Quick CDR-220 Question about Volume

[blinkwatt]

This may be a problem with my hearing,but I think my receiver is loosing power. I normally blasted the CDR-220 at around +18,but recently(after the rear speaker kit installation) I find myself at +22 region. Is it possible that my receiver is losing power,or is my hearing just getting worse? Just for reference how high up does the +## go?

I am not an electrical engineer, but, I would think if you recently added speakers, it would require the amp to work harder, to power more outlets (speakers).

[deliriousga]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

I am not an electrical engineer, but, I would think if you recently added speakers, it would require the amp to work harder, to power more outlets (speakers).

Bingo. I can't remember off-hand how many watts the CDR-220 has, but say it's 100. If you had 4 speakers installed before, you had an average 25 watts/channel. Add two more and now you're at 16 2/3 watts/channel average.

One way to help, if there are 4 speaker channel outputs on the unit (I can't imagine there are any less), is to put your four smallest (least watts, not physical size) speakers on one pair of outputs (usually front pair) and put your two more powerful speakers on the other pair of outputs (usually rear pair).

The reason for this is if there are 4 speaker outputs the stereo will split them evenly so in a 100W system you would have 25W/channel going out. If you plug one channel into two speakers, it is splitting that channel into two 12.5W channels giving you weak output. With what you are describing, my guess is your door speakers and new rear speakers are on the same channel so your 4 most powerful speakers are being fed by half the power each while the weaker dash speakers are being fed by more than they can use.

Hope it helps.

[donv]

When you do the rear speaker kit, you are tapping into the rear channel outputs which were not used before (at least with the default instructions - you are attaching to previously unused pins in the connector to the head unit). As this is a separate circuit, I don't believe you should be bleeding off any power from the fronts/doors.

I'd check your connections and also check to be sure you didn't change some other setting like bass, treble, etc. when you did the work (or playing with it afterwards ). You now have a working fader control (or should have) - so try adjusting that too... my car is in storage now or I'd look, but I seem to remember keeping the fader biased a couple of settings towards the rear speakers to make the sound more balanced. The rears as stock have lower treble response than the fronts (no tweeters), so you may be perceiving that and need to notch up the treble. I added tweeters to mine to resolve that deficiency.

[MNBoxster]

Hi,

The Amp is rated per channel, so adding the speakers to dedicated channels will not draw down the power of the others.

I suspect what you're experiencing is the balancing effect the rear speakers have. Before, you were totally Front Staged and your hearing and Brain adjusted to that. Now, the Rear Channels are reducing the Total Front Staging - your ears think the Fronts have gotten quieter, but they really haven't. You turn the Volume up to 22 to return the sound to match what you're used to. It's like an Optical Illusion for your Ears...

To be on the safe side, as mentioned, check all your connections to be certain you're not hooked up out of phase...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[blinkwatt]

After numerous wiring checks,and playing with the settings and such the answer was....the cd that I was listening to. The CD I had in was "burnt",a "cruising" mix. I put in a original "Smash" by the Offspring CD in and everything was louder. Then I tried "Conspiracy of One" by the Offspring and the volume was louder then the burnt CD I made(neither "burnt"). I think my computer adjust the volume of the songs when I put them on a CD,does that make sense?

[mtch]

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

The Amp is rated per channel, so adding the speakers to dedicated channels will not draw down the power of the others.

usually you are dead on, very sound advise. however, your last statement is not exactly true. very, very few automotive amps use discreet power supplies for each channel, so one channel does affect the other channel(s). when amps are rated, they rate one loaded channel at a time, with no load on the others. once all channels are used simultaneously, the output per channel will drop significantly.

the rest of your statement regarding changing sound characteristics from the new speaker is probably true, but i'm fairly certain that the amp in the sytem in not discreetly powered. i have the bose/hi-fi option, and he entire rest of the system is so crappy, i can't imagine such an expensive amp being used, and it's too small to have 4 seperate power power supplies. i once had a 4 channel that had 2 discreet power supplies and it was the size of a VCR