I bought mb quart's RSD 215 6.5 components and intalled it myself. Completing the installation and testing it out, i felt the tweeters were a little earpiercing. Also the bass response from the midbass was pretty crappy. Maybe i installed it wrong? Wired crossover wrong? Right now the speaker is only hooked up to a 40w alpine headunit and no amp. Specs say that it can handle between 50-130 watts. Would an amp make a difference in the quality of the sound? If anyone knows about intalling/wiring mb components or components in general, I'd appreciate the help...

 

Youre problem is the HU powering it...once you get an amp it will sound a lot better!

Derek

 

You alpine HU says 40Watts however you are probably getting about 20 Watts, underpowering speakers can make them sound bad. If you think you hooked them up wrong just check all your (+) and (-) then make sure the mid is hooked up to the mid section of the x-over and same for the tweeters.

 

Add amp now

 

Where did you install your components? In the stock location, you will definitely find your midbass lacking...and everything will be off axis. I made the mistake of putting my set into the stock location, and hope to move them to kick panels later on.

As others have said, I too agree that you should put an outboard amplifier on them.

 

Kickpanels are that much better?

 

Definitely for aiming/imaging. The stock location sucks imo. I also want to have my tweeter close to my mid to have them close as possible on the same axis, to prevent overpowering by one or the other. Also, my mid is not fully sealed against my door, and so if I create a nice sealed kick panel, I think I stand a chance of gaining more midbass out of it.

 

The sealed kick will help response, yes. And it will help with imaging, in some ways, but hurt it in others. Most people prefer the kicks though, over all.

I had this same problem, boyzindahood978, when I first hooked up my stereo. I had an old crappy Panasonic unit from my old car. When I got my new HU with auto-eq, it helped BIG time. The problem is, the tweaters resonate with the glass when in the stock location, that's where they get that earpiercing effect. And the mids are next to your leg, muffling them. The auto-eq on my deck softened the highs at about 1,000 Hz (about where glass resonates) and then pulled up some of the mid range to help compensate there. Huge difference. So you might wanna try tweaking your EQ if you have one, or invest in one if you don't.

I would recommend an amp if you want to turn up the volume at all. Those 20 watts RMS will distort quickly if you try to turn up the volume, and ultimately ruin your nice new components. There's an old rule in car audio: better to have too much power than too little. But even without the amp, it is still possible to get great sound, just at lower volumes.

 

Right now I do have the midbass in the stock location and I placed the tweeter in the A pillar. Is there any way to seal the stock location to give a better bass response? I have the tweeters flushed surface mounted. Would it be better to have the both tweeters angled or just the driver's side?...or is it better to place it in the door panel? Also I bolted the crossover to a metal beam inside the door. I heard doing that might cause some distortion. Is that true?