Here is my system:
Pioneer AVIC-N2 Head Unit
Infinity 6010cs 6 1/2" Component Speakers
Polk db690 6"x9" Speakers
...and of course a Wiring harness adaptor...oh, and no amp or sub...

Here it goes:

I am having a problem with the sound in the front speakers...basically, I am not hearing some of the notes I am accustomed to when listening to partcular songs. Did I hook up the speakers wrong?
Here is what I did:
I took the factory wire that led to the stock 5-1/4" speaker and connected it to the "Source In" on the hide-away Infinity crossover. Then I got some new speaker wire and connected it from the crossover unit's "Woofer Out" to the Infinity 6-1/2" component woofer. Next, I connected some new speaker wire from the "Tweeter Out" on the crossover, to the Infinity tweeter. I taped up the factory tweeter wire from the car and tucked it away.
Is this wrong? Should I have just not installed the crossover units, and simply connected the factory tweeter wire to the Infinity tweeter, and the factory woofer wire to the Inifinity woofer?
Help! My tunes are suffering!!!

 

You started with a non HK system, correct?
Assuming so, the original factory tweeter wiring is simply two wires that come up from the connections at the lower speaker position - both sets of wires go back to the same wires on the back of the head unit.

Is it possible you crossed + and - at any point? Between head unit and crossover, or between crossover and any speaker?
Try pushing balance fully left, then fully right - does the sound from one speaker sound "better" / "cleaner"? If so, maybe a wire is crossed
[for those that don't know: if a wire is crossed you end up with one speaker "pushing" when the other one is "pulling"; the resulting air movement gets cancelled out at some frequencies and the resulting sound is distorted or muddy]

Also, what did you do with the rears? If they are still running, you might try pulling the fade fully to front to remove their effect and see if that helps. Basically with four speakers, you would use fade & balance together to select only one speaker at a time and see what it sounds like.


When Tweeter did the install in GBMINI#2, they crossed some of the speakers - the resulting sound was very muddy and flat; basically horrible!

 

there are adjustments on most crossover units. YOU HAVE TO USE THE CROSSOVER! imagine a tweeter with bass coming out of it. BOOM!

Did you adjust the crossover? Also, are you using an amp or the power from the deck? I have found in the past that the regular power coming from decks aren't clean enough and require an amp.

How much power does the component speaker system ask for?

 

While there are crossover adjustments, if you are using the supplied crossover with the speakers, any adjustment should be "very fine tuning" and the sound should already be OK in the default position

 

ugg default position is always horrible for me though... Each car is different. I guess it depends on the ear though. When I used to install systems in cars, I would sit in the middle of the back seat with my ears at front seat level and listen to some good classical music to fine tune it :O

 

GBMINI: Yes you are correct, I started with a non-HK system. Perhaps I crossed the + and - as you mentioned. I'll try the fade/balance test you suggested to test it.

FlynHawaiian: The crossovers that came with my speakers don't have any adjustments on them...no dials or anything. I am using th power from the deck. The AVIC-N2 is fairly powerful for a headunit. I believe it is 23 RMS watts per channel. The component speakers ask for a minimum of 10 RMS watts. Other posibilities?

 

well best thing to do to determine if you have crossed wires is to get in there with a multi meter and put it on ohms. touch the wire you believe is + on the deck and the + on the incoming to the cross over. Does it beep or anything? if nothing then wrong wire. try again. go through this until you do all of them. Maybe even hook up the stock speaker to where the crossover in is going. how does it sound?

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to bust out the multimeter this weekend. There doesn't seem to be as much treble with the new tweeters I installed, so I'm thinking you are onto something FlynHawaiian. Thanks for the tips. I'll report my findings.

 

too bad your not in california I would try and help you and help you rewire a few things with some thicker stuff but alas your not :(

 

Another option in addition to FlyHawaian's suggestions might be to double check the crossover setting:
According to the user manual there is two possible settings for the + lead of the tweeter. A normal +/- 0db connection or a -3db connection. If you are using the far right + lead on the crossover for the tweeter this is the -3db lead. Try moving the tweeter lead one connection to the left (on the crossover). This should boost the tweeter by 3db. Refer to page 4 of the user manual illustration 8A.

I also read online several reviews that were very positive about these speakers but that they liked real power (from a separate amplifier) before coming alive. These were on the Crutchfield site.

Regards-
Randy