I continue to be satisfied with the Pyle 6x9s in the back of my 03
Impala, and I also purchased, from www.mcminone.com, some Pyle
adhesive sound deadening mats. I managed to cover the gaping hole in
the rear subdeck between the 6x9s, as well as add some material inside
the front doors near the existing GM 6" cones.

Results? outside noise and panel resonance has been cut down
substantially - BUT - I do have to turn up my stereo a lot more since
applying the mats. It seems now that the only place audio comes from
in my car are the SPEAKERS! Which is the whole point, right?

Well, it also seems that those cheap cardboard front door 6" rounds
put out more bass than either the GM cardboard rear 6x9s in that car
or the Pyles I put in. And the matting I put in around the front
speakers has actually resulted in an extended, deeper bass from them,
even at lowered apparent volumes. Disappointingly, this is the
reverse of what I expected - which was that I would hear less bass
from the fronts and all around, and would be able to turn my bass back
up from -3 to unity or 'zero'(on a scale of -5 to +5 adjustment
increments.)

Any comments/suggestions on what went "wrong" here? Or am I now just
hearing what those fronts actually sound like w/o help from the
surrounding sheetmetal?
And could it be time to replace those flimsy woofers in front with
some polys?
; )

Thanks

-CC
"Work spazzes me out...
....Roller-coasters calm me down"

Any comments/suggestions on what went "wrong" here? Or am I now just
hearing what those fronts actually sound like w/o help from the
surrounding sheetmetal?

A seemingly unrelated question: refresh my memory - what are you using for
a head unit and/or amplification?

And could it be time to replace those flimsy woofers in front with
some polys?

Depends. Do you like them?

"MZ" wrote in message ...
Any comments/suggestions on what went "wrong" here? Or am I now just
hearing what those fronts actually sound like w/o help from the
surrounding sheetmetal?

A seemingly unrelated question: refresh my memory - what are you using for
a head unit and/or amplification?
I know where you are going with this question and I'm going to give
you a loaded answer: I'm trying to improve the sound quality of my
existing audio system by upgrading easily swappable parts and by
improving the acoustic environment within which they operate.

And could it be time to replace those flimsy woofers in front with
some polys?

Depends. Do you like them?
Well I never thought that a smaller speaker could deliver more bass
than a bigger one - but that seems to be the case of the two-ways in
the front doors: The 6" round woofer outbasses both the GM stock 6x9s
and the Pyle 6x9s - BUT - the issue is, is that real bass coming from
those 6" rounds, or is it the distortion of the cardboard I'm hearing?
And if I replace just the woofer, how can I be assured of a proper or
at least good match with the separate tweeter?

Thanks for further comments and suggs.

-CC

A seemingly unrelated question: refresh my memory - what are you using
for
a head unit and/or amplification?
I know where you are going with this question and I'm going to give
you a loaded answer: I'm trying to improve the sound quality of my
existing audio system by upgrading easily swappable parts and by
improving the acoustic environment within which they operate.

Actually, you may not know where I was going. There are two things that
occur frequently when using stock head units - first, the stock speakers
often outperform aftermarket speakers because they're more efficient. This
alone would explain your finding. Second, the head unit may be
intentionally designed to either filter the rears or provide less power to
the rears. This makes sense because the bulk of your sound should be coming
in front of you. You do have the option of fixing this issue by adding
external amplification while keeping your stock head unit. Then again, I'm
not so sure it's a problem.



And could it be time to replace those flimsy woofers in front with
some polys?

Depends. Do you like them?
Well I never thought that a smaller speaker could deliver more bass
than a bigger one - but that seems to be the case of the two-ways in
the front doors: The 6" round woofer outbasses both the GM stock 6x9s
and the Pyle 6x9s - BUT - the issue is, is that real bass coming from
those 6" rounds, or is it the distortion of the cardboard I'm hearing?
And if I replace just the woofer, how can I be assured of a proper or
at least good match with the separate tweeter?

Thanks for further comments and suggs.

As I explained above, replacing the woofer may produce unpleasant results.
By the way, there's no general attribute to 6x9's that would dictate better
bass response when compared to 6" drivers.

Another thing you could try is playing with the phase of the rear speakers.
First, make sure they're in phase with each other. Then, try reversing the
phase of both rear speakers with respect to the phase of the fronts. Or, an
easier way of deducing whether or not phase is an issue...see if the bass
response improves by balancing all the way to the right or left, or fading
all the way to the rear.

"MZ" wrote in message ...
A seemingly unrelated question: refresh my memory - what are you using
for
a head unit and/or amplification?
I know where you are going with this question and I'm going to give
you a loaded answer: I'm trying to improve the sound quality of my
existing audio system by upgrading easily swappable parts and by
improving the acoustic environment within which they operate.

Actually, you may not know where I was going. There are two things that
occur frequently when using stock head units - first, the stock speakers
often outperform aftermarket speakers because they're more efficient. This
alone would explain your finding. Second, the head unit may be
intentionally designed to either filter the rears or provide less power to
the rears. This makes sense because the bulk of your sound should be coming
in front of you. You do have the option of fixing this issue by adding
external amplification while keeping your stock head unit. Then again, I'm
not so sure it's a problem.

Thanks! It's just that i was anticipating a load of "get a stronger
head unit!!" responses to this, so I wanted to preempt that
possibility. Nothin' personal.

snip this is getting long : )

As I explained above, replacing the woofer may produce unpleasant results.
By the way, there's no general attribute to 6x9's that would dictate better
bass response when compared to 6" drivers.

Another thing you could try is playing with the phase of the rear speakers.
First, make sure they're in phase with each other. Then, try reversing the
phase of both rear speakers with respect to the phase of the fronts. Or, an
easier way of deducing whether or not phase is an issue...see if the bass
response improves by balancing all the way to the right or left, or fading
all the way to the rear.
____________
I checked the absolute phase of the GM 6x9s with a 9V battery so I
know which wire is + and -. Yeah I could flip them though and see if
it changes the volume from the back.

I mean, overall the sound is tighter, cleaner, but just a tad softer,
with the new pyle 6x9s in back and the acoustic mats in back and in
the front doors.
I just wanted some reviews of what I did to make sure I'm doing things
properly.

regards,

CC

Thanks! It's just that i was anticipating a load of "get a stronger
head unit!!" responses to this, so I wanted to preempt that
possibility. Nothin' personal.

I can see where you're coming from. For a while I kept the stock head unit
in my car, despite having installed expensive speakers and three large
amplifiers. Since then, I've replaced the head unit with a computer that
provides a digital output to a "high-end" DAC, and guess what? There's no
significant difference in sound quality! So although most people try to
emphasize how important the source is, they often fail to recognize that
many of the newer stock head units perform as well as aftermarket ones
(that's not to say all of them do though).

On 10 Oct 2004 11:03:30 -0700, (ChrisCoaster) wrote:
a head unit and/or amplification?
I know where you are going with this question and I'm going to give
you a loaded answer: I'm trying to improve the sound quality of my
existing audio system by upgrading easily swappable parts and by
improving the acoustic environment within which they operate.

My daily driver is a '94 Deville that still has the stock head unit
since I can't find a full size one I like better. I've got a set of
Alpine 6x9 speakers in the back and Polks in the front. While I don't
come close to the performance of a system with a sub I have enough
bass to make the metal rattle and shake the mirrors with no
distortion.

I know your happy with your Pyle speakers but you might want to try a
set of higher quality speakers just to see if it is a speaker issue or
if there is something wrong with your existing head unit.

Steve B.