chrisw91
LaserRed38
10+ year member
CarAudio.com Veteran
Aw man. Thought this was actually going to be a SQ thread.
dB-SPL
10+ year member
CarAudio.com Elite
2-Way vs. 3-Way
In a perfect world, we'd have a single speaker that could reproduce all frequencies perfectly, 20hz to 20khz. Unfortunately for us, such speaker does not exist…..so, we need to break the frequency spectrum down and play it through multiple speakers (mids, tweeters, subs, etc). This is where we get "2-ways, 3-ways, 5-ways, etc" from.
In co-axials, a 2-way speaker is a speaker that contains only a midwoofer and a tweeter…..the midwoofer playing the lower frequencies (down to around 80hz or so), the tweeter playing the higher frequencies (around 3khz or 4khz and up). 3-way co-axials typically have a midwoofer, tweeter and "supertweeter", with the supertweeter being designated to handle the very, very high frequencies only. Co-axials can go as high as 5-way (midwoofer, midrange, smaller midrange, tweeter and supertweeter). For all intents and purposes, anything more than 2-way in co-axials is a marketing gimmick. Going with 3-way co-axials or higher usually does not increase performance much, if at all.
For component speakers, a 3-way system includes a dedicated midbass (generally plays around 60hz-350hz), a dedicated midrange (generally plays around 350hz-6500hz or so), and a tweeter (generally 6500hz and up). Whereas a 2-way system is only a midwoofer (playing around 60hz-4000hz or so) and a tweeter (4000hz and up). Ideally, for a 3-way system, you'd want to put the midbass in your door, and have kicks built for the midrange & tweeter. For a 2-way component set, kickpanels or door mounting will suffice with generally good results.
General advantages of a 3-way component set:
1) There isn't a crossover point in the middle of the midrange frequencies (which are generally the most important to imaging and tonality), and they aren't being split up between drivers like they sometimes are in a 2-way setup. In a 3-way, they will be played by mainly one speaker, which is the dedicated midrange.
2) In a lot of cars, the mids will need to be flipped out of phase to help correct some midrange frequency phasing problems. In a 2-way system where one speaker plays midrange & midbass, running one of them out of phase will decrease the midbass impact. By running a 3-way, the midrange can be flipped out of phase and it has no effect on the midbass since it is being played by a separate driver.
3) The midrange and midbass frequencies in a 3-way may sound "cleaner" since each speaker has more of a limited bandwidth to play.
Disadvantages of a 3-way component set:
1) Tuning and aiming the speakers can be a much bigger pain the *** with 3-ways. Installation, tuning, phasing and aiming speakers will be much easier/quicker to perfect with 2-ways.
2) Room. It can be much more difficult find the room to fit all of the speakers. In some cars, kickpanels are simply out of the question.
3) Money. 3-ways are normally considerably more expensive than 2-ways.
As you can see, 3-ways aren't necessarily better than 2-way. It's more of a personal preference. Some ppl would rather have a 3-way (for the advantages above), some ppl would rather have a 2-way (easier to tune, less room is occupied, etc).
Sticky from squeak..
In a perfect world, we'd have a single speaker that could reproduce all frequencies perfectly, 20hz to 20khz. Unfortunately for us, such speaker does not exist…..so, we need to break the frequency spectrum down and play it through multiple speakers (mids, tweeters, subs, etc). This is where we get "2-ways, 3-ways, 5-ways, etc" from.
In co-axials, a 2-way speaker is a speaker that contains only a midwoofer and a tweeter…..the midwoofer playing the lower frequencies (down to around 80hz or so), the tweeter playing the higher frequencies (around 3khz or 4khz and up). 3-way co-axials typically have a midwoofer, tweeter and "supertweeter", with the supertweeter being designated to handle the very, very high frequencies only. Co-axials can go as high as 5-way (midwoofer, midrange, smaller midrange, tweeter and supertweeter). For all intents and purposes, anything more than 2-way in co-axials is a marketing gimmick. Going with 3-way co-axials or higher usually does not increase performance much, if at all.
For component speakers, a 3-way system includes a dedicated midbass (generally plays around 60hz-350hz), a dedicated midrange (generally plays around 350hz-6500hz or so), and a tweeter (generally 6500hz and up). Whereas a 2-way system is only a midwoofer (playing around 60hz-4000hz or so) and a tweeter (4000hz and up). Ideally, for a 3-way system, you'd want to put the midbass in your door, and have kicks built for the midrange & tweeter. For a 2-way component set, kickpanels or door mounting will suffice with generally good results.
General advantages of a 3-way component set:
1) There isn't a crossover point in the middle of the midrange frequencies (which are generally the most important to imaging and tonality), and they aren't being split up between drivers like they sometimes are in a 2-way setup. In a 3-way, they will be played by mainly one speaker, which is the dedicated midrange.
2) In a lot of cars, the mids will need to be flipped out of phase to help correct some midrange frequency phasing problems. In a 2-way system where one speaker plays midrange & midbass, running one of them out of phase will decrease the midbass impact. By running a 3-way, the midrange can be flipped out of phase and it has no effect on the midbass since it is being played by a separate driver.
3) The midrange and midbass frequencies in a 3-way may sound "cleaner" since each speaker has more of a limited bandwidth to play.
Disadvantages of a 3-way component set:
1) Tuning and aiming the speakers can be a much bigger pain the *** with 3-ways. Installation, tuning, phasing and aiming speakers will be much easier/quicker to perfect with 2-ways.
2) Room. It can be much more difficult find the room to fit all of the speakers. In some cars, kickpanels are simply out of the question.
3) Money. 3-ways are normally considerably more expensive than 2-ways.
As you can see, 3-ways aren't necessarily better than 2-way. It's more of a personal preference. Some ppl would rather have a 3-way (for the advantages above), some ppl would rather have a 2-way (easier to tune, less room is occupied, etc).
Sticky from squeak..
I'm sorry but did speaker prices drastically go down in the last 4 or so months? I recall paying over 200(Actually I think 300) for a pair of 6" kicker with a tweeter and crossover.
SilverSquared
10+ year member
Fat guy on the GROUND.
i say physically inspect them at a shop 1st. Ive seen some, like Pioneer and Kenwood would have 4-way, and 1 of the "super tweeters" had no wire connections at all. A dummy tweeter. Pioneer's 5 way was like this, and one of Kenwood's 4 ways.
But, Id go 3 way.
But, Id go 3 way.
Echo42987
10+ year member
CarAudio.com Veteran
Don't get Infiniti! I didn't even let the page finish loading before I hit the X button after I read Infiniti
Like stated above, ID makes a great 6 x 9 and so does Focal. Polk MOMO use to have a super nice one that you could really push to the limits....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Polk-Momo-6x9-3-way-pair_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ65Q3a12Q7c66Q3a2Q7c39Q3a1Q7c72Q3a1234Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem2ea64bb67eQQitemZ200358475390QQptZCarQ5fSpeakers
I would grab those hands down....
Like stated above, ID makes a great 6 x 9 and so does Focal. Polk MOMO use to have a super nice one that you could really push to the limits....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Polk-Momo-6x9-3-way-pair_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ65Q3a12Q7c66Q3a2Q7c39Q3a1Q7c72Q3a1234Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem2ea64bb67eQQitemZ200358475390QQptZCarQ5fSpeakers
I would grab those hands down....
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