Cross over on headunit or amp?

[ohhh my 10+ year member]

Hi Guys,

I'm running an Alpine 9835 headunit and an older Apline V12 2 channel amp for my bass.

Which one should I let do the filtering of the low pass? My headunit has a built in cross over which I have set. My amp also has a low pass, high pass or full option that is currently set to low pass only.

Is this the correct way or should I set it to full and let me headunit do all the filtering?

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[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

In my experience, crossing over at the HU provided much better results than using the amp.

FWIW, I had a 2 way active frontstage with Pioneer 880 and DD S4a.

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

you can always do both if you want to be sure...if you have a better Hu (i.e. 880) then I would go with the HU but a lot of times it seems safer with the amp

 

[rollerdj 10+ year member]

I'm with flip. I use my HU for x-over settings. IMO, it's hard to tell just were you are setting you freq at on a amp.

 

[bread0710 10+ year member]

so what do you set the amp settings at if your filtering at the h/u? all the way up? i wondered about this also

 

[rollerdj 10+ year member]

Full. Then us you amp to set the sub-sonic filter.

 

[gearhound17 10+ year member]

Full. Then us you amp to set the sub-sonic filter.

What do you mean by full?

It cant be the gains. Are you talking about full range?

 

[rollerdj 10+ year member]

Full range. IMO, I don't want the amp using power on a crossover, only amplifing.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

you can always do both if you want to be sure...if you have a better Hu (i.e. 880) then I would go with the HU but a lot of times it seems safer with the amp

To be sure?! That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Having both filters on can and will affect the slope and phase of the drivers which can have a negative effect on sound quality.

For ease of use and changing while driving, go with the headunit. For more precise dialing in, then use the amp (by precise, I don't mean trusting where the amp says it is set it but rather you have more options).

 

[rollerdj 10+ year member]

To be sure?! That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Having both filters on can and will affect the slope and phase of the drivers which can have a negative effect on sound quality.
For ease of use and changing while driving, go with the headunit. For more precise dialing in, then use the amp (by precise, I don't mean trusting where the amp says it is set it but rather you have more options).

True, that's something I didn't point out. My HU at least, goes in 10 or 20 hz intervals. If you want something between, you need to use the dial on the amp.