VS Ute Door Speakers Don't Sound Balanced

[Gilly91]

Hi,

I've got a VS ute with splits in the doors and a sub in the cavity next to the fuel tank. I have a 4 channel amp running the splits on channel 1 and 2, and bridged for the sub on channels 3 and 4. The splits are good quality Fusion splits I'm pretty sure (can't remember the name but they're woven kevlar cones and were about $400rrp) and they are installed identically, the head unit is a decent pioneer head unit, and the amp is a mid range quality philips amp.

The problem is that when listening to music, the left side sounds so much louder when the head unit is balanced to the direct 'centre' position. I have to balance the head unit about 5-6 to the right to get the volume to sound even. I don't like doing this because the sound quality does not seem as good as it should be. I've pulled the crossovers out and put the left tweeter at -3db and the right at +3db but this didn't seem to make much difference.

Is this a problem anyone has come across? Could it be bad wiring or connections or something? Or is this simply due to the left woofer having a straight, clear path for sound between it and the driver's left ear due to its position and the right woofer being basically aimed at the right leg of the driver so it just seems quieter?

Thanks for your help,

Daniel

 

[soslowbro]

Do the simple checks mate; Wiring would be my first point of call. Make sure connections are clean and check to see if there is anything else touching the wiring on the terminal. Secondly, I'd check how it's gone through the doors, as there are times when the doors will crimp/crease the wiring and restrict capacity, potentially altering sound. I've found that my doors have ####ed my central locking and therefore rendered it useless as I am assuming the door looms have bent too many times and died.

If both of these are fine, try using channel 3 & 4 for the doors and bridge 1 & 2 for the sub to see if there is any issue with the amp.

If none of this works, then I'm not sure what else it could be. My setup in the ute isn't first class with the wiring but has good sound quality and is loud enough to destroy eardrums.

 

[Gilly91]

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah those checks sound good so I'll give it a go, I hope I don't have to re-run wires anywhere haha that was the worst bit about installing my sound system.

Yeah my setup is about the same, I would just like to get the full natural sound out of it instead of using the speaker balance on the head unit!

 

[Maxmadmat]

Ok prob not... But thought I'd mention anyway... Could it be your head unit's balance is biased for the driver when in the direct 'centre' position & your left & right channels are plugged in back to front?

 

[Maxmadmat]

*Cough* no just reread your post that would be back to front for what you described... Check your wirings not pinched/shorting somewhere.

 

[Gilly91]

Ok so yesterday I pulled my amp out and tried a different one...same problem.
Then I swapped the crossovers from each door with eachother...same problem.
Then I pulled the speaker input RCA cables out of the amp while music was playing and put only one back in and listened to each door independently. It sounds as if the left door just 'cuts through' with the kind of sound it has. Say for instance each side had its own EQ, the left would be flat and the right would have the mids scooped out. The tweeters both sound the same, and it seems like the bass is the same, but the sound just cuts through more on the left side.
It's strange though; the signal from the head unit is obviously not the problem, because I was putting the one cable in channel 1 on the amp to play through one door, then taking that same cable out and put it into channel 2 to play from the other door, and the sound was different as described.
So I then took my right door trim off to see if the connection was bad to the speaker...nothing visibly wrong. I disconnected and reconnected it just in case but the problem still remains.
Could this just be a bad speaker? Do speakers normally sound a little different due to differences in their electrics? The next step I guess is to swap both woofers and see if that fixes it but I'd had enough for one afternoon by this stage.

 

[aussie4life]

Could it be in your head? Ive noticed i can hear the left side more than the right in my vr sedan. At one stage i thought the right side had died. This was until i messed with the fade and balance. I believe it is just that even though you are closer to the right speaker, you can hear the left more clearly due to the fact that it has very little obstructing the sound from reaching your ears. Where as the right has obstacles in the way. Just my thoughts.

 

[Maxmadmat]

Try opening both doors with it going & standing behind car facing the boot, if still sounding uneven then turn around, to swap ears receiving the sound. I suggest this because it would eliminate any deadining that may be caused by your cars interior & check it isn't the human factor...

 

[LS2SLOW]

I was going to let you figure this one out yourself. but you seem to be going to great lengths to fix something that isn't broken.

The right speaker is a few cm away from your leg and is obstructed.
The left has nothing obstructing it.

The right is directing sound to the passenger side.
The left is blah blah blah

 

[Dont Punch Rocks]

Check the polarity is correct on each speaker.