Boston Acoustics Pro60 don't sound right!!!
 

Well I have a kenwood ddx-8017 and boston acoustics pro60 components. I have a JLw7 sub in the hatch. Basically, I had an installer redo my whole trunk (JL amp 300/2 and 500/1) under plexiglass and it looks great!! (i'll post pics) however, my components sound like crap! It sounds like ur listening to a small portable radio, the mid range instruments are non exsistent. I've tried the EQ on my kenwood but nothing works which leads me to believe that the connection isn't correct. Does anyone know of any possiblities as to what is making my pro60's sound like crap?

If you have access to the crossovers, try and switch one of the wires on one of the woofers (not the sub, but the door woofer). Switch the negative and positive (leave the tweeter as is). It could just be that they were connected (in the doors) out of phase.

make usre you dont have your midbass and tweeter wires mixed up, that would sound like there is no midrange or midbass, and will blow your tweets in a hurry

b

iight, i'm taking it back to the installer today, you think he would know this stuff.....anyways, i'm gonna suggest the things yall are telling me to him. i haven't even listened to the stereo cuz i'm so angry....lol.

put the bostons on a kippell tester and you will see why they do not sound right :)

You mean a Klippel Analyzer system? I seriously doubt any installer in the US has one ;)

Good luck fixing it Azula .. I know you are pissed right now, but just be cool when you take it back .. tell him the problem and he'll work with you. The last thing he will want to hear is accusations ... just a heads up.

Please keep us updated on the progress and again, good luck
Jim

Make sure the unit is not in some kind of 5.1 DSP mode. If you have it set for ProLogic II and have no center channel, the left and right main speakers will only be getting surround information. In other words they will not be getting a full range signal.

and of course, i personlly hope they ran new wires into the door ;) i do that for every Z install...just takes care of any issues one may encounter running through stock wiring

b

What's a kippell and how do you test for them? :icon8:

Anything like a spectrum analyzer?

+1 on the out of phase with one of the woofer's crossed polarity. Try this first - the simple way to test for that is to use the balance control and see if the bass goes up/gets better as the balanced is twisted to one side or the other. With the balanced cranked all the way over the sound out of that side should sound just fine.

Another +1 on the crossovers wired in sideways/backwards (boy is that ever a screw up!) That ought to sound just beyond terrible with only the sounds closest to the crossover frequency only begining to sound right - I don't know what Boston used for a crossover frequency but it ought to be between about 2500 and 3500 Hz meaning that you'd get no highs, no lows ... and sound like Bose! The female voice tops out in this range so a female singer might actually sound not too terribly bad (just terrible or bad!). Nothing you can do with the knobs is going to make this sound better.

One more "bad thing" that might have been done is to have the (-) wires grounded to the car chasis. This is a major no-no for nearly every amplifer made and will cause all sorts of "bad stuff" to happen including but not limited to blowing your amplifiers and causing premature balding. OK you might not go bald but you might blow your amplifiers up.

There are so many opportunities to mess things up, if you don't know what the issue is (and you're unhappy) bring it back.

Reverse polarity, loudness on/off, gains, x-over points, etc, bring it back.

I think jdohman was just bashing the Boston speakers for thier non-linearity (which he has apparently seen .. care to share the curves with us?).

Yeah me just bashing BA :( sorry for all you BA fans out there I have sure personally seen the curves.


And why wouldnt every installer have one they are only 15 grand lol

okay, i took it back on friday (the 23rd) and the installer sent me to radio shack to pick up some "angle rca's" for the amp that is powering my components. it sounded off to me but i went ahead and got them anyways. he said that the wires running to the amp might be causing the problem, however after he installed them, it still sounds like crap. so i have an appointment on saturday to take it over to my buddy so he can look at it. this is rediculous! i'll keep yall posted and thanks for the info.


p.s.
before azula, i had a 2001 civic with infinity's (non-components) powered by mtx audio amp and it sounded 1000 times better than the BA's. I hope this isn't the best the BA's can do or I will be selling them.

even though bostons arent my favorite speakres, it shouldnt sound nearly as bad as you describe :)

b

Time for a new installer bro .. good luck with everything.

How do you check if it was installed in phase?

Im getting my speakers installed tomorrow and want to make sure.

Thanks!!

Well ... basically if the red goes to positive and the black goes to negative you're safe (save for some recent manufacturing problems at ID :p)

Best way to test is to grab a 9V battery and connect it +to+ and -to- with the speaker ... if it moves outward .. you are good .. if it moves inward ... switch it.

It's official, I hate boston acoustics. My installer buddy checked everything out and said it is all connected correctly. He tweeked the DDX-8017 to make it sound a lil better but overall I do not like these speakers. I'm gettin focals.

still should get kicks, would make things sound awhole lot better IMHO :)

i just cannot get the sound i like out of hte stock door locations

b

I still think that the Bostons are fine and your installer is an idiot.