4" kicker ks bass distortion

[kevin.gt]

I upgraded my dash speakers to Kicker KS 4" and added Skar Audio 0-300 Hz bass blockers. I felt like they made a moderate improvement to the overall sound, particularly in the highs. Been this way for a couple months I'd say. Very recently I've noticed distortion in the lows. I pulled the grill and un mounted the speaker to make sure it wasn't just something rattling in the dash. Here's a 20 second sound clip. Sounds horrible to me. Anyone have any ideas what's going on? I never push them above 15 and no after market amp. Should I try removing the bass blockers? Double check how secure my wiring is? Try to RMA the speakers? Try the stock speakers to make sure it's not an issue with the head unit? Something else?

note: I had mids turned down to maybe 10%, lows around 25% and highs around 50% in the tone settings during that audio clip

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[kevin.gt]

update:

• I removed the bass blocker from one side. no improvement, maybe a tad worse.
• I swapped the factory dash speakers back in on that side. No distortion, but also a lack on bass. I believe the factory dash speaker has a capacitor in line which I’m guessing is a built bass blocker, likely cutting a lot more of the lows than what my 300 Hz blockers are doing

Leads me to another question for those that upgraded dash speakers and used a kicker key: did you bass block the dash speakers? If so, what frequency? If not, any distortion before the kicker key that gets magically resolved with the key?

 

[1970AMCAMX]

I upgraded my dash speakers to Kicker KS 4" and added Skar Audio 0-300 Hz bass blockers. I felt like they made a moderate improvement to the overall sound, particularly in the highs. Been this way for a couple months I'd say. Very recently I've noticed distortion in the lows. I pulled the grill and un mounted the speaker to make sure it wasn't just something rattling in the dash. Here's a 20 second sound clip. Sounds horrible to me. Anyone have any ideas what's going on? I never push them above 15 and no after market amp. Should I try removing the bass blockers? Double check how secure my wiring is? Try to RMA the speakers? Try the stock speakers to make sure it's not an issue with the head unit? Something else?

note: I had mids turned down to maybe 10%, lows around 25% and highs around 50% in the tone settings during that audio clip

Crutchfield's suggestions:


6-1/2", 5"x7"/6"x8" — 150 Hz

5-1/4" — 300 Hz

3-1/2", 4", 4"x6" — 600 Hz (low power)

3-1/2", 4", 4"x6" — 800 Hz (high power)

 

[kevin.gt]

The "built in crossover" separates the tweeter from the main driver (4" mid/bass) only (very small capacitor between them that limits the low frequencies to the tweeter). This has nothing to do with the use of bass blockers (large in line capacitor) which limits the frequencies to the main (4 inch) driver.

I personally like the use of an line capacitor (bass blocker), and there are good reasons to use them. However, the aftermarket speakers are considerably better at making low frequencies (most are rated at 60-75 hz), and this should be the targeted crossover (-3dB) point.

In order to achieve this goal, I plan to double the capacitance provided by Crutchfield's lowest blockers. This is done by using two sets of 150hz blockers in parallel (place two side by side and twist the ends together). This will create a 75hz, -6dB/octave crossover. This will sound almost exactly like having no bass blockers at all. I have found that this is worth the small effort, and I have a pile of non-polar capacitors so this is not a big deal to me.

To be clear, I would never place a 300hz blocker in line with the replacements. I would use 150hz ONLY IF I knew for certain that I did not want the 4 inchers to help with "fill base".

As noted by others, you do not need to use bass blockers. These smaller drivers have mechanical limitations that will help protect them from low frequency damage. Like most things, decide based on your own values.

Pulling from another thread, but I’m getting myself more confused. @Lurker B6G makes a lot of sense to me. The 4” kickers say they have a frequency response down to double digits and an rms up to 75 watts. I’m having a hard time believing I’ve blown both speakers with factory stereo turned to 15 max. lurker, mind listening to my YouTube and providing your opinion?

 

[ATLBronco75]

That sounds blown which is weird. Is this base sound system or B&O?

 

[Lurker B6G]

That does not sound good.

Could be blown.
Could be a missaligned coil (defect by Kicker - doubt it).
Could be something else entrirely.

One problem is that I don't know what "15" is on a Bronco (no build date yet). Sounds like you don't feel that it has been turned up much, but here's the thing...

Ford puts in high sensitivity (guessing 92 dB) garbage to get sound out of their very weak head unit amp. You replaced them with better quality, but lower sensitivity (88 dB) speakers. You say that it isn't that loud, but the amp is working twice as hard to make the same volume. The amp starts clipping, even though you don't think it is real loud. The clipping sends a square wave to the speakers. The speakers are rated for significanly more power, but not anticipating square wave inputs. Generally the tweeters go first and it sounds line a "blown speaker".

Not saying that this is what happened, but that's my guess. This is why replacing with lower sensitivity speakers is almost always accompanied by an aftermarket amp. The head unit signal stays low and the aftermarket amp provides a clean signal at a higher power level.

The people who are replacing just the speakers (no amp) are generally using the Infinity Reference (92 db & 3ohm) for this reason. They need less than half as much power to produce the same sound as the Kickers. Still not as good as a nice speaker and and amp, but definately better than the stock speakers.

 

[kevin.gt]

That does not sound good.

Could be blown.
Could be a missaligned coil (defect by Kicker - doubt it).
Could be something else entrirely.

One problem is that I don't know what "15" is on a Bronco (no build date yet). Sounds like you don't feel that it has been turned up much, but here's the thing...

Ford puts in high sensitivity (guessing 92 dB) garbage to get sound out of their very weak head unit amp. You replaced them with better quality, but lower sensitivity (88 dB) speakers. You say that it isn't that loud, but the amp is working twice as hard to make the same volume. The amp starts clipping, even though you don't think it is real loud. The clipping sends a square wave to the speakers. The speakers are rated for significanly more power, but not anticipating square wave inputs. Generally the tweeters go first and it sounds line a "blown speaker".

Not saying that this is what happened, but that's my guess. This is why replacing with lower sensitivity speakers is almost always accompanied by an aftermarket amp. The head unit signal stays low and the aftermarket amp provides a clean signal at a higher power level.

The people who are replacing just the speakers (no amp) are generally using the Infinity Reference (92 db & 3ohm) for this reason. They need less than half as much power to produce the same sound as the Kickers. Still not as good as a nice speaker and and amp, but definately better than the stock speakers.

Thanks for the reply and this makes sense. 15 is about half way up on the bronco and I usually listen at 8-12. I don’t think it’s the tweeters that are damaged since the highs sound good. The clipping sounds like a feasible explanation but I’m pretty sure the problem just started recently. I took my doors off at the beach and noticed the problem the day after on the drive home. Maybe the wild horses were jamming out while I was asleep or perhaps I’m experiencing doors off gremlins

 

[kevin.gt]

That sounds blown which is weird. Is this base sound system or B&O?

base system

 

[MOBRONCO]

Swap the speakers, left to right and see if the sound follows, if it does, it’s the speaker, if not, it’s the system. Could also be a loose wire.

 

[2050Broncoorsomething]

When I switched mine I went to Pioneer and had the same kind of sound. Ended up taking all them out, upgrading to B&O speakers in the dash and kicker and getting the JBL Soundbar for the back. The Ford wiring on the speakers with how they do bass is just awful.

 

[kevin.gt]

Okay this is the craziest thing and I’m still not sure what was going on, but it’s “fixed”, and Kicker is sending me a replacement pair. I started to gently tap and press on the speaker and noticed a clicking/tapping sound occasionally. Kept touching the speaker, slightly and gently flexing it and the tap went away. Did this to both speakers. Hooked then back up for the umpteenth time and magic no more distortion even without bass blockers. Video of the tapping of anyone is curious:

 

[SoCalG]

update:

• I removed the bass blocker from one side. no improvement, maybe a tad worse.
• I swapped the factory dash speakers back in on that side. No distortion, but also a lack on bass. I believe the factory dash speaker has a capacitor in line which I’m guessing is a built bass blocker, likely cutting a lot more of the lows than what my 300 Hz blockers are doing

Leads me to another question for those that upgraded dash speakers and used a kicker key: did you bass block the dash speakers? If so, what frequency? If not, any distortion before the kicker key that gets magically resolved with the key?

I dissected my factory speakers after swapping them out. The factory capacitors are 400 hz.

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