What was on tingy side? in-boats or tower?
You might check the crossover on the back of the horn. There is a jumper on the back of the horn that has two terminal lugs, marked 0 and +6. If you are running the KM6500.2 components by themselves on the tower, (2 horns, 2 mids only) you want the jumper on the 0, (zero) lug, otherwise the horn will be too loud.
Otherwise, your assumptions arae right on everything. Know FOR SURE to turn the crossover switch to HI PASS. Without it engaged, the crossover frequency knob does NOTHING.
If your in-boats sound "tingy" as you say, turn DOWN the tingy part...
Don;t take it personally, but I giggle when I see guys using their EQ and tone controls backwards, yet I do it too; it is something inherent in our psyche...
If the highs are too loud, take your treble control and lower it...
For equalization, when somethihng is too loud, it is always better to cut the offending frequencies as opposed to boosting others. Similarly, if something sounds too quiet, turn down the other. You will never over-drive a curcuit buy cutting frequencies. You often will by boosting. If you find your EQ/tone contriols are set WAY off of center, with one or two right at center, try turning them all down; you will have less hiss, less distortion, and lowered chances of clipping at higher volumes...
Let us know!
Phil
Kicker