# Hertz HSK 165 disappointing me



## chub'n-tuck (Nov 8, 2017)

Hello everyone. Im new to the forum, so forgive me if this is posted in the incorrect place. 

Roughly a year ago I completely stripped my 08 jeep wrangler of its premium infinity sound system and upgraded it all the way down to the wiring. My stock amp was removed and the wire harness detached to mount a kicker cx600.1. This is used to power my Boston Acoustic G510-44. No complaints with the bass, im very satisfied with the sound quality so far. After a lot of research I decided to go with 2 sets of the component HSK-165's from Hertz audio, front and rear. Both sets of speakers are being powered by an Arc Audio KS300.4 crossed over at 80hz. I decided to stick with the passive crossover provided with the speakers seeing as people seemed pretty pleased with them. the factory enclosures were treated with Dynamat for additional stability along with the rest of the car. all of the stock wiring was removed and replaced with 10 gauge speaker wire from BlueJeansCable (I know, 10 gauge is a little excessive). 

Im not completely pleased with the outcome and since the install and i feel as though ive been longing for the sound the stock system provided. This is a major let down considering the time and money put into the system. All of the forums praised the warmth and natural sound of these speakers and thats what I have been trying to achieve to no avail. the midbass is very nice, but the mid-range leaves much to be desired. The sound seems hollow and lifeless, but if I equalize it and attempt to bring it to life the sound becomes harsh and overpowers the midbass these speakers are known for. No Equalizer setting seems to improve this. The tweeters are also horribly grating and harsh on my ears. Every symbol crash and high E string played rings loud. I attempted lowering the higher frequencies, but at the cost of the depth and clarity of the sound. My major issue is the lack of midrange. I can get rap sounding decent, but rock suffers greatly. Have I done something wrong here? I feel like every time I get in the car i play with the EQ the entire time. Could it be that I'm not providing the speakers with the power they require? Should I bridge the KS300.4 and only power the front speakers? My girlfriend has the stock alpine system in her 2015 jeep wrangler and it seems to more accurately reproduce the full range of frequencies and in a warmer more pleasant manner than my really expensive setup. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated because im lost.


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## thornygravy (May 28, 2016)

90w RMS is a little low for these speakers, especially if you're using the passives but I don't think more power fix your problem.

You'd probably be better off finding a different set that better suites your ears.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

This wrangler has the enclosures for the mids, correct? Enclosure is most likely way to small for them. Two options. cut the rear of the enclosure and stuff them and the area behind them with polyfill, or get some 6.5's that can handle a smaller enclosure. Also, a dsp can help


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## chub'n-tuck (Nov 8, 2017)

Yeah it comes with factory plastic enclosures in the dash, I couldn't find the volume specs on them but they definitely aren't large. I forgot to mention that I did polyfill the enclosures, but it did little to help. I think that might be the culprit though. There doesn't seem to be any mention of ideal enclosure volume for the HSk's though. I cant seem to find any info on it.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

chub'n-tuck said:


> Yeah it comes with factory plastic enclosures in the dash, I couldn't find the volume specs on them but they definitely aren't large. I forgot to mention that I did polyfill the enclosures, but it did little to help. I think that might be the culprit though. There doesn't seem to be any mention of ideal enclosure volume for the HSk's though. I cant seem to find any info on it.


The hsk mids were designed for door installs, aka large sealed or infinite baffle applications. I did tune a jeep that had the audison voces in the sealed enclosures, and while it didn't have a lot in the lower midbass department, I was able to get the car sounding pretty damn good. 

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## chub'n-tuck (Nov 8, 2017)

hmmmm. the midbass can be produced, but when the midbass shines the midrange is lost completely. If this is the issue maybe i should consider speakers that work better in the oem enclosures. You seem pretty knowledgeable on the subject, any speaker suggestions? You also mentioned cutting the back of the enclosure. I'm looking for the best possible sound quality with a reasonable budget, so which method do you think would produce the most desirable results?


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

I think first step is a dsp

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## Arete (Oct 6, 2013)

chub'n-tuck said:


> Hello everyone. Im new to the forum, so forgive me if this is posted in the incorrect place.
> 
> Roughly a year ago I completely stripped my 08 jeep wrangler of its premium infinity sound system and upgraded it all the way down to the wiring. My stock amp was removed and the wire harness detached to mount a kicker cx600.1. This is used to power my Boston Acoustic G510-44. No complaints with the bass, im very satisfied with the sound quality so far. After a lot of research I decided to go with 2 sets of the component HSK-165's from Hertz audio, front and rear. Both sets of speakers are being powered by an Arc Audio KS300.4 crossed over at 80hz. I decided to stick with the passive crossover provided with the speakers seeing as people seemed pretty pleased with them. the factory enclosures were treated with Dynamat for additional stability along with the rest of the car. all of the stock wiring was removed and replaced with 10 gauge speaker wire from BlueJeansCable (I know, 10 gauge is a little excessive).
> 
> Im not completely pleased with the outcome and since the install and i feel as though ive been longing for the sound the stock system provided. This is a major let down considering the time and money put into the system. All of the forums praised the warmth and natural sound of these speakers and thats what I have been trying to achieve to no avail. the midbass is very nice, but the mid-range leaves much to be desired. The sound seems hollow and lifeless, but if I equalize it and attempt to bring it to life the sound becomes harsh and overpowers the midbass these speakers are known for. No Equalizer setting seems to improve this. The tweeters are also horribly grating and harsh on my ears. Every symbol crash and high E string played rings loud. I attempted lowering the higher frequencies, but at the cost of the depth and clarity of the sound. My major issue is the lack of midrange. I can get rap sounding decent, but rock suffers greatly. Have I done something wrong here? I feel like every time I get in the car i play with the EQ the entire time. Could it be that I'm not providing the speakers with the power they require? Should I bridge the KS300.4 and only power the front speakers? My girlfriend has the stock alpine system in her 2015 jeep wrangler and it seems to more accurately reproduce the full range of frequencies and in a warmer more pleasant manner than my really expensive setup. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated because im lost.



It sounds like you already have done so but install for the Hertz mids are VERY important. These things can be monsters. With that said as others have alluded to more power is a big deal when it comes to this set. Personally I wasn't running much more power than you when I had them. My setup at the time consisted of:

Alpine CDA 117
Hertz HSK 165 powered by JL 300/2
2 IDQ 12 v3 powered by 2 JL 500/1

Now you will notice I was only running 1 set. No rear fill. This was my first time doing that. It was also my first time tuning the time alignment and setting EQ. Now I didn't experience harshness with my tweeters but brightness. It was ear piercing. I remedied this by dialing down at about 10khz with my deck. The Alpine had a decent enough EQ for that. It worked very well. I actually think the Alpine sounded better than my current Pioneer unit There is also some adjustments on the passive crossover that can be used to adjust the tweeter I believe. 

I really enjoyed these speakers once I got them dialed in. I'm not sure if having rear fill would effect the things you mentioned but have you considered not using it? Could you bridge the channels on the amp you have to just the fronts to get a taste of the sound? Just to see? Worth a shot.

EDIT -

Just want to add. The set that I bought these at the demo car was running 150 watts just to the mids themselves. I noticed you mentioned bridging the amp. So yes. DO IT!


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## bloodlord (May 31, 2009)

I remember the HSK's sounding quite bright.

Do you have the same problem with fader all the way to the front? The rear tweeters could be interfering with the tonality of the front stage. 

What kind of EQ processing do you have? Try using an RTA app with pink noise or test tones so you can EQ accurately (see where the exact treble peaks and midrange dips are). You might be cutting/boosting the wrong frequencies. 

Hmm you could double-check the polarity of the speakers too, with imaging/phase test tracks.


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## toneloc2 (Nov 29, 2015)

are your fronts sealed in your pods? like air tight..... did you line the inside or outside with deadner? are you using a mounting ring or are they just mounted to the pods? i ran these hertz before my focals,,,they sounded pretty good, mind you i was using a dsp,,,,, i have yet to open the back of my pods up yet because im pretty happy the way it sounds,,, i did pick up another set of pods from the wrecker just to c if there is much of a difference,,,, im just running the fronts.... and im now active 3way up front...


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## chub'n-tuck (Nov 8, 2017)

Was finally able to get back on here and post a follow up. Thanks all for the varied advice on how to deal with the problem at hand. After testing polarity I did find the RCA cables swapped, reversing the left and right signals. This was a moderate problem, but did little to solve the greater issue. I eventually took the advice some mentioned of bridging the ks300.4 to get extra power to the front speakers. This left my rear speakers unused, but wow and let me reiterate WOW what a difference it made. These speakers truly needed that extra power to shine. The overall power being supplied to the two component sets when bridged is slightly above my peak power rating on the speakers, but I have read online that they are capable of handling more than rated power fairly easy. The sound is so much more clear and natural now it's astonishing. The mid bass and midrange finally shine. Also, the shrillness and brightness of the tweeters is solved which was another huge issue I had. I still cut the 10khz frequency 1db because it was slightly shrill around there, but it's nothing compared to the ringing death I had before. Symbol crashes and snare are also more defined and recognizeable. Overall, I'm astonished at the difference feeding them extra power gave and for anyone experiecing a similar issue, I recommend you take this step and see where it takes you. These speakers sound fantastic they just needed more juice. Now I know where all my money went. Thanks all for the help!


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

now time for a dsp to get a much larger difference


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Wareham in MA?


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## gumbeelee (Jan 3, 2011)

SkizeR said:


> now time for a dsp to get a much larger difference




I second this post


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