How do SR-6500 tweeters sound new-out-of-the box vs after break-in? Mine sound harsh!

[monologuist]

So my SR-6500's are installed finally with the tweeters firing up at the windshield , flush-mounted on MDF. The angle mounts wouldn't fit under the speaker grill so for now I have them flushmounted. I may experiment with the angled cups in the future. They are amped by 2 channels off of my Alpine pdx-4.100, using the provided crossovers.

Upon first listen I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I was prepared for this somewhat after reading up on these speakers and finding it to be a consensus that they need up to 100 hours of break-in before they sound their best. But I was assuming this was mainly for the woofer and getting the most out of their midbass response. My problem was with the tweeters. After reading about how smooth and mellow they sound, I was surprised to find them to be somewhat harsh and glassy sounding compared to the Boston Acoustic 3.5" speakers I had in the exact same location. Perhaps I am not used to the sound of only a tweter coming from the dash, as opposed to the 3.5" which is a coax and has some midrange as well. Or is it that the SR tweeters also tend to sound this way at first but also need just as many hours to break in as the woofers? Can anyone comment on this?

[MacLeod]

Theyre just turned up too high.

This is where youll reap all the benefits of bi-amping your speakers. You can adjust the gain on the tweeter's channels independantly of the mids. So start tweaking. Generally the tweeter's gain setting will be lower than the mids.

You also have to take into consideration that with the tweeter firing into the windshield youre going to get not only echoes but also plenty of harsh reflection.

However once the mids break in theyll add some flesh to the overall sound, and once you get the tweeters level dialed in thru a few weeks or months of trial and error, youll love your new speakers. I guarantee it!

[monologuist]

Theyre just turned up too high.

This is where youll reap all the benefits of bi-amping your speakers. You can adjust the gain on the tweeter's channels independantly of the mids. So start tweaking. Generally the tweeter's gain setting will be lower than the mids.

You also have to take into consideration that with the tweeter firing into the windshield youre going to get not only echoes but also plenty of harsh reflection.

However once the mids break in theyll add some flesh to the overall sound, and once you get the tweeters level dialed in thru a few weeks or months of trial and error, youll love your new speakers. I guarantee it!

thanks for the reply...I just asked the same question in my sr124 thread.

I decided not to bi-amp them for now, in order to allow 2 channels of my pdx-4.100 to be used for the rear fill. I thought about forgoing the rear fill altogether, but after tweaking the levels realtive to the sr-6500's, I'm finding that the midrange fill they bring is enjoyable. they are a very midrangey 3-way 6x9 and are blending with the 6500's quite well. Perhaps when the mids start to come out better in the 6500's they will no longer be needed?

I could go back in and try bi-amping the 6500's and dial down the tweeters...I guess I could also just change the jumper settings to something like -3 and try that?

I'm now thinking I need a different head unit...something with time alignment adjust and maybe provisions for a 3-way active setup like the one I'd have if I bi-amp the 6500's....hmm....

[howie777]

I didn't like mine either for the same reason. But as soon as I adjusted the gains as MacLeod stated they sound much better. Listening to a female sing use to get really painful, not it sounds pretty good.

Howie

[monologuist]

well I think Im going to leave the settings as is for now...I'll wait and see if the tweeters soften up at all...also I'm going to try a dashmat, so maybe I won't need to do anything with that on.

Now I'm wondering if I should have bi-amped them...would be much easier to adjust then opening up the dashboard and kickpanel again! Just seemed like a waste of 100watts to feed the tweeters and a waste of a crossover that there was so much put into designing.

I wanted to keep my electrical system stock, so bi-amping would leave me with something along the lines of a PDX-4.100, 1.1000, and another 2-channel amp for the rear speakers (wish there was a 2.100 or 2.50 or something). Wonder if that would push my battery to its limits?

[monologuist]

crap...something just went awry with my system. I was listening to Kraftwerk (their most recent release), a record with a ton of sub-bass and highs but not too much in the mids, trying to break in the SR-6500's. I had my Alpine PDX-4.100 (channels 1 and 2) set at about 2 o'clock gain( I think that is 0.5v?) and my Pioneer p6900ub head unit with all settings flat and volume at 45-50 out of 62. There seemed to be no obvious clipping even with the midbass drivers working hard to pump out the electronic kick drums (it almost sounded like I had a sub!).

THen all of a sudden there was a very loud POP....and a pretty loud buzzing noise ensued. I turned everything off for a couple hours, and started the system again at low volume. The buzzing sound commenced as soon as the head unit powered on and only went away after turning it off. I tried turning the volume up slowly to see if the speakers were blown....but there seemed to be pretty much a full range signal coming through both tweeters and drivers...except the buzzing was actually as loud or louder, so I could not turn the volume up too high before the buzzing was unbearable. Then the popping sound hit again, so I quickly turned the head unit off again.

What the hell is going on?! I will begin troubleshooting tomorrow, but if this scenario sounds familiar to anyone, please fill me in! If I had blown a fuse either in my power chain or on the Alpine amp, there wouldn't have been any signal at all right? And if I had blown a tweeter or driver, there would be either no sound or very distorted sound right? So I'm thinking it might be either somethin to do with the head unit or the SR-6500 crossovers.

I rad that the crossovers' tweeter protection circuit causes a popping sound when it kicks in....is it a very loud one? Also, after it pops off, how long does it take for the tweeter to run normally? I hadn't read anything about buzzing though, relating to the protection circuit.

Can anyone shed some light on this before I go ripping my car apart for the umpteenth time searching for the problem?

[gp4jesus]

...If I had blown a fuse either in my power chain or on the Alpine amp, there wouldn't have been any signal at all right?

yup!

And if I had blown a tweeter or driver, there would be either no sound or very distorted sound right?

yup!

...after it pops off, how long does it take for the tweeter to run normally?

I'm not familiar w/ that specific Protection device. I would think system shut down would allow it to reset if it's automatic.

Can anyone shed some light on this before I go ripping my car apart for the umpteenth time searching for the problem?

Someone chime in w/educated help

Good luck Tony

[MacLeod]