I recently picked up a 2005 MCS. The car is currently equipped with a factory head unit, JL Audio TR690-TXi rear speakers and JL Audio TR650-CWi front speakers.


I can't seem to find any information on the TR650-CWi speakers. They appear to have capacitors rather than crossovers. The rears sound great, but I have to have the fader set almost to full front to get much sound out of the fronts.


I have a Kenwood KIV-BT901 that I will be installing in place of the factory radio, but I'm trying to decide if there is anything I can do to improve the output of the fronts and balance out the sound.


Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

Question about the stock wiring setup. How and where is the signal split for the factory front component (Hi-Fi) speakers?


On my car, the JL Audio front speakers are fed from the factory wires to the mid-range/woofer, with a capacitor that feeds the tweeters. The factory tweeter wires are unused, tucked into the door.


I am now wondering if I should hook the JL Audio tweeters to the factory tweeter wires and bypass the capacitors.

 

Are you using "Hi-Fi" in the generic sense, or did your car originally have the Harman Kardon Hi-Fi system installed from the factory? Based on your issues it sounds to me like the previous owner simply changed out the H/K speakers hoping to get better sound (maybe the original amp died...) and the amp blew the speakers, or the 4-ohm speakers blew those channels in the amp (if it's in there). The "Boost" HU is the same for both levels of quality: H/K and non-"hi-fi" and it wouldn't put out much power.

If you're unsure of the original setup, open the passenger-side cubby hole in the boot and see if there's a factory amp tucked in there. If not, can you reach forward enough to feel if there is a vacant harness and large plug for where the amp once was? It would look/feel like this:




If there's an orphaned harness and plug there, you probably had the H/K amp and system originally. If the amp's still there (and working) you may have bigger problems because you can't use "normal" (4-ohm) speakers with the H/K 2-ohm amp output.

To answer your question about where the factory signals (channels) are split depends on whether H/K or base model audio. If H/K, the signals are split from way back at the amp and the speaker wires are all individual from there. If non-H/K, I believe the door speaker signals are not split from the HU, they just split off the tweeter wires and use the aforementioned capacitors (as low-pass filters) for the tweeters. H/K and non-H/K door wiring harnesses are the same.

Sorry to go off on a tangent about H/K, but you've posted conflicting symptoms. I doubt the factory Boost HU is anywhere near powerful enough to blow your front speakers, and I'm not aware of the likelihood of the front channel going bad inside the factory HU.

 

I probably used "hi-fi" wrong. The car has Base model audio, not H-K. It is apparent that it used to have an aftermarket head unit installed that has since been replaced with a factory head unit.

I just replaced the factory radio with a Kenwood head unit but I am still not getting adequate output from the front speakers. The fader has to be set to full front if I want to balance the sound front to back. Otherwise, the rear speakers overpower the fronts.

 

Okay, gotcha. That situation is an easier fix. Any idea if there's an add-on amp that might have the front channels blown? What is your reasoning to say, "It is apparent that it used to have an aftermarket head unit installed that has since been replaced with a factory head unit"?

Same output problems with the factory Boost HU and Kenwood HU?

 

No amp that I have found thus far. Have checked both rear cubby areas but not under the seats yet.

The reason I say it used to have an aftermarket radio is because it has the wrong screws in one side of the down tubes, the wrong screws holding the radio in place, the wiring harness was not bolted to the back of the radio, a yellow wire with a wire nut is dangling from the steering column and the radio controls on the steering wheel do not work.

Yes, same output problems with both the Boost and Kenwood radios.

 

Is the sound that does come out of the fronts crappy, or just weak? Are the fronts loud enough just by themselves? It kinda sounds to me like the rears are being amplified (separate single-channel sub amp, maybe?) and the fronts are just normal - but sound crappy related to the rears. I don't think the front channel(s) could be quashed down by crappy wiring or blown speakers - the watts either go through or they don't.

Since someone installed an aftermarket system, there could be a ground-loop isolator (used mostly for auto electrical interference, but...), and/or some other grounding issues.

Of course, your speakers could just be FUBAR'd and you're only getting a little tweeter action. Other than that,

 

The fronts sound good, but muffled. If there is an amp in the system, it is being fed speaker level inputs somewhere down stream from the head unit.

At this point, I think I'm going to have to dismantle the interior and trace the wiring to make sure there are no hidden surprises. At least it will give me the opportunity to install some noise damping products.

 

Let us know what you find - I'm curious.

If you do replace the door speakers, I would recommend the Polk Audio DB6501. They come with 6.5" woofers, perfect-sized tweeters and crossovers. $115 on Amazon right now. I have them (as do many others) and they're great for the Mini application.

Oh yeah, and the MFSW interface. See my post below about my complete install, along with the PAC SWI-RC adapter.

 

Update: life got in the way, so I've been living with this for a while. Today I had some time and decided I was going to swap out the front speakers with a pair of JBLs I have left over from a previous car.

I started on the driver's door, which turned out to be a stroke of luck. It turns out that whoever installed the speakers (a couple of previous owners ago) wired the left front out of phase from the rest of the vehicle. I corrected the wiring and now the output and the sound quality is much improved.

For me the jury is still out on the JL Audios. They still seem a bit harsh to my ears and compared to the Focals I had in a Volvo a couple of years ago. But at least I can now give them a fair audition.