Crossover or filter?

[96civ 10+ year member]

OK, I'm going to be finishing my kickpanel install in the Civic but I'm running into a problem: I do not really have a good location to mount/store my crossovers, so I'm wondering whether or not it would be possible to just filter the frequencies from the amp, instead of the crossovers that came with the comps? I know the filter order may not be the same, but I'm just curious.

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[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

A crossover is a type of filter. You can put the crossovers from the speakers anywhere. You can put them behind the dash or even in the trunk next to the amp.

If your amp is four-channel and you have a crossover that can work in the 2500-4000 range either in the amp or the HU, you can "go active" as you were inquiring and not use the passive units that came with the comps.

 

[96civ 10+ year member]

Alright, cool. I haven't got the amp yet so would you think it's better to go active or stay passive because I have the option of either buying a 4-channel and bi-amping or 2-channel and go standard? One thing I'm not sure is that I have a comp setup of JL XR650-CsI that I bought from phrozen5100 here: it is 70W RMS with a system nominal impedance of 4 ohms, but I checked the tweets and the mids with a multimeter saying that each voice coil is approx. 4 ohms... how then is the system nominal impedance 4 ohms? Also how would I set the gains of the 4 ch amp if I don't know how much power to give the tweets and mids seperately?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Because of the way passive crossover works, he amp only sees the imp. of the mid at the frequencies that it is supposed to play and the same for the tweet.

If you go with an active setup or biamp using the passive (if it is capable) it will take a bigger (read more expensive) amp to get the same effective power to the system. The added expensie is not worth it unless you take the extra time to set it up right. If you wnat it done quick and over with, stick with the passive crossovers and save the extra expense.