVERYTHING YOU GOT AND LEARN ABOUT AUDIO SOUND BEFROE YOU GO SPENDING MONEY YO I DONT KNOW WHAT RAINBOW IS BUT YOU SHOULD TRY CRUTCHFIELD.COM AND LEARN FIRST IF YOU DONT KNOW BEFORE HOOKING THINGS UP |
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Bronze Member Username: ManualrebelloKalyan, Maharashtra India Post Number: 26 Registered: Feb-08 | I would also check the battery the wattage and Amp rating might differ, normally for a demo the used material are brand new and your car battery maybe old, fill her up and make sure that its charged to full capacity when listening after the overall connection done in car, and the amp. since you using the unit at home now, check the adapter that steps down voltage it may have less current ratio than the one used while demonstrating. tiny magnets do not mean weak sound.Long gone are the days that a speaker would have big magnets to give big sound. garbled speakers also mean mismatch of wires and also less or more impedance of wires, once again don't compromise speaker wires when you have put in so much for the unit, Sony's usually sound great when matched with their own brand peripherals. check this after connecting in a small, preferably carpeted room before you actually connect it in the car. Hope this helps. crackling sound from a tweeter also means low current to drive it, the amp maybe such that it may need higher power to drive it. |
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Bronze Member Username: JaimishPost Number: 30 Registered: Apr-09 | Hey Picklemeat... ?? Yeah thanks for the info.. But I do know abit.. Just not enough,, and i suggest you find out about rainbow. It is a good brand. Actually one of the best.. And I am getting good sound just not what I want. I researched for a few months before buying my components ( at the top of the page)/ And only an idiot would say it wasnt an appropriate choice,, My problem is wiring , nothing else. And I aint a tech guy. get it? And crutchfield is a shop.. I know,, NOT A BRAND. I know |