Disapointing sound from new components

I recently put down a couple hundred bucks on a set of MB Quart PCE 213 5.25 components and installed them in my car to replace the factory front components. They are being powered by an a/d/s 625x power plate 6 channel amp with a built in crossover. Line feeds are comming from an alpine cda-9833, which also has a built in x-over.

So, all in all, I have 3 freakin x-overs to deal with (including the ones that came with the speakers). The question is, what sort of problems does such a setup incur?  I can disable the xover on the amp, but the other two are pretty much there to stay.

The reason I ask is because I am having a hell of a time dialing these speakers in. I just can't seem to get the right sound out of them as one would suspect from such a well respected manufacturer. I am really quite disapointed in them thus far and if you didn't know they weren't the stock speakers, you would probablly never guess that they weren't.  I was anticipating that these would sound a lot fuller and have better imaging, but I just can't seem to get them tuned to sound like they should.

Can anyone give me some advice on what I can try differently?  The alpine has a pretty decent high level output...should I maybe skip the power plate and just try going right to the deck? These are so far the only speakers hooked up to the amp...should I skip the xovers that came with the speakers and hook the tweets up to one channel with the appropriate high level pass and use the drivers on another channel with a mid or low bypass?

I also have a subwoofer box with 3 JL-Audio 10W0-8's pushed by a JLAudio 300/2 so I get the low end to compliment the system...but the imaging should still be more dynamic than it is. If I turn off the subs I would expect the system to sound much better than it does.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Multiple crossovers are never a good idea, and the CDA-9833 can be very difficult to set up correctly, but it also contains a very powerful signal processor that can do wonders if you know how to use it. 

I suggest: 1) using the passive crossovers that came with the comps as intended; 2) yes use your amplifier and connect it to your HU using the RCA connections; 3) bypass the crossovers on the amp; 4) Activate only the HP (high-pass) filter for the mains on the HU, and set it to the same frequency as your LP (low pass) crossover used for your subwoofer.  This should be about 80-100Hz.  And finally 5) turn off the powerful EQ function of the HU and only use it if you really need it.  Cheers.

People either seem to love or hate the MB Quart speakers.  My personal experiences have proven the latter as they are voiced way to bright on the top end for my tastes.  That also seems to be the most common complaint.  So if you do decide to turn on the eq, I'd recommend focusing your efforts up there if you feel the same way.

You also mention the low end being problematic.  What kind of vehicle do you have?  Are there any gaps around the speaker allowing the back wave to interfere with the front?  This can reduce the midbass performance of the driver.  It may also help to use some sound deadening on the doors and cover some of the large holes.

I guess great Steve's think alike.

sweet sweet irony....my rln is Steve too. I must be the proverbial black sheep of this bunch!

The car is a 1997 & 1/2 Buick Regal GS. There isn't much room behind the magnet to the metal...although there is enough where a deadening wrapper is probablly called for. (That answers someone question...I don't have any dampener in at this point)

I am not quite sure what you mean by mounting baffles. So, that answers another question...no, I don't have any mdf mounting baffles. I had to coherce the stock speaker mounts with my dremel cut off tool quite a bit to get the woofer to fit as it was. I am afraid if I go any deeper (I can't come out any further or the speaker will hit the door) the magnet will hit the window when its down. Sure, I could probablly build a custom mount, but my current living conditions affords me no tools to do much of any building.

I don't know that there really is a way to turn off the xover on the alpine...however what I just recently found out is that I believe the unit defaults the Hi xover to use only the front rca outputs (which my mb's are connected to). I determined this after all levels of the mid xover settings produce no difference in sound...whereas even small changes to the HI xover make very noticable differences. So, I presume the mid xover goes to the rear. I don't think I ever tried to match the frequency between those and the subs though...I will give that a shot. I usually have the comps at a little higher level since the subs took care of the lower end...figure I wouldn't need it to go that low.

So far my impression on the speakers is obviously askewed until I can get things properly setup. But, even with some fine tunning I think I am going to find them to be what you mentioned Steve, in that they seem focused on the high end of the sound spectrum. I heard (after I bought these, of course), that Rockford Fosgate recently bought out MB Quart, so if recent degradation to their quality is becoming more prevelant, and what I heard is true, it really would be of no suprise to me. (I would have never bought them if I knew RF made them after the POS head unit of theirs I used to have). I compare these to the Boston Acoustic components I installed in my freinds Ram and there really is no comparison...once his were dialed in they sounded fantastic. I guess my expectations were higher for these (granted, he had 6.5's). Live and learn I guess.

Thanks Steve's...one Steve to another...for your advice. I will certainly try the recommended settings, and if circumstances allow, reconfigure the actual installation at some point.