Sound suddenly hollow at certain volume?

I have a Alpine 9851 running a large 5 channel Alpine amp that is then driving a sub and component set. I also have a smaller amp running my rear 6.5's. When I get to level 23 out of 35 on my head unit the sound goes dull. Highs are dramitically reduced and the sound goes hollow. Always at the same point, level 23. The only way I can prevent this is to turn off the "BBE" setting which is very similar to the loudness button on older HUs. I have mine set to one out of three because it really enhances the music in most cases. If I turn off this setting I do not get the hollow sound at level 23. But the music quality suffers. To combat this I have turned up my amp very high to make the level 23 very close to the highest output my ears can take. I have played around with the gains and also removed the sub and rear speakers from the equation with no change. Any ideas?

Also, if you mean by "turned up the amp" that you were turning up the gains, that is not the correct way to adjust your gains. You may need to simply adjust the gains properly to get the sound you are looking for as well...at least that should be your starting point, or one of them.The Flakman

I feel strange. I have deja vu and amnesia at the same time.

John | Manteca, CA

Here is my system layout: Alpine 9851 Head Unit Alpine MRV-F450 5 Channel Amp Kenwood 2 channel amp Alpine SPX-177R Component Set - Bridged 1/2 & 3/4 of Alpine amp. Passive crossovers used with kit. Stock Bose speakers (for now) rear - running off Kenwood amp at low level. Passive crossovers installed at speakers. 200s I believe. 10" Infinity M3d? Sub running on channel 5. 8GA Power and Ground & Monster cap. This is a new car for me that had a system already installed other than the rear speakers were not turned on. I have installed many systems and this one looks to be a pretty good install. It was a professional install although a couple things I went through and fixed like the way certain things were mounted! You make a good point about the amps. The installer bridged channels 1/2 and 3/4 to run the component set. I added the second amp to keep the power but get the flexibilitiy to tune the rears seperate from the rest. I could do all of this with this amp but I am afraid about backing off on the power to the component set at this point. I am really suprised at the lack of highs in this car without cranking up the treble on the head unit. To combat this I have the component set crossed over around 175HZ but it is still pretty drab when my HU is flat. One question I do have is if my component set had crossovers built in should I disable the electronic crossovers at my amp for those channels?

Flakman wrote: Also, if you mean by "turned up the amp" that you were turning up the gains, that is not the correct way to adjust your gains. You may need to simply adjust the gains properly to get the sound you are looking for as well...at least that should be your starting point, or one of them.

I definately understand that. This system though had been trickier then the ones I have done in the past. You think you have it tuned and one day you find yourself out there again playing with it.

I got ya but it doesn't really solve why my speakers go hollow even when the amp gains are at MIN and I still get that cut out at VOL 23. I tore the door panels apart today messing around with the component set trying to figure out where my HIGHS are. Can someone tell me when the tweeter part of component set should sound like when I unhook the woofer? When I disconnect the speaker wire from the crossover that goes to my woofer the sound from the tweeter is horrible. Scratchy and really quiet. I verified the other side sounds the same. I am new to component sets but I have to believe that little tweater should be louder than a whisper.

why would you "bridge" a single set of components across 4 channels?

I have type x speakers installe on my ford and i have it as a 3 way system with the 6 1/2 17mb type x and they sound like if i had a sub on the car. i also have them on the rear. i have them running from a alpine mrv-f545. i havnt even tuned the crossovers on them nor on the amp itself and they sound loud enough at 15 that you can hear from outside the car even after dynamating. i do have a 1g wire setup though, dont know if that made the difference. Ford Mustang Cobra

I hear ya loud and clear stevdart. Thanks for the reply. First thing I did tonight is to put my components on channels 1 & 2. To my pleasure I found no power loss but I think it sounds better. So we are running at 4 ohms now. No idea why the installer would do that. I planned on replacing the crappy bose speakers soon so I will be getting new ones this weekend. I also need some Y cables for the RCAs and I will pick those up too. Any concerns about being able to run the components & the rear 6.5"s on the my amp (sub will be on channel 5)? That would be the simplest setup andI think I should have enough power. Then I could drop my old trusty kenwood 2 channel and passive crossovers for the rear since the Alpine amp has electronic ones built in. After testing my system during driving tonight I seem to have brought in a little alternator whine... ugh, I will be troubleshooting that also this weekend. Although I don't understand where I could have picked it up. I did not change anything major other than at the amp... No power or ground changes.