Hey everyone, I just finished a full install on my 97 sc300 and I have a couple of problems that I need to work out and need some advice/help. First I'll list what went in to possible avoid some confusion.

Alpine Deck
CDT 6.5 componant speakers
^^ Powered by blaunkput 400x2 watt amplifier (200 per speaker)
0 gauge wiring from battery to a power block in the trunk
0 gauge wire grounded under the seat
2 JL 12w0s with a mono kenwood amp.

First problem:
After trying a couple different way to fit the front speakers in the door I finally ended up using RSTSpeed's method ( https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...peaker+install ) to mount the speakers in side of the door using the factory 4inch speaker box. The problem is that the speakers don't sound too good. It's hard to explain but they sound muffled/muddy and have some kind of echo or reverb going on. The mid bass seems to be really emphasized too. On the back of the factory I cut a slit for the wire to come out and for some air to escape. My thought is that I didnt cut the hole big enough and that the speakers dont have enough "breathing room" and are in too small of an enclosure. I was thinking of either cutting a much larger hole in the back or taking my uni-bit and basically "swiss-cheesing" the back of the enclosure and make a bunch of holes for the air to flow freely. I need some opinions on this however before I start cutting up pieces for no reason.

My second problem is that SOMETIMES when I turn on the car, the front speakers will make one pop and then never do it again. I checked all of my wiring but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes its delayed, ill turn the key and they will pop right as the radio finishing loading up. But sometimes there will pop the second I turn the key and it doesnt always happen. The second part about this is after I had everything hooked up yesterday I went to change the filter setting on this amp with a screw driver and it made a spark to the side of the amp casing which I though was pretty weird but wasnt doing it again after that. Any ideas with this?

And my final problem is with the subwoofers. I cant get them to work. I bought the setup used off craigs list from some girl but never heard them. I checked and the remote wire is getting power, the amp is getting power and ground but nothing is happening. The RCA's are also getting signal because if I plug them in to the mids/highs amp I get sound from below the filter cutoff. I checked all the settings and everything seems fine. I dont know if its the subs or the amp or both. The amp it self doesnt have a light at all on it so I don't even know if its turning on or not. Is there a way I can test to see if the amp is giving output? I dont have another amp to test the speakers on. The amp is a Kenwood KAC-726.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

 

Grab a multimeter from radioshack.

Might wanna check your ground under that seat. It is possible the ground isn't strong enough for your application.

The pop sounds like a sort of capacitor like discharge or induction. Could be ground related as well.

Use the meter and test the output lines off your amplifiers for voltage DC, and wattage. Test your grounds resistance, and so forth. If you use basic electronic 101 knowledge you should be able to track most of this down.

Only thing I really can't help you with is the sound from the door speakers. I am unfamiliar with them and their requirements on air displacement/enclosure preference and or tune. Your guess would be as good as mine on how to alter the door panels to allow them to sound proper.

If it were me, I would look up the speaker specs and plug them into a proggie -- This is designed for subs but could help give you a general idea --

http://www.carstereo.com/help2/Articles.cfm?id=30

Robert J. that frequents this forum and section should be able to help you out a great deal here.. He is the resident Guru on the technical aspects of audio. Hopefully he will kindly chime in here.

 

Thanks for the tips. I will recheck my ground tomorrow as you may be right. I didn't really like the ring terminal that I used. As far as checking the amp with the meter, what should I be checking for. Also any other replied please. Thanks!

 

the pop is from your alpine deck. welcome to the wonderful world of alpine.


is your kenwood deck powering on? just because it's getting power doesn't mean it's actually working. Take a look at the amp, if it's getting power and there's nothing happening it's probably bad.

 

I have had 4 alpine decks and love them all. I do not think this deck is the problem as I have used it in another car with the same amp and did not have this problem. As far as the kenwood amp, I am not sure if it is powering on or not. I really have no way to tell as there is no power light that turns on. I have looked all over the amp and have not found one, lit or not. I am guessing that it is probably the amp but I cant tell for sure I don't think with out the meter. If i knew someone else with an amp hooked up I would just hook up the speakers but I dont =\

 

Update: I regrounded the the system and it will still pop everyonce in a while but not too often... not a big deal. I also "swiss cheesed the back of the enclosures and it sounds 2x better and not so much like the speakers are in a bucket. Now im just waiting for them to break in to see what they really can do.

 

some amps have a harsh turn on that just turns on. i could be they way your amp just turns on.