Speakers and Amps

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Probably a long-shot posting the question here, but here goes.
I have a 4 channel Kicker amp hooked up to Alpine DDD Drive Splits at the front and Alpine generic 3 ways in the parcel shelf.

To get the sound at a reasonable level through the front speakers, I have to turn the gain up to full for the front channels and to nothing for the rears.
I figure either
1. The amp is a bit of dud or
2. The speakers are incompatible.

Any suggestions?

[craiga]

Glenn,

Check that the impedence of your speakers match - this is most likely the problem. Your amp output should also be able to drive your speakers - again related to impedence.

It should be marked on the back of the amp, and on the back of the speakers.

Cheers,

Craig

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Thanks Craig
Both sets of speakers are 4ohms, the fronts rated at 40w RMS (150max) and the rears about 30w RMS (100 max).
I think I need to check the amp settings, but they are in a real bugger of location. Watch this space.

[fccool59]

the triaxles or what ever you have in the back are probably more efficient with the sacrafice of sound quality and power handling, the dddrives up front would probably kill the rears if you match the amp to the speakers, not sure what the rms is of the dddrives but they probably have a rms rating on them, as you probably know, only match with rms ratings becuase the peak ratings are useless, the rears being cheaper full range probably have a max rating.
sounds like you need to get a descent amp upfront, if you are on a budget you could use a jaycar amp.
other things that might affect it is the mounting of the mids, are they in the door, are they screwed in tight and firm aginst wood or steel, just having screws into a door trim wont work very well, they need to be firm againts something more solid.

[fccool59]

just noticed you posted the power rating, have you tried switching the fronts and the rears at the amp output?

[Ed]

stinky,

unusual you need to turn down rear gain to increase front gain.

they should be independent.  wires arent crossed?

RCA's plugged in correctly?

Leon,
Im using a 4 channel Jaycar amp with great success coupled with Jaycar splits and 2 way rear fills.  very good budget gear...

like you my rear speakers are not matched perfectly RMS wise to the fronts with no ill effects.

my biggest drama is too much bass from the subs  

sorry to be of no help.

Cheers

Ed

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Thanks Guys, I think I need to go through the whole system again.

For those who are interested.

Clarion CD Head Unit with RCA pre-outs?
Clarion EQ with 5 channel output and sub control
Kicker 4x25w Amp hooked up to 5" DDDrive Alpine splits in sealed pods and Alpine 6" 2 ways in the parcel shelf.
Kicker 2x25w Amp hooked up to a Kenwood 12" sub

All this gear is about 10 years old apart from the sub, the original pair of 10" Alpine subs are now part of my home theatre system DOOF, DOOF!

[Ed]

tried bypasing the EQ Stinky?

i havent seen an EQ for a long time.
All the amps have built in cross overs now and the HU's have some form of EQ control.

i found some old gear the other day and laughed, i had external active crossover, amps with no crossovers, an EQ which also boosted the signals.. only had low level outputs too.  

I've got a 10inch Rockford Fosgate Punch sub from 15 years ago I still never used.. lol


Cheers

Ed