Tower speakers just playing bass?

bcmach · Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 5

I am installing a new amp and tower speakers and when I tested them all they were putting out was bass? I checked all my wiring and can't find the problem. any ideas? I can barely hear some music from them but I have to put my ear to them. I tried adjusting the output, gain and crossover on the amp but no dice.

ckligor · Soul Rider Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Posts: 454 City: A-town

does your amp have a crossover in it? Did you clip out you mid/tweets?

bcmach · Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 5

Yeah, my amp has a built in crossover. What do you mean "clip out my mids/tweets" I tried testing each speaker alone, I tried shutting everything down, disconnect battery and start over, I tried adjusting all the settings on my deck but nothing is working. Could it possibly be my speaker cable? I have a tower harness ordered from bullet ski lines but while I was installing the amp I just wanted to test it using regular speaker wire that came with my amp install kit.

ckligor · Soul Rider Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Posts: 454 City: A-town

How many wires go to each speaker. I assume 2 but some high end speakers have 4. You need to take a walkman and test the speakers off that and see if you get the full range of sound. Assuming you have a 2 wire set up I would make sure you don't have the low pass filter on, and make sure your not hooked in to the sub out low level output of your deck. If you have a 4 wire set up I would get out a volt meter and make sure you have the wiring correct.

Geoff Standish · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 843 City: Calgary

If all your wiring is correct, I'd say ckligor's got it. I'd guess the low pass filter is on. You're going to want to change that over to the high pass filter setting.

bcmach · Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 5

I adjusted everything, high pass filter is on and now I can hear music but if I turn it up much at all I get a high pitched buzzing and a lot of distortion? I tried another pair of speakers and it was the same. Could the problem be somewhere with my wiring route. I kept the power and ground to the amp away from other wiring(but they are next to eachother), the speaker wires aren't near anything. Could it be my RCA cables?

bcmach · Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 5

Think I found the problem. This is my first install and when I went shopping for an amp the guys at best buy sold me a monoblock amp and told me to wire both my speakers to the single output, and i just needed to match my ohms and watts needed. I did some searching on the internet and I read some monos are not "Stereo" amps, pretty much just made for subs. I figured that wopuld explain my low frequency issue? Can someone confirm this? I'm thinking I need to take the amp back and get a two channel stereo amp. Sorry for all the questions, this is probably obvious stuff to most. Thanks.

wakeboarderdave1 · Posted: Apr 08, 2007 7:25 am Post subject:

How many tower speakers do you have? If you have more than two I would get a 4 channel amp. Go onto crutchfield and they have a chat thing where you can talk with a person that works there. Give them the specs of your speakers and such and see what they suggest for you to get. Then go to your local shop and get what they recommend and save some money! Tell us what kind of tower speakers you have as well and we might be able to help you out.

wakeboarderdave1 · Posted: Apr 08, 2007 7:29 am Post subject:

Also remember that it's generally better to be over powered than to be underpowered when it comes to amps.

bcmach · Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 5

Done, got a new amp, system sounds awesome!!