Hey all,

I have a 98 ford contour and I just purchased and installed a JVC
KD-G310 CD/MP3 Receiver (18w RMSx4 (50Wx4 MAX), and replaced all four
speakers with some 2-way Pioneer TS-G6840R (6"x8", impedance 4ohms,
sensitivity 92db/w, freq response 35-22k hz, 150w max, 30w nominal).

I was really anticipating the sound difference over the stock but that
quickly turned to disappointment. Did the sound improve? Yes. The bass
flutter is gone, the highs are a bit crisper; but to my surprise I
start getting distortion at far too low of a volume (sound level 20 on
the stereo's range of 0-50).

My choice for the items I bought was to get a great sound without
busting my wallet. My intention really wasn't to create a competition
system but something that could go loud enough for my taste without
distortion. I guess I underperformed in that area.

So, how do I proceed from here? Is the source of the disortion in the
speakers or from the receiver? Would an amp and/or powered subwoofer
help at all (in terms of releaving stress from the mids)? Or is this
about as good as it gets with the equipment I've got?

My musical taste mostly consists of metal, which is usually light on
the bass, but do occasionally listen to Linkin Park and similar bands
that have some bass line, but nothing bass-heavy like rap.

Thanks for your time and look forward to some help from you masters!

-ed

Your Head unit's should say it all. Most HU are of the range 50x4 max which
is 17x4 RMS at 5% THD. 5% percent distortion means that the music will be
unbearable at 75% of the volume.

Another thing to consider is the speaker placement, is the speaker
distorting or there are othre things that have started speaking for example,
door trims. if things are OK here then you should consider using an external
amp which are in the range 0.05% THD

--
The best is yet to come
V

"Vivek Kapoor" wrote in message
...
Your Head unit's should say it all. Most HU are of the range 50x4 max
which
is 17x4 RMS at 5% THD. 5% percent distortion means that the music will be
unbearable at 75% of the volume.

Another thing to consider is the speaker placement, is the speaker
distorting or there are othre things that have started speaking for
example,
door trims. if things are OK here then you should consider using an
external
amp which are in the range 0.05% THD


I agree with you that an external amp should be used. Even just a small
20x4 amp would be better than the headunit's onboard amplifier.

As to THD, specifications of the KD-G310 say that THD = to 1%. All decent
head units are in that range, not the 5% that you claim. Total Harmonic
Distortion has very little to do with the distortion we're talking about.
THD is in play at all times at low volumes as well as high volumes. The
distortion we're talking about is just at high volumes where the signal can
not be accurately reproduced by the amplifier.

As to THD, specifications of the KD-G310 say that THD = to 1%. All
decent
head units are in that range, not the 5% that you claim. Total Harmonic
Distortion has very little to do with the distortion we're talking about.
THD is in play at all times at low volumes as well as high volumes. The
distortion we're talking about is just at high volumes where the signal
can
not be accurately reproduced by the amplifier.

....and that's harmonic distortion. THD changes with output level. In fact,
it's often highest at lowest power levels (remember, it's a %), decreases,
and then rises again once you reach clipping. It may very well be 5% at 17
watts, but only 0.1% at 12 watts.

MZ wrote:
As to THD, specifications of the KD-G310 say that THD = to 1%. All
decent
head units are in that range, not the 5% that you claim. Total Harmonic
Distortion has very little to do with the distortion we're talking about.
THD is in play at all times at low volumes as well as high volumes. The
distortion we're talking about is just at high volumes where the signal
can
not be accurately reproduced by the amplifier.

...and that's harmonic distortion. THD changes with output level. In fact,
it's often highest at lowest power levels (remember, it's a %), decreases,
and then rises again once you reach clipping. It may very well be 5% at 17
watts, but only 0.1% at 12 watts.

If I am understanding correctly, then the problem is not the speakers
but the HU. So basically, I should look for an external amp with at
least 50x4 with THD 0.1% ? If I can just double the volume I'd be a
happy camper.

...and that's harmonic distortion. THD changes with output level. In
fact,
it's often highest at lowest power levels (remember, it's a %),
decreases,
and then rises again once you reach clipping. It may very well be 5% at
17
watts, but only 0.1% at 12 watts.

If I am understanding correctly, then the problem is not the speakers
but the HU. So basically, I should look for an external amp with at
least 50x4 with THD 0.1% ? If I can just double the volume I'd be a
happy camper.

Yes, at a 50x2 amp should do fine (amplifying the front, keeping the rears
running off the head unit as merely "fill"). 50x4 is fine too, of course.

I can tell you from experience (a 97 Ford Contour GL with the Pioneer
6x8 speakers) that it really is just the speakers not getting enough
power from the HU. Throw an amp on their and they sound really good in
the stock locations. For the fronts, I actually changed up eventually to
components with the mids in the doors in home-made adapters and the 1"
tweets mounted to the door sail panels up top. Sounds awesome. I had a
Phoenix Gold ZX450 (75x4) amp and I couldn't have been happier.

Brandonb


Soulblazer wrote:

Hey all,

I have a 98 ford contour and I just purchased and installed a JVC
KD-G310 CD/MP3 Receiver (18w RMSx4 (50Wx4 MAX), and replaced all four
speakers with some 2-way Pioneer TS-G6840R (6"x8", impedance 4ohms,
sensitivity 92db/w, freq response 35-22k hz, 150w max, 30w nominal).

I was really anticipating the sound difference over the stock but that
quickly turned to disappointment. Did the sound improve? Yes. The bass
flutter is gone, the highs are a bit crisper; but to my surprise I
start getting distortion at far too low of a volume (sound level 20 on
the stereo's range of 0-50).

My choice for the items I bought was to get a great sound without
busting my wallet. My intention really wasn't to create a competition
system but something that could go loud enough for my taste without
distortion. I guess I underperformed in that area.

So, how do I proceed from here? Is the source of the disortion in the
speakers or from the receiver? Would an amp and/or powered subwoofer
help at all (in terms of releaving stress from the mids)? Or is this
about as good as it gets with the equipment I've got?

My musical taste mostly consists of metal, which is usually light on
the bass, but do occasionally listen to Linkin Park and similar bands
that have some bass line, but nothing bass-heavy like rap.

Thanks for your time and look forward to some help from you masters!

-ed

Soulblazer wrote:

least 50x4 with THD 0.1% ? If I can just double the volume I'd be a
Nearly, just change ^this one. Smaller is better in this case.

Lukas