Polk SR6500 not loud

[tk421]

Hi all,

I added an amplifier to my polk SR6500. It's an alpine PDX 4.100

I have each tweeter and each midrange woofer on a separate channel. ie: CH-1 and CH-2 are tweeters L and R CH-3 and CH-4 are mid-woofer L and R

So they are getting 100WRMS each. (except the tweeters - i turned the level down on the head unit - Alpine CDA-9887)

Why aren't these speakers as loud as i hoped?

[Jethro]

Hi all,

I added an amplifier to my polk SR6500. It's an alpine PDX 4.100

I have each tweeter and each midrange woofer on a separate channel. ie: CH-1 and CH-2 are tweeters L and R CH-3 and CH-4 are mid-woofer L and R

So they are getting 100WRMS each. (except the tweeters - i turned the level down on the head unit - Alpine CDA-9887)

Why aren't these speakers as loud as i hoped?

Try bridging the amp to 2 channel (using the SR x-overs) instead of biamping... that may make a difference.

[MacLeod]

Your hearing could always be damaged.

Im running my SR6500's bi-amped with 90 watts per driver and they get plenty loud for me with the gains set at 9:00.

[candaddy]

I've got only 50 watts per speaker with the same wiring setup you have and loudness is not an issue. Are you sure you have your amp/head unit levels set right? Unless you drive around with ear plugs in and have hearing issues, I can't imagine it doesn't get loud enough with 100 watts.

[only126db]

Could be a ton of reasons....

Do you have any sound deadener applied....

Are you completely seperating the rear sound waves from the front...

Speaker placement...

losing sound from air leakeage....

Settings incorrect somewhere in system....

Got a speaker out of phase.....

There are a ton of reasons why.....

Maybe you just expect too much from 1 pair of 6 1/2" speakers....

[exalted512]

I'm thinking you're wanting too loud out of a sound quality speaker...
-Cody

[black magic]

I'm thinking you're wanting too loud out of a sound quality speaker...
-Cody

Too often, that happens to be the case :(

[tk421]

I'm thinking you're wanting too loud out of a sound quality speaker...
-Cody

yup. probably that is the case. i set my gains using a 1KHz tone and a multimeter on Volts-AC.

[candaddy]

Make sure the speakers aren't out of phase then and I guess that's all the advice there is to be had...

I've seen some people run a low-pass crossover on the amp and a high-pass on the head unit (or something else like that) where they accidentally attenuate the entire frequency range. You might be sure something isn't switched on when you meant it to be off.

[dirthog]

yup. probably that is the case. i set my gains using a 1KHz tone and a multimeter on Volts-AC.

Your leaving a lot of power behind when you use a dm to set your gains. Set it by ear.

[1996blackmax]

I went with a -3db test tone when I used my dm for my components. I am currently pushing my speakers with 65 watts RMS and they still get pretty loud. When I had my amp bridged they were getting 210 watts RMS. The extra headroom was pretty darn nice.

[dirthog]

tk421, You might want to try active for more volume.

I think the crossover holds the speakers back. I know I didn't like seeing the crossover fuse light up like a christmas tree.

It didn't click until I was talking about this with someone on another forum.