Active vs Passive Setup

[Legod]

it means to properly drive the tweeters and not drive it too low which makes sense -> subwoofers, the component speakers and tweeters are all technically "speakers". subwoofers being bigger can drive harder with greater excursions meaning lower range; the tweeters being smallest cannot drive as hard as the subwoofers right?

 

so my recommendations as a very general thingy, not considering brands etc of tweeters is to drive it with at least 4k and above high pass filter and nothing less.

 

gain and current is not that important as long as you dun overdo it. adjust it to be pleasing at a reasonable hearing volume - the loudest you think you will go; with no distortions whatsoever (you should never even get close here! but just mentioning in case you are a super BASS-HEAD!). henceafter, when you listen via your headunit volume knob you will be ok. (note : your normal listening range is lower by quite a bit from your "reasonable" hearing volume right?)

 

obviously if you are getting a used amplifier or one of questionable qualities, whatever you do will still be dangerous as the amplifier may not be providing constant regulated amplification and instead giving you flunctations as well as picking up too much interferences which all contribute to distortions. Distortions make speakers move out of sync and often out of technical acceptable range of movement which is why they "burn"! Driving them too low as in the first point also causes the same effect which is why ppl and installers usually say running active dangerous as passive cross-overs protect the tweeters from such situations. as a disclaimer however, just like over-clocking computers, properly done and tuned, its as reliable as anything but done wrongly, dun blame me. if in doubt, go to a good installer and specify that you want it done with no questions asked! some monies can't be saved. i've done some DIY and some by installers and trust me, i have destroyed more than i gained till i become proficient in it!

[Fff0]

Thanks man.

U hv been a great help.

[Anthonyfd3s]

anybody know market price for helix RS6?? and any1 hav HU for sale?

[Anthonyfd3s]

anyone selling sony XES series products? amplifiers or spks? XES M3 is more suitable for sub or hi mid??

[Mindfree]

wahhhh sey ICE guru is here

 

[York]

3 ways electronic X-over;

 

see link;

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_2274.html

Edited November 20, 2005 by York

[Johnnytanki]

Hi,

 

Just to check with everyone..

 

If i am using only passive setup...with a pair of tweeter and mid-range connect to 1 channel of the amp. On my amp side, there is a switch to set to HP, LP or off. Should i set to HP or set it to off. Please advise. Thanks

[Kwongwing]

SHould be set to "Off" - unless you have a sub-woofer installed.

[Johnnytanki]

or unless active setup with tweeter and mid-range on the different channel right?

[York]

unless u r using the amp wholly for either tweeter or subwoofer...then set to HP or LP resp....

[Iceforme]

hi bro,

 

i'm planning for on a active setup on my ride and would appreciate your feedback/advice

 

HU : Alpine 9833

MRP-F200 V-Power 4 ch to CDT CL61 (75W x 4 @ 4 Ohms)

Orion XTR 3752 2 ch bridge to 10" Bazooka Sub (93.75W x 2 @ 4 Ohms)

 

btw, do you have any good installer to recommend?

 

thanks in advance!

[Slonez]

Hi,

 

I am not familiar with the Alpine gear, does it have active crossover built-in? If it does, then you can experimennt with it or get your installer to set it up for you.

Good luck!

[Unclesoong]

You should set to HP and set your HPF at 80HZ for a start.

[Wbucket]

? Why set HP? Ah john is having a passive set-up. You mean you want to limit the bass going into the mids?

[Unclesoong]

The passives come with a preset HPF for the tweeters and LPF for the mids.

The frequecy response of a typical entry level mids starts from somewhere near 70Hz, mid end ones from 50HZ and those higher end ones start from as low as 40hz.

So the HPF on the amp is used to cut those frequencies below these frequencies.

[Wbucket]

Didn't know that. Lesson learned. Great to have you here too. Heard your name in sgsoundsystem often.

[Unclesoong]

Heard about this forum yesterday from an Icer while in Singapore.

[Xiaogary]

I have just converted my front MB Quart to active setup. First I change the RCA and speaker connection.

 

Then I on HU with volume 0, so that I dont damage my speakers if wrong frequency is fed out to the RCA. Then I start to tune the crossover roughly. I duno the exact specs of my speakers, so roughly tune only, bearing in mind not to set too low for tweeter and too high for mid, or too low for mid. My subwoofer retain the setting it have previouslu since it was from my separate monoblock amp.

 

Now configuration is like this.

HU front RCA -> 4 channel amp's CH3 and CH4 -> Tweeter

HU rear RCA -> 4 channel amp's CH1 and CH2 -> 6.5 inch mid

HU subwoofer RCA -> preamp -> Monoblock amp -> 12 inch subwoofer.

 

The HU cross over setting is like this:

 

The gain can choose from -12dB (lowest) to 0dB (highest or loudest), so I choose -6dB for all, all sound as loud.

 

I can choose the following slope for crossover : flat(0dB, 6dB, 12dB, 18db, 24dB). I dont dare to choose flat or less slope like 6, I always choose max slope for fear wrong freq feed due to genter slope with wider range will damage my speakers.

 

Low - for subwoofer LPF (I set at gain -6dB, 125Hz, slope 24dB)

mid Low - for mid starting freuency ( I set at gain -6dB, 125Hz, slope 24dB)

mid High - for mid ending frequency ( I set at gain -6dB, 4KHz, slope 24dB)

High - for tweeters ( I set at 4KHz, 24dB)

 

 

However there is a few question on the mid and tweeter's amp setting.

 

At my 4 channel amp, there is setting for CH1 and CH2 (for my 6.5 inch mids) like:

1a) gain ( I turned to 75%)

1b) LPF/Full/HPF (I set LPF)

1c) crossover 40Hz->1.6KHz ( I set 1.6KHz, bcos as I turned towards 40Hz, no more sound)

1d) bass boost gain ( I turned to 80%)

1e) bass boost frequency 20Hz -> 100Hz ( I set 100Hz for harder mid bass)

 

Similarly for the CH3 and CH4 (for my tweeters), there is also same set of buttons for setting.

2a) gain ( I turned to 75%)

2b) LPF/Full/HPF ( I set HPF)

2c) bass boost gain 40Hz-> 1.6KHz ( I set 1.6KHz although I hear no diff when turning)

2d) bass boost frequency ( I set 50% becos no diff when I turn)

 

My questions:

 

1) for amp, do I set Full or HPF for mid, since from HU already come out 125Hz to 4KHz thru the internal crossover.

 

2) similarly for amp, do I set Full or HPF for tweeter, since from HU already signal come out is 4KHz and above thru the internal crossover.

 

3) is the bass boost redundant for the CH3 and CH4 (tweeter) since I turn here turn there also hear no difference. But for CH1 and CH2 (mid) I can hear harder bass when boost frequency is at 100Hz.

 

Lastly, need to hear some advice on whether another set of component speaker can be installed thru the use of internal HU crossover or need an additional external rear speaker crossover. If external rear speaker crossover is needed, which RCA should I use for my external crossover, Front, Rear or Subwoofer. The reason is becos, if I have CDT CL62 behind, I cannot use the same crossover frequency as the one I have for front MB Quart speaker now right since different speaker should be cross at different frequency due to difference characteristic.

 

My fren ask me to use external crossover for both pair of component speaker and set my HU to 2 way. Then using the Front RCA to feed front crossover and Rear RCA to feed rear crossover and the Subwoofer crossover to my subwoofer as usual thru my preamp. I find this very costly and it make my HU redundant bcos since I have internal crossover, why must spend on external crossover?