Confused on Component crossover!

[Nicktkd18]

well i just bought my first pair of matched components some rockford t1652s and im not understanding how the impedance works. the tweeters say 4 ohm and the woofers say 4 ohm. rockford says that this matched pair together is a 4 ohm load. It seems to me that this would equal a 2 ohm load together or is the crossover doing something inside i dont know about. also does the crossover just split frequencies or power or has does that work for example if i put 90 watts rms to the crossover do i get 90 watts at both components or 45 at each or maybe something like 60 to woofer and 30 to tweeter?

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[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

The inductors and capacitors within the crossover keeps the load your amp sees near 4 ohms even though the two drivers are paralleled.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

The crossover will split the frequencies. The woofer will get 90 watts of power up to about the cutoff frequency and the tweeter will probably get a little less than that because there is probably a resistor to absorb some of the power so you don't blow the tweeter. Also, if you meter the tweeter, it's probably about 6 ohms to help if from easily burning up.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

The inductors and capacitors within the crossover keeps the load your amp sees near 4 ohms even though the two drivers are paralleled.

The drivers are not in parallel, nor are they in series. They are simply separated by frequency.

 

[Nicktkd18]

so it seems like theres really no point to bi-amp, even if it was being processed preamp

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Bi-amping will let you use either a 4 channel amp or two 2 channel amps to power the component set and still use the passive crossover. This is handy if you want to have more control over the levels of the drivers. It's almost an active setup, but you're still doing the signal processing with a passive crossover or after amplification. If you're HU or sound processor is capable of processing the sound before amplification, you may be capable of going 3 way active. There are only a handful of HUs capable of this. Most HUs will do a 2 way active setup for subs and mids/highs. The mids and highs with these HUs will require a passive crossover to separate the frequencies. A 3 way active setup uses preamp crossovers for lows, mids, and highs. The lows will be lowpassed, the highs will be high passed, and the mids will be bandpassed. A 4 channel amp or two 2 channel amps would be required for this type of setup for the front stage.

Long story short, it is still of benefit for you to bi-amp the set if you want a little more control over the gain for specific drivers.

 

[goingdef 10+ year member]

All bi-amping would do is give you more control over the tweeter/mid level by making them independently adjustable.I have tried both ways and it seems to sound better on my MB Quart comps if I don't bi-amp them.

 

[goingdef 10+ year member]

Bi-amping will let you use either a 4 channel amp or two 2 channel amps to power the component set and still use the passive crossover. This is handy if you want to have more control over the levels of the drivers. It's almost an active setup, but you're still doing the signal processing with a passive crossover or after amplification. If you're HU or sound processor is capable of processing the sound before amplification, you may be capable of going 3 way active. There are only a handful of HUs capable of this. Most HUs will do a 2 way active setup for subs and mids/highs. The mids and highs with these HUs will require a passive crossover to separate the frequencies. A 3 way active setup uses preamp crossovers for lows, mids, and highs. The lows will be lowpassed, the highs will be high passed, and the mids will be bandpassed. A 4 channel amp or two 2 channel amps would be required for this type of setup for the front stage.
Long story short, it is still of benefit for you to bi-amp the set if you want a little more control over the gain for specific drivers.

-YA that I don't type nearly fast enough, great break down!