[Stealth1233]

Hi guys, as I am trying to complete the long project of finding the perfect sound system I have come across some issues. I currently have focal isu 690 component speakers in the front of my car hooked up to an alpine pdx 4.100 4 channel amp. One day I hopped in my car and when turning up my speakers I was getting this distortion/crackly/possibly blown sound from tweeters. To this day I cannot tell what its issue is. It seems to happen when I turn my radio up (not at max) and despite the levels that my amp is at will sometimes produce this issue. The reason I have a feeling it is not blown is it only acts up on certain songs, almost like a certain frequency squeezes past the inline cross overs produced. It isn't the speaker wire itself as I have checked it many times, but I am hoping it is an issue with how the amp is set up. Since it has inline crossovers I have both woofers and tweeters connected to the 4 channel amp to my kenwood ddx24bt headunit that has front and rear R/L pre-outs. I am gonna post a photo of what the setting options are for input/output as that part could be the issue and has always confused me. I wouldn't need to turn on the high pass or low pass filter because of the inline crossovers correct. I am looking to take every component out and rewire it here soon. What is everyones thoughts or reccommendations, is there a way to tell if its blown, is it how I have it set up, what would be the best set up? Thanks guys!

 

[GotFrogs]

What else has changed since before this began happening? New phone? New streaming service? Does this happen when you listen to music stored somewhere other than your phone?

 

[miniSQ]

I would use the HP filter to cut the extreme low freq's out of the focal woofer. Can you post a picture of how your amp is currently set up?

 

[blenton]

Just to be clear... are you running each tweeter/woofer pair off of one channel of the amp? or each driver off of it's own amplifier channel, utilizing all four channels of the amp? If memory serves, the ISU 690 uses a simple 6db/octave inline crossover (a simple capacitor) on the tweeter and runs the woofer wide open. IMO, 6db/octave is usually insufficient low frequency protection if you push much power to a tweeter. Manufacturers often rate their tweeters RMS and program power with a 24 db/oct filter in place (and usually specify the frequency - often in the 2500hz range). 100 watts RMS per side would, IMO push the tweeter past it's happy point. 100 watts RMS to the tweeter alone and it will prolly die and ignominious death. Just my two cents...

 

[maybebigfootisblury]

If you are not running rear speakers, your head unit is capable of running front components + sub active. You would utilize the crossovers in the head unit (selectable slope up to 24 db/oct), which would eliminate the need for the amplifier and passive crossovers. You would also be able to time align the speakers individually.

Audio settings start on pg. 49 :
https://manual.kenwood.com/files/B5A-1362-00.pdf