Car Audio - Sound And Music Or More?

[smicky]

Well - there seems to be a lot of questions about car audio each week. So much I have been rather surprised.

I hope that I have been able to help and guide with the replies I have given (as im sure others trust their replies have assisted as well). However it seems we have repeated questions on the same topics and questions on a extreme level. I know this happens in most topics, however I'm ever increasing amazed just how more it seems to happen on car audio.

Therefore between 1-4am this morning bored out of my head and not sleeping I decided to whack this together.

Please excuse any errors, as it was a crazy time to be writing such a doco.

Anyways here goes!

Hope this helps someone out there.....

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Ok guys, boredom 1am on a Sunday morning and what can I say? But since there is a lot of question on the topic of car audio thought it might be worth a little overview of what its all about…

A lot of the following is written as theory and example terms to simplify the explanation, therefore please don’t take it as ‘technical terms’ – as it would take days and days to explain the following in true detail….. A lot of information has been skipped and left out for this reason also.

First lets understand what the human ear can actually hear and process.

The human ear is capable of hearing sounds in the frequency band of between 20-20k Hz. A lot of us may remember this from a science class at school back in Year 7.

Typically we (the human ear) can handle/withstand listen to sound levels of up to around 90db without any issues – heading over 100db then we start to experience discomfort and even pain if exposed to 120db for any period of time. If you were to be exposed to 160db at 1mt distance you will end up with a damaged ear drum.

A typical person to person conversation is around the 50-60db mark, to give you some idea.

In depth info on the human ear/db levels and frequency look here - http://www.dspguide.com/ch22/1.htm

So what does all this mean?

Speakers-

Well lets start with speakers, as speakers and “whats good” seems to be a frequent hot question in here…

A ‘speaker’ is typically known as the component that makes the music come out so we can hear it! Correct!

A speaker system is made up for ‘drivers’, ‘cross over’ and an ‘enclosures (in the case of bass/subs)’.

Drivers are what we refer to as each of the round (oval or square) shaped components – aka - “A speaker”.

The speaker system is typically made up from 2 or 3 drivers. A 2 driver setup is referred to as a 2 way system, 3 driver setup 3 way, etc. (This may differ depending on cross over design however to keep things simple – ill leave it at this).

So why are there big and small speakers (drivers) – different shaped etc?

The main different types of drivers are as follows:

*Tweeter – This is the smaller round driver which is normally either in the dash/windscreen pillar of our cars, or the smaller round speaker that sites in the middle, on top of the bigger driver in a coax setup.

The Tweeter is responsible for the treble/higher frequencies of sound. The hissing, and little ‘ting tisk tisk’ you hear from a symbol, the lisp sound u her from the singers voice etc.

May people refer to a speaker system as being ‘bright’ – this typically means the tweeter is producing a higher level of sound then that of the other speakers – hence you get a top end heavy sound which doesn’t sound ‘flat’ or ‘balanced’. Same as when we turn up the treble level on out tone settings- the hissing noise you hear is from the tweeter.

Not to confuse the situation there is also other types of tweeters – such as ribbon tweeters, horn tweeters etc. To keep things simple I have only mentioned typical dome tweeters.

* Mid Range – (No this is not the flat stomach of the sexy model a the beach… Sorry)…

The ‘Mid Range’ driver is responsible for producing the majority of the sound/information. It handles the majority of the vocals from your favorite Jimmy Barns track with Johnny, to the bulk of the string sound from the bands guitars to the piano etc.

The midrange does most of the work in the production of the sound (as it typically will receive a wider frequency of sound which the human ear can hear). This is typically the middle sized round speaker which is in the door, or the one at the bottom of a 2 way coax setup (where the tweeter is sitting on the top in the middle, or what have you).

(I have also left out ‘full range’ drivers as they are no longer widely used).

* Woofer – (yes this is what man people call their pet dogs, however nothing cute about it in a speaker (system).

The Woofer & Sub Woofer is the – Bass driver! Boom Boom Doof Doof!!!

Leb land here we come – Main streets of any city – on a Friday night and Saturday night. hhhhmmm there goes my quiet coffee time.

The woofer is the driver that reproduces the bass kick drum sound, the Doof Doof in our dance tracks etc.

So how does the sound get to each driver…

Brings in the next part of the system –

Crossover-

* Whats a crossover?

(no its not some weird sexual position, well that I know of anyways.) –

Cross over (active) is a box which sits outside of the drivers (connected via cable).

The cross over works by acting as a filter to which different sounds are sent to each relevant driver. By sounds I mean frequencies.

The cross over reads the music and says ok, I have all this information or sound for example coming from the amp where and what do I send to which speaker – by acting as a filter it is capable of sending just the treble to the tweeter, mid tones to the mid range, and bass to the woofer. This can be setup with resistors and capacitors in side the box, or variable for manual system tuning via little switches like the volume control on your head unit called variable resistors aka- pot.

In a common coax setup and most factory systems there isn’t a “cross over filter” to send the right frequencies to the right drivers, rather a little capacitor/resistor or other component on the rear of each driver to filter out/block the unwanted sounds frequencies. This method is known as a “passive crossover”. Still works, just in a different way.

* Speaker power –

Keep in mind – a 500w speaker does not mean it will be five time louder or even as loud as a 100w speaker in any case at all. Speaker Sensitive and SPL (db) levels are the guide used to what we hear and call loudness/volume. This is better explained later on.

If at the same time feeding a 100W speaker with 500W of power will not give you a louder sound, rather it will in most cases leave you with a few paper weights! This is why matching speakers with the correct amp(s) is so important.

So working back down the line we now come to the amps.

Amplifier -

The Amplifier is the component that increases the sound levels/volume and also acts as a small filter in many ways as well.

A few of the more important things to consider when buying an Amp:

* Power.

Make sure the power which the amp produces matches or exceeds that of the ‘RMS continues power’ required to power the speaker setup/driver(s).

RMS = Root Means Square.

WATT = A watt is a unit of measurement for the amount of power, used or being made. It is the rating given to the product of power when heat is taken from the amount of resistance in current.

Kind of like the amount of work the car engine needs to make to move the car – slow or faster. (taking away the gearbox and assuming it is a single speed gear ratio). The more power produced the faster the car goes. The faster the car wants to go, the more power which is required.

Most audio people will recommend a larger amp to that of the ability the speakers can handle – Why? This way the speakers are (in theory) guaranteed to be delivered clean undistorted sound. It also prevents the drivers from being under power and sounding poor, especially in cases when and where tone levels are increased by the user, which can cause voice coil burn out.

By under powering a driver its not the lack in power that damages the driver, but the level of distortion when the user tries to get more out of the system then is available. (ie- causes the amp to clip). When a speaker receives a distorted signal it is unable to perform as it was designed. Ie- self cooling etc. and therefore causing the voice coil to potentially burn out. I wont go into any more detail about voice coil cooling however -

Imagine a big Kenworth truck being powered by a little 15hp Go Kart engine. Not a lot good is going to happen there! The 15hp engine is going to over heat from stress.

However, if you use a big GE Jumbo jet engine it is more then enough as is produces in effect to much power. You simply – just make sure you only use as much as you need to get the job done cleanly!

Hence many say use a higher rated amp, this will allow for such things as peak power etc.

The down side is you run the risk of over powering the speaker drivers and in turn damaging them, typically in a manner of physical damage.

However, correctly installed, this will ensure the speakers have a better chance of living a - happy bopping fun life, as will your amp(s) as they will not be stressed to limits either!

When referring to speaker power and amp power levels, the only ‘real’ rating you should be asking for is – RMS CONTINUES rating. Even MAX RMS or even just RMS is typically a rating which can be misleading, as it does not tell us the true constant rating to when the speaker was tested it may have in fact produced and been capable of handling that amount of power, however for how long was that level of power delivered to the driver for that rating?

So always try to find out what the CONTINUES RMS power rating is on both your amp and speakers!

One of the biggest misunderstands people have, is that they believe 200wattss of power is in fact 2 times (or twice) that of 100watts in sound. In terms of sound or audible difference this is not true at all.

The difference between that of a speaker producing 1 watt of power and 10watts of power is roughly 10 times, however 1 watt to 100watts is roughly 20times and not 100 times (based on a 1 mt distance) as it works on a sliding scale – like the Richter scale rating of magnitude for earthquakes.

So- Say 1 watt @ 100db.

1.25 watts is 2 times greater then 1 watt.

5 watts is 7 times greater then 1 watt.

10 watts is 10 times greater then 1 watt.

50watts is 17 times greater then 1 watt.

100 watts is 20 times greater then 1 watt.

200 watts is 23 times greater then 1 watt.

1000 watts is 30 times greater then 1 watt.

Therefore by buying a 200w system (amp and/or speakers) is not going to give you twice the loudness of the 100w system. You need to compare the sensitivity of each speaker setup, to know which will be louder (db & SPL).

So if a speaker is 100db @ 1 watt @ 1mt, it will be 120db at 300watts @ 1 mt (assuming it is capable of this.) As will a 500watt speaker with a 89db rating @ 1 watt @ 1 mt, the 500watt speaker will produce 125db at the 500watt mark at the same distance. Noticeable? not really, some animals such as your puppy dog will hear the difference but humans really wont tell between 1-3db, 5db is very minor at 300 and 500 watts!

This means if we had speaker [~A~] with a high power rating (RMS) of (300watts), which is three times that of speaker [~B~] (100watts). [~A~] has a very low sensitivity of 25db and [~B~] having 90db, [~B~] speaker despite the 200wats power difference will sound louder then that of [~A~] at 300watts. The level of difference will be around 40db.

Ill leave volume levels and ratings here.

* Resistance/Impedance -

Match the resistance of the speakers to an amp which is stable and capable of driving the speakers/driver the way they were designed to be driven.

Speaker resistance is referred to as OHM’s.

OHM = unit(s) which represent electrical current resistance between two points.

Ohms law.

(aka Brand of speak/company in the US, however not what we are referring to here).

There is two basic forms of ohm ratings, Resistance and Impedance. Without writing a whole novel about speaker/driver and system resistance peak, average, effects of cabin air etc. we’ll stick with the rating on the side of the box (nominal ohm rating).

Resistance (Ohm) is like water flowing through the kitchen sink. The more pressure you take off the tap (washer) the more free flowing water comes through. Tighten the tap and the greater the flow restriction.

Most modern amps are capable of producing power for extended periods of time at a 2ohm rating, however best to double check and match the amp with the speakers.

Driver resistance varies depending on the frequency that is being reproduced at the time, so again to keep things simple – check and correctly match (as mentioned above on the side of the box).

The lower the Ohm rating number – ie 2 v’s 4 the higher the output from the Amp/watts. In general terms an amp which is able to produce 100w’s @ a 4ohm load is generally able to produce 200w’s @ 2 ohms, but again this varies depending on the design of the amp and its ability. As a rule of thumb half the resistance, double the power. (if the amp is capable of producing stable power at the lower resistance level, and the input power is the same in both situations, this is also effected by input current and system volts etc).

While it is said that an amp will double, there will be some loss to this or increase in distortion as the drain on the power source will be greater, as well component loss to the internal electronics.

* Distortion –

THD = Total Harmonic Distortion.

PMPO = Peak Music Power Output.

Most brands will offer ratings for power and distortion in MAX, PMPO, TOTAL POWER etc. these are all true methods of testing an amps performance, however generally disregarded with good reason. (they are more of a marketing dept’s advertised rating).

When matching speakers with the correct amp – look to match the “RMS Constant” levels. (or again as mentioned before even better - have a amp which is of greater ability to what the speakers require.)

RMS rating is an international accepted rating and generally the easiest to understand.

Distortion levels are normally gauged in a THD % format.

ie – “100W @ 4Ohms (0.05% THD).”

That means the amp when tested was producing 100w’s of power at a 4ohm resistance load and carried 0.05% distortion.

What is distortion?

Distortion is produced/caused from a lot of things, but to keep it simple – when you turn your home theater or stereo up, with the cd player on stop or pause the hissing noise you hear is the distortion. (if you try this please be careful to remember TURN THE AMP DOWN BEFORE YOU HIT PLAY AGAIN, and don’t let do this and leave your system going for more then a second)!

Other forms or rating are not false – however can be seen to be misleading to the consumer.

PMPO is typically a 10% THD power rating. Very high level of distortion.

‘Total system distortion’ is the total combined power of all channels (1 speakers + 1 speaker + 1+1 etc), so 100W per channel (or speaker) all added together. Again not a false rating, however doesn’t really help you when matching to a speaker system.

As a rule of thumb most branded amps will give power ratings of RMS into 8 and 4 ohm’s, many also two if 2 ohm stable and will give 0.05% or below THD ratings. This is very acceptable. Even lower ratings are obviously better, however keep in mind it is otherwise thought that 1% THD is very hard to hear with the human ear – if at all.

Include the distortion you will get from the line signal from you cd player, cables and environment/cabin and it all adds up by the time you hear it!

The big issue with distortion is not so much the under 1% ratings on amps which makes one better then the other, however when it is delivered to the speakers/drivers and greater then this. This Distortion and clipping can cause drivers to blow!

Clipping can actually accrue very easy from a system at 50% of volume. Typically a system running at 75% of its ability can and will clip (distort) as and when the ‘peak’ levels are reached. (as mentioned earlier when talking about RMS, PMPO, RMS Max etc.)

Again there is a lot more to distortion, resistance, etc however to keep it simple – ill leave it at this.

* Using multiple voice coils and or subs on a mono block.

Resistance/Ohms – when buying a sub woofer (or any other dual voice coil driver) – keep in mind to talk to the store about the different ways to wire up the voice coils.

As wiring up a DVC driver to run on a monoblock amp can change and produce different levels of resistance.

Wiring a DVC sub in parallel will typically lower the resistance level by half and by linking the voice coils in series will typically double the resistance. (Physically 1+1=1, or 2->1).

So if using two x 4ohm DVC subs will again affect the resistance levels depending on the manner in which each of the subs VC are wired together, as well as each of the subs together to power from one monoblock amp. (now turning 4 VC’s into 1 mono channel load to the amp).

If you wire, say two x 4ohm DVC – by connecting each subs VC in parallel and the 2 subs to one another in parallel as well – you will end up with a 1ohm load on the amp! Not good if you don’t have a 1ohm stable amp – which many currently are not.

MAKE SURE YOU TALK TO YOUR AUDIO DEALER IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT HOW TO WIRE UP A DUAL VOICE COIL DRIVER, AND/OR MORE THEN ONE DUAL OR EVEN SINGLE VOICE COIL SUBS!

Better explanation (calculator) - http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm

So how do we get the sound/signal into the amp?

* Interconnects/Line Converters.

Well as many already know it is typically via RCA leads.

Many amps no days have a high level input ability as well – which basically means you can send the signal from the factory head unit – straight into the amp without the need of a line converter. So from your speaker lines straight into the amp.

More commonly products like the RF 360, or LC boxes are now used to convert the high level speaker lines into more usable signal lines which are feed into a set of RCA leads.

The converter works by loading the ICC’s amp to believe there is a speaker at the end of the line, then takes the speaker signal from the ICC and prepares it in a way which is more suitable for the power amplifiers pre amp component.

It is also widely understood that the signal from a line converter is weak compared to that of a designated RCA line out which are offered by using an aftermarket head unit. This can be balanced to a certain degree with signal gain control.

In addition to being a line converter, most of these types of converter boxes double as a type of filter or tuning box as well. What means as it attempts to translate the speaker signal from the factory amp component into a more usable – ‘FLAT’ signal, in turn a closer to original recording.

Great if/when installed and setup correctly!

Other system may have an external DAC (digital to analogue converter) box or converter built into the amp like many high end McIntosh systems but you will be paying some serious money for such systems (Just like running a digital optical cable from your dvd player to your home theater receiver). – In some cases systems such systems are worth more then the cars they are installed into. But this (DAC) is typically installed in the head unit or factory ICC unit.

From the converter (if installed), we then look to what is called a source component CD Player etc. (ie- after market head unit or factory ICC).

There is two schools of thought on this – is an after market head unit better, or using the factory ICC with a line converter better?

Well it is something you need to weigh up yourself as a personal preference.

General rule is – Yes you will get greater flexibility from a aftermarket head unit, over the traditional factory ICC with line converter – but to what point does this become feasible?

What if you want to keep the look of a factory setup and have a after market head unit – do you do so and install the after market head unit in a position such as the glove box?

This is something up to the user.

However if like more and more people now days you wish to retain the factory ICC, looks and integrated remote etc. The easiest option is to grab a line converter.

Products like the Alpine Vehicle Hub Pro, will in fact allow integration of many products, both audio based and visual – allowing for connection of items such as you mobile phone, ipod, dvd player, nav system etc. to all be integrated into the factory setup.

So its really up to each of us, as to what level of system we are looking to build.

Do you build a SPL comp car that will not only shake the garage walls at home, but also blow out the windows – and in the end send you deaf?

Maybe you want a nice system where you know you can put the window down and say to the guys next to you at the lights “hey look at me”?

Or a simple upgrade over the factory system?

Totally up to you.

Remember when buying car audio equipment it is a personal decision, just like the colour you picked for your new car.

Your style of music may sound very poor on the most expensive pair of speakers in the store, yet sound far better on a sub $500 speaker.

Brands/Buying hardware -

When considering equipment, the below is a list of some brands you may wish to check out:

(complete unbiased list – and yes hundreds of brands have been left out)..

* Speakers/Subs:

+ $1500: Focal, MB, Seas, Dynaudio, Morel, McIntosh, a/d/s.

$500 - $1500: Alpine, MB, JL Audio, Infinity, a/d/s, Polk, Boston, Dynaudio, DLS, Hertz, Rockford, Eton, Focal, Eclipse, etc.

$500 +: Pioneer, Clarion, JL Audio, Alpine, DLS, Nakamichi, Boston, Eclipse .

* Subs: Soundstream, MTX, MB, Dynaudio, Morel, Mcintosh, JL Audio, Infinity, Polk, Boston, Rockford, Eton, Pioneer, Clarion, and Focal.

* Amps: JL Audio, Boston, Pioneer, Alpine, Clarion, Eclipse, Rockford, Infinity, Mcintosh, Soundstream, Audison, a/d/s, Focal.

Remember when in the store listening to the speakers – please make sure you have taken in a mixed CD of your own, so you get a sense of your own music being played, and please make sure you tell the assistant/installer to set the demo up with the tone settings ‘flat’, as increased treble and bass tones will give the speaker a different sound to that of what it is truly designed to sound like.

In many cases stores will increase the loudness and tone settings to give a poor over priced speaker sound like it has a greater sense of depth and therefore, a greater appeal to the customer. Its kind of like test driving a blown custom tuned T, then being delivered a stock standard NA 6.

Sure you can turn the NA 6 into a full blown T, but, well its just not the same!

Sub woofers are often misunderstood. Just because it is a 15” v’s 10” does not mean it will sound any louder, better, or give you more Doof Doof.

In fact most cases a 10” or 12” will 'sound' far better in a correctly built setup then a 15”.

10” subs tend to produce a quicker response time and therefore in the correct box have a better sound, especially when reproducing such audio as that from many modem dance and even urban artists. It is quick, clean and in a word ‘punchy’.

12/13” drivers are very much like 10” – however have a greater cone area. Without getting into technical details about ported v’s sealed box design, voice coils, frequency, and cone displacement, a single 10” or 12/13” SVC/DVC sub will be more then enough for a typical system.

Most 15” sub drivers are big – slow and not all that accurate, due to the shear size of the cone, air pressure/voice coil and suspension. Most generally give an awesome bass sound – however most cases it will be a ‘long droning’ sound. Not all that good for fast BPM tracks.

So bigger is not always better!

Same as using two or three subs, this will not give you twice the amount of sound, or sound two times louder then one. It will give very little volume difference when each additional driver is added.

Box design is extremely important, it will ensure you get the best out of the driver, maintain the life expectancy of the driver and sound oh so much sweeter!

The two most common box designs used are ‘sealed’ and ‘ported or vented’, however there is a number of other methods such as band pass, passive radiated, etc. Make sure the box is correctly designed and tuned for the intended use you have.

Tuning a box can also be done in many ways – tuned for extended bass, tight response, high output etc.

For the sake of keeping this simple, ill leave it at that.

Just like speakers make sure the power to the sub is greater then that required. (as explained earlier).

Accessories/Add Ons:

* Fader Capacitor-

The use of accessories like Fader Capacitors, will help improve sound quality and response for sub amps etc. to some degree.

They work in the same way a normal capacitor on an electronics board works. In effect all they do is charge up like a battery and discharge when needed, in this case they are designed to allow for that little extra power to be discharged from the capacitor to assist when needed, or a power dip is detected.

Kind of like a loaded turbo charger being spooled up. Capacitors work in a manner not unlike that of a big AA battery, they will also help in providing a cleaner ‘filtered’ (for lack of a better word) power source to the amp, which will give a smoother power feed to the amp(s).

Not ‘required’ for a system to work, however for the little cost to add one to your setup, its not a bad thing to add.

* Sound Insulation -

Sound matting – again great addition for many reasons however ‘not required’. Basically sound matting works like fat bat insulation in your roof and walls. As the bats help keep in the cooler air from your air conditioner, and resist the outside heat from coming through the walls and roof, you sound matting works in the same way.

It will help to keep the sound from your system in your car which is being produced from the stereo, as well as resist outside noises like trucks, road works etc.

* Cabling/Speaker Cables/Interconnects –

Cabling – good power cabling, speaker cables, single leads (interconnects) etc. all assist by sending strong undistorted signal down the path to each component with less loss. Just like all the other hardware – important to make sure you match correctly. Using a power cable the size of a typical headphone cable is probably not a good idea – the amount of current running through the cable is more likely to burnout the metal/copper/tin whatever the cable is made from. Leaving you with a big mess.

Build a solid grounding when installing power cabling, as this is one of the many little simple, easy and inexpensive extras which will help the setup perform as its best.

Its always good to upgrade you speaker cable where able as well – this will ensure cable resistance (the resistance caused from the cable run distance) is kept to a minimum and not adding to add to the load on your amp, or even signal loss to the speakers.

Same with RCA/interconnects – as they hold a low level signal it is easy for this to be effected by factors like ‘cross talk’. Where the sound or feedback from another cable near by can interfere with that of each other.

To keep it simple again ill leave this here.

* Perfect System –

In the end what makes the ultimate/perfect sound system?

Well to be honest I personally don’t believe you will ever get anything better then being in a sound recording studio – simple.

But you can try to get a close to sound in your car, just like in your home.

All the accessories like a capacitor, solid cabling, sound matting, good amps, speakers, and sub will assist in doing this.

Technically speaking the ultimate or perfect system would cover 20Hz-20kHz sound frequency, at a 0 +/- level of variance (white noise). As the human ear is only capable of hearing 20-20kHz I use this as the range. In the perfect situation it would in fact be a never ending straight live frequency.

The speakers used to reproduce such a sound would also be correctly time aligned. (again I wont get into details on time alignment other then to explain – lower sound waves such as those produced by your sub woofer take longer to travel the same distance to that of high frequency such as that which you will hear from a tweeter).

As we know music has notes, varying sounds, fading, balance etc. we would then see a true match to the original artists intention. However this is not quite possible – without being there and sitting in front of the artist or band.

Due to electronics ‘reproducing’ the recording, we have variances. As the human ear is ‘generally’ said to detect sound level changes in 3db stages, it is accepted that equipment will generally have an output frequency rating of +/- 3db when tested with a white noise spectrum.

Despite only being able to hear sound as low as 20Hz it is a much sort after mark in the world of sub woofers to reach as low as possible. Why? One reason is we not only enjoy hearing a full range of sounds, but when it comes to bass we also enjoy feeling it as well!

Despite all of the above - at the end of the day its your ears and your music!

As always – hope this helps and explains some of the questions which are frequently asked.

- Smicky.

:rokon:

[senna_T]

FMD Smicky, you're gonna have to become a donating member to cover the cost of bandwidth required to support your posts dude!

Nice work, now find another sleepless night to fix the grammar mistakes -

[kona86]

well done smicky!!!

great read and is full of awsome info!

I vote to have this pinned up top!

well done again man

[Russ F6]

Holy crap would have taken me from 4am last week to come up with all that

[smicky]

Nice work, now find another sleepless night to fix the grammar mistakes -

Thanks mate! Yeah you are right - as soon as I posted it, despite reading over it (very very very quick skim) before hand, I could still see errors!

Oh well... its been a long stressful weekend!

[sicklaser]

man, awesome post.

must have taken you hours to write that lol

can I just point out to everyone that a 'active crossover' is a unit powered by 12 volts that acts on the low level (RCA) signal.

A 'passive crossover' is the one that comes with your splits or on the back of the tweeters in your coaxial speakers. It acts on the high level output of your amplifier or headunit and sends the right signals to the tweeters and woofers etc.

Well donw smicky

[PHANTMXR6]

smicky

[smicky]

Thanks PHANTMXR6!!!

Really appreciate all the feedback.

sicklaser, you are correct. I knew there would have to be somewhere in there I mixed it up a bit.

as sick as said - for everyone interested...

Passive -

Active -

There is many different forms/types of crossover design, 1st order, 2nd order, 3rd etc, Paralell, Mixed even different variances of these as well like Butterworth, D'Appolito - blah blah :blah: Just make sure that when you get a set of splits it is a system that comes with a crossover as well! Some cheaper Chinese type split speaker systems will just have the component soldered to the terminal points on the driver. As mentioned earlier this will work, however spend a little more and get yourself a real set of splits... PLEASE!

Again - thanks heaps everyone Kona, Russ, Phantm, and sick!

Just really hope this does help all those out there that are thinking of asking the question we have already answered time and time again!

[sicklaser]

lol... pictures now??? someone needs a hobby hahahaha

nah jokes. the pics explain it perfect.

this should be made a sticky if its not already

[smicky]

Ha ha yeah pics bud!

like my emo's - easier when or while explaining sometimes!

one thing I should have said - and hope everyone agrees..... sicklaser I'm betting you will!

IF YOU NEED TO ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT EVERYTHING WHEN LOOKING AT A NEW CAR STEREO... HOW ABOUT GETTING THE TO SHOP INSTALL IT FOR YOU!!!

ITS NOT JUST AS SIMPLE AS PLUGGING A SET OF SPEAKERS IN THE NEW CD PLAYER YOU GOT FROM SANTA - OTHERWISE SANTA WOULD HAVE GOTTEN OFF HIS FAT ARSE AND DONE IT FOR YOU!

Got very little idea and try it yourself - its most likely to all end in tears!

Other forum members can only help out each other so much through the forum - before it becomes silly.

Edited 02/02/09 03:05 AM by smicky