Installed one Polk DXi650 - not impressed yet

[Ed H]

We are running to another family gathering today, so I only had time to install one Polk DXi650 this morning. It is in the drivers door. I must admit, I am not all that impressed.

I have a stock non-Bose head unit with 6 disc changer. While the Polk sound quality is a little better, the stock speakers are louder and hit harder. WTF? Based on all the reviews I read, I thought these Polk coax (92dB sensitivity) would be a lot louder than they are.

This is the first piece of a complete system rebuild, but I did not expect it to take me a half-step backwards. Are the DXis that power hungry? Will I be more impressed after all four are installed? I am almost hesitant to continue. I'm sure good clean power will help, but that is months away...

 

[Black LT]

I'm not sure what ohm the front speakers are in the non-bose.
If they are 2ohm like the bose, your new 4ohm Polks will not be as loud. Hopefully when you have them all in you can adjust the volume accordingly - until you get them amped!

 

[BO TIE SS]

I'm not sure what ohm the front speakers are in the non-bose.
If they are 2ohm like the bose, your new 4ohm Polks will not be as loud.

Check on the back of the speaker that you removed. It should tell you the ohms.

 

[blazinlow89]

4 ohm stock. Did you disconnect the little tweeter in the bracket when you installed. I put 2 ways in the from of mytruck and the thump was not as good. But when I switched to comps the bass came back.

 

[Ed H]

The stock mid/woofer was 4ohm, and it was wired in parallel with a small separate tweeter. Comps if you will, GM style. Yes, I removed the tweeter, the in-line filter, etc. I don't know the resistance of the tweeter, but the fact it was wired in parallel means the pair was less than 4ohm.

I put 2 ways in the from of mytruck and the thump was not as good. But when I switched to comps the bass came back.

I am now seriously considering the Polk comps up front, and keeping the 2-ways for the rear... I will install the other 3 tomorrow and see how they sound together.

In any case, this makes the headunit / amp purchase a higher priority. Yeah, like I could hold off anyways.

I appreciate the input from everyone.

 

[Ed H]

I installed the rest of the speakers today. I take back everything I said. The Polk DXi650s offer a very nice improvement over the stock speakers, even with the stock HU. :wootwoot:

The sound quality is excellent, and the system really came alive after all 4 were installed. I should know better than to rate a speaker with only 1 installed.

Now for that Sounstream amp...

 

[STLtrailbSS]

just saw this thread and Installing 1 speaker is like buying $300 headphones and only the right works. Sound Is "immersive" you need balance. Now we know and knowledge is power