db690's

[Bytor1963]

Just installed 2 new db690's to the rear deck of my car. I have a 2 channel 100w/channel amp to drive them. The highs are clipping and distorting badly. Could they be out of phase? I put the new ones in the same as the old ones were. The Sony's they replaced sounded fine until I blew one. Any thoughts?

Thanks

[neomagus00]

First thought is that your gain is too high. What headunit do you have, and what is your gain set at (i.e. 10 o'clock, 4 o'clock, etc.)?

[98thumpin]

o hate it when that happens dont you

[MacLeod]

Having them out of phase wouldnt make them clip or distort.

Im with Neo. Youve likely got your gains set way too high.

[Bytor1963]

Thanks for the tip about the gain. I played around with different settings and got the same result. Again, I took the old ones out and popped these in. It took me all of 10 minutes, 9 of which was getting my fat ass in and out of the trunk:) I've never had speakers that distorted from the mid-high range before the bass did. They sound fine at lower volumes, but when I turn up the juice, as Simon would say, "They simply sound aweful". I'll put these on Ebay and get some different ones.

[neomagus00]

that sounds like a band-aid solution to me... the db's are rather nice speakers, i'd work with them if i could... for all we know, the sony's were distorting this badly, you just couldn't hear it with sony speakers...

the fact that you blew a sony, which is a speaker they KNOW will be abused by 99% of the buyers, lends even more credence to the clipping argument...

what amp do you have? any other equipment in the car?

[Bytor1963]

You know? I'm going to try another amp. I have a VR Sound Labs 200 watt amp. I cant find any specs on it, but I am thinking that it is 100w/channel peak and probably only 50w continuous, so the distortion I'm hearing could be from the this. All of the literature I've seen from the speakers suggest they are more than capable of handling loud music, so I'm going to try this alternative first. Thanks for the advise everyone!

[neomagus00]

i find that to be an excellent idea

[SportsFan]

i find that to be an excellent idea
I do as well, neo....but not because of the power ratings for the amp that Bytor sighted, but probably because of the amp itself! My db690s sounded fine through the Alpine head unit at 18W RMS (although they would tend to "distort" a little at higher volumes).

I now have an Alpine MRP-F240 pushing them, which is rated at only 75 Watts per channel "peak" / 40 Watts per channel RMS pushing my db690s....and they sound fine, absolutely NO distortion.

[Bytor1963]

I installed a Sony xgt2100 with 100 continuous watts per channel. I get a better sound and they are very loud, however, my original suspicions were correct. At higher volumes, they sound "tinty" as if the tweeters aren't dishing out the highs with the rest of the components. I have a Heart cd and while playing the song "Straight on for you", the cymbal crashes are very distorted while the rest of the spectrum is sounding clear. I think it is from the relatively low high frequency response of 22khz when compared to higher specs of the same class. I am going to compare to a set of Kenwoods that I have my eye on to see if my hunches are correct. I'll keep anyone who cares posted.

Hugs,
Bytor

[1996blackmax]

My tweeters frequency response is from 1KHz to 23KHz (crossed over at 2.2KHz 12dB/Octave), and its a very good sounding tweeter. Humans can typically only hear up to about 20KHz, so that is not the reason for the distortion. Try turning down the treble some. Some music has a higher level of high frequency information than some other music, so the tweeter may reach it's limit with certain music sooner. It's kind of a balancing act.