I've just put in Infinity Kappa multi element speakers. The highs sound way too bright and I noticed that there is still sound coming from the factory tweeters. Should I cut those out?

 

Give it a shot. If you don't like the sound then just hook them back up.

 

Perhaps I'll try taping some cardboard over the tweeter housings to see if it makes a difference before opening them up.

 

maybe just re-Eq it?

 

Hate to tell you its most likely the Kappa tweeter. Its very harsh to me. I don't understand how the company could make the Reference which sound very good for their price and the Kappas sound so bad (to me). I dont know what they use for their tweeter in the Kappa series but I always try to stick with a silk dome tweeter. If you listen to alternative/rock/pop then a metal or plastic tweeter will often sound harsh.

 

are your speakers amped or spliced into the factory wiring?

 

The could still be spliced into factory wiring and be amped too. But it does sound like hes using a deck to power the entire front speakers.

 

Positioning of the tweeters can make the difference between ear bleeding highs and beautiful highs.

Did you demo the speakers before you bought them?

 

umm, can you explain how thats possible?

 

Lets see, cut the wires from the back of the harness and connect wires to the amp. Viola, using factory wiring and amped! I've done this many times for people that didnt want to pay to run new wires in the doors.

 

ahhh, ok gotcha. thats the first Ive even heard of that one, lol.

seems kind of counterintuitve though, to upgrade speakers yet leave stock wiring...

 

Actually wiring is WAAAAAAY overrated. It will definately improve the signal but with lower powered amps its not very noticible. I've played with 18/16/14/12ga wire for speakers and until you reach the higher power 60-70+ watts its not very noticible. 9/10 people cant tell the difference in 18 and 14 ga. If they tell you they are lying. To prove this I ran 14ft of each of these wires in an advanced switch board I rewired. We switched the wires to each of the amps we had on display (20-150watts/channel). Until we got to the high power amps even I couldnt tell a difference. Its mostly (now before I get jumped on by car audio buffs I've done the math on the real voltage loss) urban legend. Try it and see.

 

actually now that i think of it, my friend installed some infinitys in his durange (im not too sure which one, but its crossover was plastic and blue) and his highs were OMG painful (which is really bad imo). all of the infinitys ive heard have really been piercing. but then you are right about placement also..

 

but you see i ahev always known infinity to be the the super bright speakers.... i have told customers... if you like highs... you'll like these... lol... but no in all seriousness... the infinitys are good for highs and thats about it... they usually cant handle much mid bass without distorting... i look at it as they are good if you just want to run them off a factory or aftermarket deck... no amp...

 

I just laugh when I see stuff like that. Even the cheapest paper cone speakers at the flea market WILL ALWAYS SOUND BETTER ON AN AMP! Lack of power will create distortion quicker than anything else. Where do people make this stuff up? You ever notice deck power is usually rated at like 0.5% and amp power is rated at like 0.08%? Thats a freaking huge difference in distortion. Some higher power amps are rated at 0.5 or 1% but they are meant for sub use.

 

What's the gauge of the stock wiring? I'ld be surprised if it's anywhere close to 18ga.