Kee/CDT speakers less volume than stock monsoons?
04-23-2018, 03:36 PM
#1
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Kee/CDT speakers less volume than stock monsoons? Hi all!
I just replaced my stock monsoon speakers in my 2002 TA this weekend with the Kee audio stage 3 setup. I was already running an aftermarket head unit (a Clarion NX405).
The setup sounds beautiful. There's no denying these speakers are significantly better sounding than the stock monsoons, but they don't seem to be as loud, and they are nowhere near as loud as the significantly cheaper Infinity Primus speakers on the same head unit in my wife's Avalanche with the factory Bose amp.
Is this normal or did I do something wrong during the install? Nothing had changed in my head unit settings, and no settings in there appear to make a volume change.
I just replaced my stock monsoon speakers in my 2002 TA this weekend with the Kee audio stage 3 setup. I was already running an aftermarket head unit (a Clarion NX405).
The setup sounds beautiful. There's no denying these speakers are significantly better sounding than the stock monsoons, but they don't seem to be as loud, and they are nowhere near as loud as the significantly cheaper Infinity Primus speakers on the same head unit in my wife's Avalanche with the factory Bose amp.
Is this normal or did I do something wrong during the install? Nothing had changed in my head unit settings, and no settings in there appear to make a volume change.
04-24-2018, 07:28 AM
#4
Unlike the Camaro Monsoon, Firebird Monsoon speakers are all 4-ohm except for the door mids. The amp is not 2-ohm stable on the other channels. Besides, replacing 2-ohm door speakers with 4-ohm only reduces volume by 3dB - about one click of the volume ****... and that's only if the replacements weren't at least 3dB more efficient (which I'm sure the CDT speakers are).
Is it possible that you have one side wired in reverse? The phase interference would cause exactly the kind of volume reduction you describe.
Is it possible that you have one side wired in reverse? The phase interference would cause exactly the kind of volume reduction you describe.
04-24-2018, 12:55 PM
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I did one side and my buddy did the other, so it's possible. I think I'm going to go ahead and get back in there this weekend and verify everything's wired the same.
For what it's worth, I recorded sound level with an (un-calibrated) app on my phone with the system turned all the way up to 40 (the high end of the scale for the Clarion) and it read 83dB. volume level 20 was about 75dB, and the sound from my exhaust at idle was about 65dB.
For what it's worth, I recorded sound level with an (un-calibrated) app on my phone with the system turned all the way up to 40 (the high end of the scale for the Clarion) and it read 83dB. volume level 20 was about 75dB, and the sound from my exhaust at idle was about 65dB.
04-29-2018, 05:36 PM
#6
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04-30-2018, 12:47 PM
#8
I must have overlooked this earlier... Bose factory speakers on Camaros are actually 1-ohm. Just goes to show that you can replace with better speakers, even though they're higher impedance, without any impact to overall volume. And the amps love it because less current = less heat.
05-01-2018, 10:09 AM
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I'm installing my Kee Audio DVC sail speakers this weekend and was trying to find out the same thing. How do you know if you have the wires reversed? (other than trying both options and seeing which is louder) I have 2 red and 2 black wires from the stock speakers.
05-01-2018, 11:39 AM
#10
It actually doesn't really matter which way you connect as long as you do the same for all speakers. The problem occurs when you have one speaker wired one way and another wired opposite. That is called "out of phase" because one speaker cone is moving out while the other is moving in, essentially cancelling each other out.
The red wires are positive and the black are negative. Your speaker will have its terminals marked + and - or it will have terminals of different sizes. The larger terminals are positive and the smaller ones are negative. Connect the two red wires to the two positive terminals and the two black wires to the two negative terminals, keeping them in pairs.
If you really want to be sure, you can use a 1.5V battery like a AA. Connect a wire to a large terminal and another wire to the corresponding small terminal. Now hold one wire to the negative (flat) end of the battery and briefly touch the other wire to the positive (bump) end of the battery. If the speaker cone moves out then you have the correct polarity. If the speaker cone moves in then you have reversed polarity.
The red wires are positive and the black are negative. Your speaker will have its terminals marked + and - or it will have terminals of different sizes. The larger terminals are positive and the smaller ones are negative. Connect the two red wires to the two positive terminals and the two black wires to the two negative terminals, keeping them in pairs.
If you really want to be sure, you can use a 1.5V battery like a AA. Connect a wire to a large terminal and another wire to the corresponding small terminal. Now hold one wire to the negative (flat) end of the battery and briefly touch the other wire to the positive (bump) end of the battery. If the speaker cone moves out then you have the correct polarity. If the speaker cone moves in then you have reversed polarity.
06-11-2018, 04:49 PM
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You can also just buy the Metra 72-4568 speaker harness (about 5 bucks on Amazon), and they'll only plug into the CDTs one way, and you don't have to do any splicing. At least for the door mid-ranges, that is. This is what I ended up doing when I went back in there.
06-12-2018, 08:25 AM
#13
I put a CDT level 2 audio setup in my 4th gen Z28 with a Excelon 998 head-unit and it blew the stock system away. One thing I had to do though was reverse the polarity on the 6.5" sail panel subs to get them in phase with the rest of the speakers. I used the plug -n- play adapters and triple checked the wiring to verify I had all the wires connected correctly and they were, but the sails were still out of phase. So instead of cutting the factory harness, I reversed the polarity at the adapter harness...Night and day difference!