nickwfd92

I have to tell you that I have been reading the past couple of threads about old school audio, and its great that we are still around. The store I worked at in the mid 90's sold MTX JL Sony and OZ. Remember the Mobile ES. I really miss some of the old sckool brands. Now that I am older and can afford the good stuff I have moved to Image Dynamics and am very happy with them and old PPI art series or Power class.
Thank you for posting some old great knowledge.

gpd132

I tried my speaker install yesterday.

I'm still a bit unsure of things. I looked at the photo and your explanation of things. When I did mine I noticed that the positive and negative connectors were opposite from the OEM to the Polk as you mentioned.

However, I noticed that the small positive connection on the OEM was a black/red wire. The small connection on the Polk was also a black/red wire but its marked negative.

So I did not switch the connections, I just plugged them right in. So is it correct? Did GM just mis mark the pos and neg on the factory speakers? I figured since the black/red wires match I must be doing something right. Just to see, I listened to the speakers, then switched the connection arround. I couldn't really hear any difference.

Today I will tackle the rear speakers.

I have a question on my head unit settings for you, but I will ask that later. Its also confusing to me and I think the Bose system kinda throws things out of whack.
The head unit is a JVC-KD-X330BTS.
Thanks

02BlownZ06

If it were me, I honestly would just spend a bit more money and replace all of the stock system and go with one of the new double din head units and some new speakers front and rear. The sound would be so much better for not that much money. This is just my opinion but I am not a fan of the Bose system. There whole concept of using one size driver to produce the majority of the audible audio frequencies besides the low end is against conventional audiophile speaker design AND I don't like the sound. Some people love them though so to each their own. Good luck with your system!

Rob 02

The positive and negative were marked correctly on both speakers. I have tested them with DC current. In order for the Polks to be wired with the correct polarity, the way the system was designed you need to swap the connectors. Ignore wire color. I'm 100% sure about this.

The way you have it now your fronts will be out of phase with the rears and probably out of phase at the crossover point of the woofers. It may take some listening before you realize the difference. The effect of reversing polarity might not be something you notice immediately.

Of course the replacing the entire system would sound better but you are talking about a head unit, custom center console bezel, amp, component speakers, and probably a sub woofer. You would have to take a good portion of the interior out so you may as well do some sound deadening. That is about $1500 to $2000 as a DIY. If you use budget parts maybe $1000. The bezel alone cost over $300.

gpd132

Good thing I didn't put the door panels back on. I guess I will take care of that today and swap those connections. Then replace the rears. After that its back to the JVC head unit and playing with the settings...which is a bit confusing.

Thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted....and probably have a couple more questions.

Rob 02

I forgot about the JVC head unit. An amp and component speakers may not be a bad idea if you are not satisfied with this set up.

racebum

reverse polarity on a mid usually kills the bass. below 1khz is where you really notice it

gpd132

Back here looking for some answers about the settings on the head unit.

I am "head unit dumb" when it comes to these settings. I have no idea what alot of it means. So I guess i'm looking for a "if this was yours" what settings would you select.

Head unit is JVC-KD-X330BTS

I got my front and rear speakers replaced and switched the connections on the front ones so they are correct. I have the head unit, the 4 replacement speakers, and I kept the rest of the Bose stuff. No additional amp, no added subwoofer.

Here are photos of the 3 pages of assorted settings:

racebum

you won't need to worry about the crossover in your application. keep it off

EQ is personal preference. there is always a user customize option. what i generally tell people is slide each band all the way up and all the way down while listening to a repetitive beat. listen to those changes and adjust

most the time in car audio with a system like that you +1 or +2 50-80hz., 100-150hz can be a wildcard either being -1 flat or +1 depends on how much of a wom wom sounding resonance you have. bring down 1khz about -1db and 2khz -2-3db, 12khz +1 and 16khz +1 or +2

this is just a GENERAL starting point based on many systems i have done. it always changes depending on the speakers and car but that seems to happen with many as far as eq settings. sometimes you move more, in my car for example 16khz is +3 you have to experiment but the above is a good starting point to tame out the midrange and bring out the top end

only other thing you will touch is the F/R fader you just adjust to the front until the rear becomes transparent and blends in. sometimes that's zero, sometimes it's F1 or F2 moving toward the front

gpd132

Unfortunately I cannot turn the crossover OFF. Its either 2-way or 3-way. It defaults to 2-way. Things sound really low on 3-way.

I set the SPK/PRE OUT to REAR/SUB.W. When I set it to SUB.W/SUB.W there is nothing going to the rear speakers.

I don't seem to get much out of the Bose sub in the front doors. Don't know if I need to adjust settings or they just suck.

I may need to pull the head unit back out and adjust the small box that came with the Crutchfield stuff. I can adjust the output to all 4 speakers on it.

Rob 02

What box did you get from Crutchfield (PAC Audio ROEM VET1 or Metra)?

In either case the adjustments reduce volume to the door woofers. You should be able to mount it where you can adjust it in the future.

I have the PAC audio unit. It has two capacitors used as bass blockers wired to the front 3.5 speakers. I believe it is crossed over at 150Hz. Since you have a built in cross-over you could remove the caps as well if you want.

Rob 02

With the bass blocker caps you will effectively have two crossovers which may put those speakers 90 deg out of phase with the way the original Bose system was set up. That may be why you didn't hear a difference swapping polarity because either way would still be 90 deg out.

I cant say this for sure but maybe someone else can confirm it. I just know that if I had a passive X-over I wouldn't want caps as bass blockers in with it.

gpd132

I have the Metra XSVI-2004. Its just a box with 4 screws to adjust and plugs into the other connections.

The Polk DB 351's came with the base blockers but I didn't use them.

Looks like I will be pulling the head unit out again and adjusting that box.

racebum

you somehow have the deck set for active crossovers which is what you want if you run separate channels to each speaker

in your case you want full range. there should be some way to default off. plan B is to set it 2-way and the HPF at 60hz

if you run a HPF there is no reason for a passive cap if those have been installed. a single cap is a 6/db oct slope. useful if you have no other options but not necessary if you have a HPF setting

gpd132

I found a couple more pages having to do with crossovers and settings:

racebum

set front and rear HPF to either 50 or 60hz. see which the speakers do better with. this would be 2-way

remove the bass blocker caps as you deck will handle that duty for you and in a better way

Rob 02

The front speakers are 3.5's with the stock door woofers.

racebum, don't you think the fronts should be crossed over above 100-150 so that you can turn them up with out breaking up.

racebum

for sure. if you're still using a 3.5 it's basically pointless to feed them anything under 150. for some reason i was thinking 6.5s in the front, like you did a coax or component set

Rob 02

gpd132, did your rear speakers (Polk db651 I am assuming) seem quieter to you? Mine seem quieter than the stock ones. Maybe they just have a wider dynamic range or need to brake in.

The Bose's seemed to be all mid's and nasal sounding but louder.

gpd132

Its been a long day today and I have not been able to fool with the settings.

I went with JBL Stage 2's in the rear. And yes, the DB 351's are 3.5's with the stock Bose woofers still in the doors.

I'll play with those settings tomorrow and get back to yall.

I don't have any bass blocker caps. Only the Polks came with them and I did not attach them.

By the way, what is HPF?

thanks