Car doors vibrating horribly. Is 150hz high pass crossover an ok fix?

D

DaboTheCat

Audiophyte
Headunit: Sony XAV 5000
Speakers: Alpine X 6.5 C
Subwoofer: Alpine Swt-12S4
Amp: Alpine X 5 Channel Amp 4 Order Sub Crossover/2 Order Highpass Speaker Crossover
Installed above setup in car. There was so much rattling and whining noises from the car doors that the system was horrible and completely unenjoyable. The shop I took my car to tried covering the panels with dynamat, as well as even building custom enclosures for the speakers, and it took the system from unlistenable, to much better, with occasional awful noises on frequencies around 130hz and below with the high pass crossover set to 60hz. Also it did NOT sound like it was reproducing 120hz and below at an acceptable volume, even though the frequency response measurement claims these speakers supposedly play clean down to 80hz.

We tested 120hz crossover quickly today and the panel rattle was ALMOST completely gone. I could only find 1 song it appeared on which was: Felt Tip by Love Is All

But I figure if I set the crossover a liiiiittle higher, I can get rid of all of the panel rattle. We have tried pretty damn hard to get rid of the last of the rattle to no success. Setting the crossover a little higher would fix this - but I’m worried about giving so much work to this lower end sub. However, I tried the more expensive Alpine Type R sub in a sealed enclosure and the entry level ported sub I’m using from the same manufacturer was actually outperforming it in terms of overall sound, so I wonder if paying even more for the flagship Type X subwoofer would be wasted effort. Is this insane? Is it gonna sound awful? What do you recommend? What are my other options?

Right now I’m thinking setting lowpass filter to 150 on sub and highpass to 150 on speakers. But are there other options? Maybe setting the lowpass on the sub to 80 and just having a dip from 80 to 150? I don’t know, I am a noob.

Please come at my with your expertise!
 
G

Gmoney

Audioholic Ninja
May want to find a car audio forum, AH is a Home audio forum. They may be some members who have Knowledge of car audio.
 
M

MrBoat

Audioholic Ninja
Installed above setup in car. There was so much rattling and whining noises from the car doors that the system was horrible and completely unenjoyable. The shop I took my car to tried covering the panels with dynamat, as well as even building custom enclosures for the speakers, and it took the system from unlistenable, to much better, with occasional awful noises on frequencies around 130hz and below with the high pass crossover set to 60hz. Also it did NOT sound like it was reproducing 120hz and below at an acceptable volume, even though the frequency response measurement claims these speakers supposedly play clean down to 80hz.

We tested 120hz crossover quickly today and the panel rattle was ALMOST completely gone. I could only find 1 song it appeared on which was: Felt Tip by Love Is All

But I figure if I set the crossover a liiiiittle higher, I can get rid of all of the panel rattle. We have tried pretty damn hard to get rid of the last of the rattle to no success. Setting the crossover a little higher would fix this - but I’m worried about giving so much work to this lower end sub. However, I tried the more expensive Alpine Type R sub in a sealed enclosure and the entry level ported sub I’m using from the same manufacturer was actually outperforming it in terms of overall sound, so I wonder if paying even more for the flagship Type X subwoofer would be wasted effort. Is this insane? Is it gonna sound awful? What do you recommend? What are my other options?

Right now I’m thinking setting lowpass filter to 150 on sub and highpass to 150 on speakers. But are there other options? Maybe setting the lowpass on the sub to 80 and just having a dip from 80 to 150? I don’t know, I am a noob.

Please come at my with your expertise!
Same issue here with my Toyota Tacoma. I matted both panels, inside and out. I may actually have to make a stiffener out of metal angle or a hat channel and rivet it to the interior door panel, or maybe even in a few places. Have to tap on the door parts to see where it is coming from. Perhaps some bracing between the inner and outer door panels to tie them together were the window mechanism does not collide with it.

The other thing to look at is, the upholstered panel itself. The little christmas tree clips that hold the panel to the metal panel should be firmed up with something like rubber tape wrapped arounf the plastic parts, so that it acts as a snubber of sorts so the clips don't wiggle around at all the contact points. Perhaps even taking some acoustic foam pieces and putting them between the upholstered panel and the metal to keep them from bumping together too.

My Alpine head unit highest crossover point is 120 hz. I think there is still too much bass going to the door speakers. I was thinking perhaps maybe if I added an additional capacitor to the door speakers or something to further restrict them, I don't know, I haven't gotten that far yet and it's only on some CDs. My sub is enough bass for a small xtend cab truck, and if I remember right, will play significantly higher than 120 hz.
 
Kvn_Walker

Kvn_Walker

Audioholic Field Marshall
Depends on the material the door card is made of, and how well it's fastened to the metal. I've had cars in the past (when I was more into it) that I could cross the door speakers as low as 60 or 70Hz.

The worst cars I had for audio were Mazdas. 2006 Mazda6 was the only time in my life I've ever sold a car because of interior rattles.

It's a pain in the ass, but one way to help find resonant frequencies and locations is to put your sub in the front seat and then run test tones at various frequencies and volumes. Once you can reproduce it consistently, you can push your finger against certain points to see if that stops it, and then try to dampen that area or even make sure it's fastened properly. Those cheap push pins that hold the door panels in are a crime against humanity.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Installed above setup in car. There was so much rattling and whining noises from the car doors that the system was horrible and completely unenjoyable. The shop I took my car to tried covering the panels with dynamat, as well as even building custom enclosures for the speakers, and it took the system from unlistenable, to much better, with occasional awful noises on frequencies around 130hz and below with the high pass crossover set to 60hz. Also it did NOT sound like it was reproducing 120hz and below at an acceptable volume, even though the frequency response measurement claims these speakers supposedly play clean down to 80hz.

We tested 120hz crossover quickly today and the panel rattle was ALMOST completely gone. I could only find 1 song it appeared on which was: Felt Tip by Love Is All

But I figure if I set the crossover a liiiiittle higher, I can get rid of all of the panel rattle. We have tried pretty damn hard to get rid of the last of the rattle to no success. Setting the crossover a little higher would fix this - but I’m worried about giving so much work to this lower end sub. However, I tried the more expensive Alpine Type R sub in a sealed enclosure and the entry level ported sub I’m using from the same manufacturer was actually outperforming it in terms of overall sound, so I wonder if paying even more for the flagship Type X subwoofer would be wasted effort. Is this insane? Is it gonna sound awful? What do you recommend? What are my other options?

Right now I’m thinking setting lowpass filter to 150 on sub and highpass to 150 on speakers. But are there other options? Maybe setting the lowpass on the sub to 80 and just having a dip from 80 to 150? I don’t know, I am a noob.

Please come at my with your expertise!
Cross the door speakers at whatever frequency stops the rattles and let the sub(s) handle the lower frequencies. You don't need a seamless crossover point and, in fact, you don't have enough power to overcome the road noise, anyway. Road noise audio level should be measured before trying to set any amplifier levels and equalization- if you don't do this, you can't know what you need to make the system do in order to hear the music- all systems need to overcome some amount of ambient noise but a car is different- the noise level is much higher than that of a house and it tends to be in a lower frequency range. The road noise will actually fill in the gap between the sub crossover point (which should be in the 60-90Hz range) and the high pass for the rest of the speakers (which should be in the 120Hz area). You could leave the gap and not notice much of a deficiency, but you won't need to produce so much power in an attempt to overcome 85-90dB of road noise and maintain the same dynamic range as the other frequencies.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
60 hz sounds like a pretty low crossover for 6.5" door speakers. I always went 80 and up for mine.
 
Kvn_Walker

Kvn_Walker

Audioholic Field Marshall
60 hz sounds like a pretty low crossover for 6.5" door speakers. I always went 80 and up for mine.
Massive Audio made some 6.5's (forget the model number... CX6 or something like that) a long time back that could play much lower bass than any other car speaker I'd ever owned. I agree most speakers shouldn't be high passed that low though.
 
newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top