Really quiet front speakers

[Rob]

First off I'm not really an audio guy so I may be missing something really simple.

System: I have brand new kenwood excelon speakers up front, some old cerwin vegas (came with the car) in the rear deck. Clarion head unit, and thats it. Factory speaker wiring AFAIK. The problem is, the kenwoods seem really quiet, even though they are much better speakers. I have to set the fader heavily towards the front to get the sound to somewhat balance. Now I know the factory front location sucks, but does it suck that bad? Also could the factory wiring be the culprit? I have a 4 channel amp and all the wiring waiting for when I have a free, warm weekend, hopefully that will take care of it, but I'd just hate to spend the time on all that just to have to fix something else

anyone have any ideas?

[Brew]

Higher end speakers sometimes require more power to achieve the same volume as lower-end ones. I would bet that the signal-to-noise ratio of your kenwood fronts is much lower than that of the back speakers.

AFAIK, crappy wiring won't make your music any quieter, just less "clean". Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Im sure it will sound much better once you get that amp and new wiring in.

[Rob]

thanks for the input, hopefully that will solve it

[Jonathan M3]

I had noticed this in my M3, i have the stock premium speakers all around and a kenwood cd player and just recently rewired them all and added a 4 channel amp to power them. The fronts sound weaker than the backs before and after adding the amp and rewire, though the speakers produce a much cleaner sound now. I believe it is just the crappy location of the front speakers.

[christophbmw]

dynamat

its not only the front location that is making it sound crappy in the front, its the enclosure. on the rear dash behind the speakers it has a sealed enclosure (well somewhat sealed). anyways if you take a speaker and hold in your hand it wont sound nearly as nice as it being in an enclosure. what im trying to say is: if you want better sound you need a better enclosure.
....this is what i did: i took the fronts out and bougt some Dynamat (www.dynamat.com) i bought their 2 sqaure foot speaker kit. i then layed that inside the front speaker enclosure(yes it is an EXTREMLY tight fit). it sounds excellent now. you might want to try it. its quit impressive. just my 2 cents.

[KenC]

Re: dynamat

its not only the front location that is making it sound crappy in the front, its the enclosure. on the rear dash behind the speakers it has a sealed enclosure (well somewhat sealed). anyways if you take a speaker and hold in your hand it wont sound nearly as nice as it being in an enclosure. what im trying to say is: if you want better sound you need a better enclosure.
....this is what i did: i took the fronts out and bougt some Dynamat (www.dynamat.com) i bought their 2 sqaure foot speaker kit. i then layed that inside the front speaker enclosure(yes it is an EXTREMLY tight fit). it sounds excellent now. you might want to try it. its quit impressive. just my 2 cents.

Can you explain that better? How did you use dynamat to make an enclosure?