2 Way System VS. 3 Way System?

[Jazz 10+ year member]

Hi,

My Alpine head unit, CDA 9833 has the option of working under a 2 Way System or a 3 Way System.

How do i know which system i need to use?

My setup is this:

Dash: 4" Coax

Door: 5.25" Coax

Rear: 6x4" Coax

Sub: Single 8"

Thanks for any help.

Jazz

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[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

2 way

 

[Jazz 10+ year member]

thanks for the reply....what are the major differences between these 2 systems?

in what circumstance would someone use a 3 way system?

thanks

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

You would use 3-way when you wanted to use the HU filtering to divide the freqs between the mids and tweets as well as between the subs and mid/highs. Your setup is not going to be capable of that.

 

[DBDRAGGUY 10+ year member]

You would use 3-way when you wanted to use the HU filtering to divide the freqs between the mids and tweets as well as between the subs and mid/highs. Your setup is not going to be capable of that.

x2 If you had components with seperate mids and tweets 3 way would be an option

 

[Jazz 10+ year member]

You would use 3-way when you wanted to use the HU filtering to divide the freqs between the mids and tweets as well as between the subs and mid/highs. Your setup is not going to be capable of that.

if i got this right, that would mean that instead of using the crossovers that come with component sets, you would instead use the HU to seperate the frequencies going to the tweeters and mids?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Yep, that's what it means. Since the division is done before the amp, you need a dedicated amp channel for each mid and each tweet. This type of setup usually consists of only a single mid and tweet per side with no rear speakers and then the sub(s). Requires at least 5 channels of amplification.

 

[Jazz 10+ year member]

Yep, that's what it means. Since the division is done before the amp, you need a dedicated amp channel for each mid and each tweet. This type of setup usually consists of only a single mid and tweet per side with no rear speakers and then the sub(s). Requires at least 5 channels of amplification.

Thanks for the clarification.

So in my case, i have 3 pairs of Coaxials.

I will have a 4 channel amp powering the 2 dash and 2 door speakers.

I will run the rear speakers off the head unit.

I will run the sub with a bridged 2 channel.

I will set all the Amp crossovers to Flat.

Use the HU crossovers in the 2 Way System for the front, rear and sub.

Did i get it right?

thanks

Jazz

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

You're running coaxials. Unless they are high end coax's that have outboard passive crossovers and independent wiring for the mid and tweet, you're wasting your time trying to do an active setup.

 

[Jazz 10+ year member]

You're running coaxials. Unless they are high end coax's that have outboard passive crossovers and independent wiring for the mid and tweet, you're wasting your time trying to do an active setup.

why would you say that?

I currently have components installed. i HATE it. Alpine Type R, 5.25" woofer in the door and tweeter in the dash location. It sounds horrible. I do not want to modify the car in any way, so installing the tweeter in the A pillar or door card is not an option.

This is why i decided to go with Coax all around.

I dont even want to have any outboard crossovers lingering around.

I am willing to give up some SQ to have a neat and simple install.

what do you mean by "active setup"??

thanks

Jazz

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Using the HU in 3-way mode is an active setup. All frequency division is done before amplification. No passive crossovers. Not worth doing on coax speaker unless, as I said, they are high end coaxes that normally have outboard crossovers. Even with the tweets in the dash and mids in the doors, components are going to sound better than coaxs. Going with an active setup, especially one that allows you to time align each driver, can make a huge difference in the way your current setup sounds. Realize that once you switch the HU over to 3-way you won't be able to use HU power on a set of rear speakers because the rear HU outputs are now midranges. Shouldn't be an issue anyway because the rear speakers are only going to detract from the sound at that point anyway.

 

[Jazz 10+ year member]

Using the HU in 3-way mode is an active setup. All frequency division is done before amplification. No passive crossovers. Not worth doing on coax speaker unless, as I said, they are high end coaxes that normally have outboard crossovers. Even with the tweets in the dash and mids in the doors, components are going to sound better than coaxs. Going with an active setup, especially one that allows you to time align each driver, can make a huge difference in the way your current setup sounds. Realize that once you switch the HU over to 3-way you won't be able to use HU power on a set of rear speakers because the rear HU outputs are now midranges. Shouldn't be an issue anyway because the rear speakers are only going to detract from the sound at that point anyway.

I was planning to use the 2 Way mode from the HU with the Coaxials.

That would make more sense with my setup, correct?

thanks

Jazz

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Yes it would.

 

[Jazz 10+ year member]

Yes it would.

Ok good, thats what i thought.( would it still be considered as an "active" setup?)

I would like some clarification just so that i learn from this.

My Alpine CDA 9833 Manual states the following:

2 Way System Xover

Low = Subwoofer Output

Mid = Rear Speaker Output

High = Front Speaker Output

I get this and it makes sense!

3 Way System Xover

Low

Mid-L

Mid-H

High

This one confuses me.

It does NOT state which output affects which one.(unlike the 2 way X over instructions)

It there are only 3 outputs from the HU (Sub, Front and Rear) then how can you control the 4 listed above?

Thanks for any help on this.

Jazz

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

In 3-way mode the rear outputs have two filters applied. They get both a high pass to keep the bass out and a low pass to keep the highs out. This makes a bandpassed output for your midranges. The mid-l is the low end for the mids (it's kinda mislabeled since it is a high pass filter) and the mid-h is the high end for the mids. Make sense?