audio advice alpine setup am I underpowered

so I have purchased and installed.

ilx-207 alpine head unit with maestro and all that jazz with steering wheel controls
alpine ktp-44A power pack 45 rms
alpine r-s65c component speakers 100RMS max
alpine r-s65 coaxial speakers 100RMS max

$350 alpine pwe-s8 compact powered 8" subwoofer system

alpine pwe-s8 powered sub

before i go any further i want to mention I installed this system myself and am by no means an audio expect quite the opposite but I learnt quite a bit doing the install, I find car audio very confusing but am otherwise quite handy.

when i turn volume above 15 on the deck (fairly loud) i seem to get a bit of for lack of better words a clip/pop from the tweeter.

what could cause this, am I underpowered, i know the power pack isnt the ideal way to run these speakers but i would prefer to avoid running a full amp seeing i already have everything installed.

Also i see the tweeter when you slide it open has pins and different levels to adjust the tweeter but I am unsure on how to adjust this setting, I have looked at videos but nobody shows how to adjust it.

any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hard to say much about the clicking/popping without hearing it other than it's probably not a good thing. Maybe you're clipping the amp, but it seems unlikely to have that happening at higher frequencies only. Are you certain the noise is only coming from the tweeter? Seems like level 15 is a bit low to be clipping - maybe the amp gain is set too high? What method was used to set the gains? How did you run power to the power pack - straight to the battery using appropriate wire size? Ground secure and on an unpainted portion of the frame? Double-checked that all connections are tight?

That switch on the crossovers is attenuation for the tweeter. A lot of the time, depending on where it's placed, the tweeter can be too loud. The switch engages a resistor or 2 on the crossover and lowers the output. Not sure about the +3. The crossover can't 'make' power, so it can't actually boost signal...I'd expect there are 2 resistors where +3 uses no resistance, 0 dB uses one resistor, and -3 uses 2 resistors. -3 will lower the level the most where +3 will bypass any attenuation.

 

I figured it would be a hard one to answer without hearing it, just was a general question since the power pack is the

$265 ktp-445A head unit power pack

ktp-445A with only 45rms x 4 there is no adjustment for gain on the amp itself that I can see the power pack plugs straight in to the back of the alpine head unit in line with the alpine harness no battery connection, I think I should have not been lazy and actually done a full size amp but since I already had the

$350 PWE-S8 Compact Powered 8" Subwoofer System

PWE-S8 powered sub there I didnt want a full additional amp wiring kit to my battery, plus the maestro and matching all the wires was already testing my electrical ability. After doing the install I am much more confident and know I could do it again myself, maybe I might pull it out and do a full amp. Do you think i can leave the power pack in and do a seperate amp or should I take it out?

It is possible that it is some weird vibration from the door panel making the noise behind the tweeter or in that area so I started to install noico and the insulation yesterday on all 4 doors and will have that complete this evening maybe that will solve the issue.

 

did you replace the tweeter? stock tweeters suck

 

yes it is the alpine r-s65c component speakers that have new tweeters.

it might be worth mentioning that the truck is a 2015 trd sport double cab.

 

The amp section alone needs about 15A using full RMS power...wondering if it's getting what it needs from factory electrics.

 

And to add on to the above post, make sure your crossover is wired up correctly. + and - being flipped, or the whole thing wired up backwards will cause lots of problems. Too much bass may be getting to the tweeter and it’s screaming at you to stop lol

 

I will check this out as well when I get down to the truck tonight after work.

thanks,

 

so bit of an update I finished the noico 80mm install with the insulation in all four doors just now and the noise seems to be less noticeable, the stereo sounds way better but there is still something a little funny about the tweeter and it seems more noticeable on the drivers side, its not that its to bright or sharp per say but it seems at higher volumes to just not perform as well, maybe i'm just being picky and want it to be louder/clearer than the amp i have can provide.

the noico makes a big difference for sure I mean its not mind blowing but it does keep vibrations down, now that i did the doors I notice the sub vibrations more, might have to do behind there when I get some time, i think i have enough left may need a little more.

 

Yeah, could be that your expectations are greater than the setup. Could be that you could use a tune. But you say that you installed damper and the noise is less pronounced. If that's actually the case and not psychoacoustics, then maybe you can stop looking so hard at the tweeter. Maybe you have some vibrations coming from that region and it seems like it's coming from the tweeter?

On vibrations, dampers go a long way to help with that, but they only address resonance on resonant panels. They don't do anything about mating surfaces. There are plenty of those in doors and in the dash. Strategic placement of foam really helps with these. Neoprene is ideal, but I've also used mouse pads and garage door seal successfully and since I had it on hand, it was 'free'.