3-Way Active: one month in review

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

I was excited about the whole 3-way active deal. I had been running MB Quart PSD-216 components in my Explorer and loved the way they sounded. But the transition between a two-way passive setup to a three way active setup had been a night and day difference.

Everything seems so much more clear and crisp, defined and sharp. For example, Blow by Blow by Jeff Beck is one of my favorite sound quality albums. It has lots of very intricate details to it that not just any stereo could reproduce.

Here's a snippet of my favorite song off that album: located here

My favorite part is the snare drum. On headphones, computer speakers, hell, even my old setup, sure the snare drum can sound good. It sounds like a snare drum. But the difference in what I've got now is that that part actually sounds like there's a midget sitting on the dash pounding the drum. It's got that bite that I just haven't ever heard out of a stereo before.

More to come later.

Click to read more...

 

[smd4life 5,000+ posts]

makes me feal good about putting 1000 bucks into my 3 way active setup

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

you'll love it. I'm never going back to 2-way passives lol

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

OK let me make sure I got this right. The difference between active and passive is that in an active set-up you use an external crossover. Is there anything else.

 

[phyphoestilic 5,000+ posts]

can u upload that song? the intro was cool

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

OK let me make sure I got this right. The difference between active and passive is that in an active set-up you use an external crossover. Is there anything else.

in a passive setup, all the filtering is done by a crossover on the speaker wires. in an active setup, the signal on the RCA's is filtered

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

OOOO gotcha.....so if you have an amp hooked up to comp like my set-up would this not be active? And wouldnt the cdplayer crossovers be filtering the RCA signal going to the amp?

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

Click here to listen to Jeff-Beck---Thelonius

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

there you go

 

[smd4life 5,000+ posts]

send that to me...aim

 

[acold7dusta 10+ year member]

what headunit do you have?

what are you using as your processor/crossover?

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

P880

 

[acold7dusta 10+ year member]

i have about 200 x 2 @ 4 ohm to fool around with

also got a kenwood KDC-X790...bad idea to go active with SLC 265s, or no?

 

[Wkbdkid 10+ year member]

Kinda confused bout the whole 2way, 3way, passive, and active setup as well. is there a link to explain all to me?

 

[acold7dusta 10+ year member]

Kinda confused bout the whole 2way, 3way, passive, and active setup as well. is there a link to explain all to me?

well i understand the basics, but beyond that is all gray

2 way- 1 woofer that covers everything from 80 hz to like 2500 hz

1 tweeter covers everything from 2500 and up

3 way- 1 woof 80-500

1 midrange 500-2000

1 tweet 2000 up

passive- predetermined x/o points for each speaker (after amp)

active- you pick your points thru a crossover before the amp

just examples, and varies

thats how i understand it so far...