Series or Parallel for tweets/ door speakers

The following is my combination

-Pionner AVIC8000NEX
-Memphis Audio 4 channel amplifier (Can handle 2 ohm stable, or 4 ohm stable)
-Rockford Fosgate T2TS tweeters
-Kicker CS654 Coaxial fronts
-Rear speakers are just Kicker CS woofers

I have the following setup wired to where the subwoofer is driven off the 2 rear channels on the amplifier and the 4 speakers plus the two RF tweeters are wired to the front speakers all in parallel. The amplifier output wires plug into the front coaxial speakers which then have an option wire coming out on both positive and negative to wire them into my tweeter crossovers which then run up to the tweeters themselves to provide them HPF power. Essentially a parallel connection to them.

Here is where it is weird. The tweeters sound kind of bad. The coaxials provide nearly all the voice (which sound great) and the tweeters themselves just seem to sort of provide highs and half assed voice, which to me, doesn't sound very good either, considering how expensive they are I was expecting a whole lot more "voice" out of them per se. Did I make a mistake wiring the tweeters up the way they are? Should I wire them up in series instead?

 

Absolutely not. Series will crush the performance of ALL the speakers in the series.

Are you sure the crossover is (a) tuned correctly and (b) matched to the load the speakers impose (i.e. 4 ohm, etc.)???

In fact, are ALL speakers made to work together and do they match the amp output requirements?

Tweeters often sound bad to a guy. Our high-frequency hearing range is significantly lower than a female's hearing range. If you have hunted for many years and shot as many shotgun rounds as I have shot (both at quail, ducks and skeet) you are probably wasting your money on tweeters.

 

Here is a pic to help you visualize what I have setup. Output from the amplifier comes from the stock wiring. The right side of the crossover is the input side while the left side of it is the output.

 

Shit. I have been shooting for several years. Both ear pro in and out (accidentally). Maybe it could be that. I just expected a lot more voice and definitely more clarity out of the singular tweeters themselves honestly. Would it be possible that driving that many speakers is actually overloading the two channels on the amp? Everything is hooked up in parallel, as I have never liked series wiring for stereo or lighting applications. The crossovers are tuned to the tweeters as they came together as a set. I actually dialed them down -2 db as per the instructions stated that our particular combination runs best on -2 db from the woofer if the woofer is running close to the kick panels. Maybe I could operate the rear door speakers with the subwoofer instead, seeing as in stock form the rear speakers operate in parallel to the subwoofer anyways, on a prior JBL setup.

 

What type of tweeters? Quite a few don't even have voice coils, so you're not going to hear anything in the "voice spectrum" from them.

 

I should also mention @RobertHyatt that the speakers and tweeters are 4 ohm rated, all connected in parallel to the amp. I'm not sure if that would make the amp drive them at 4 ohm's or two, however. The impedance part of it was the part that was always confusing to me.

 

Rockford Fosgate T2TS tweeters. They are supposed to aluminum. I don't know if they have a voice coil.

That is a good point. I didn't think about that.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_24265_Rockford-Fosgate-Power-T2T-S.html

 

Impedance is nothing more than efficiency, lower the number, less power it takes to to drive them. But your output does need to match.

 

It appears they have a 4 ohm voice coils on the features and specs tab on the information for them.

 

Yeah, just seen that. I'd guess that's the reason they are rated so high for wattage.

 

Yeah so If they do indeed have voice coils, idk why they sound so bad for lack of better words. I expected way more clarity out of them. The Kicker Coaxial 1/2" integrated tweeters literally blow them out of the water. Then again the woofer on them provide voice as well.

Should I take a video on how they sound vs. the coaxials?

 

Prolly more efficient. I think I seen 90db on your tweets? What's the sensitivity db of your coaxials? Why the need for four tweets? You should've just got a set of components IMO.

 

Hang on. Let me check. That's a good point. I didn't think about the sensitivity. I like my music loud. Lol.

 

@t4daddy 90db for the kickers as well:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_64184_Kicker-CS65-40CS654.html

 

So, you paid five times as much for those tweeters than the coaxials? These are in your front doors, correct?

 

Front doors, yeah. Nah. I got them cheap and bought them local. I didn't buy them online.

I took a sound video of them, as you can't see a them. I'll post up the video in like less than 5 minutes. It actually sounds like they do sound the same in the phone, I think the issue is that the tweeters have literally no bass whatsoever to them so the kickers appear to sound louder and clearer. I did drop down the tweeters to -2 db from the coaxials power earlier, so that plays a factor at this point as well.

 

When you say rears, doors or box?

 

I played with rear door speakers. Somewhere on the ********* to try omitting them. I did and never went back. I just wanted decent quality, not that guy at the red light.

 

Door speakers, well, woofers. I have a doublecab. Needless to say,the stock sound staging on these trucks are not the greatest.

 

What do you mean you played with them? All I want is decent quality also. I like volume, but I don't like stupid deep base, I like punchy tight bass with clear highs and voice. Regardless I am already worlds ahead of the stock JBL option which I first had. I just want to make sure everything is correct so my audio is at its max potential.