Crossover settings for Pioneer coaxials

[jrotary 10+ year member]

I have a Kenwood DDX7015 HU running the following Pioneer coaxials (nothing fancy).

Any advice on what the high pass settings on the HU should be?

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/Speakers/G-Series/TS-G1642R

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/Speakers/A-Series/Pioneer/TS-A1372R

Jon

Click to read more...

 

[suleman36 10+ year member]

12db @ 100hz-125hz

and

12db @ 100hz-125hz

That should be a good place for them.

 

[jrotary 10+ year member]

12db @ 100hz-125hz
and

12db @ 100hz-125hz

That should be a good place for them.

Thanks - I'll give it a try.

I forgot to mention I'm NOT running a sub (2006 civic si, OEM amp bypassed) I'm using the 6.5's in the front doors and the 5.25's in the rear deck.

I assume a full range signal to these speakers is a bit much...

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

I would go as low as 80, but not much lower.

 

[jrotary 10+ year member]

I have it set like this right now - I'll keep tweaking away. Suggestions are always welcome.

Front high pass - 60hz

Rear high pass - 100 hz

Fader - front +2 (out of 15)

This keeps the bass pretty tight in the doors. With the opposite crossover settings front and rear the bass sounded too boomy...likely because the speakers in the rear deck are open-air (you can open the trunk and look up to see the magnets).

The Kenwood System Q's tone-curve feature in the equalizer is a little confusing...I wonder if I should even use it.

I can adjust the following frequency bands:

Bass - 60, 70, 80, 100 hz

Middle - 500, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0khz

Treble - 10, 12, 15, 17.5khz

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

I have it set like this right now - I'll keep tweaking away. Suggestions are always welcome.
Front high pass - 60hz

Rear high pass - 100 hz

Fader - front +2 (out of 15)

Crossover settings aren't something that can be given over the internet. I can't help but laugh when people try to give specific frequencies or slopes. In reality, the only way to figure out what the best frequency/slope is for a given system is to be there listening to it or measuring it. There are some things that can be inferred from a given speaker's objective performance....but that's simply not the whole story. The environment, installation, usage and the end user are all a large (potentially larger) part of the equation.

Where should you set the crossover? Where ever sounds best! That simple really. Just play with it until you find a combination that provides the best sound. No one is going to be able to tell you over the internet what sounds best in your specific installation, in your specific car and with your specific listening preferences and sytles.

The Kenwood System Q's tone-curve feature in the equalizer is a little confusing...I wonder if I should even use it.
I can adjust the following frequency bands:

Bass - 60, 70, 80, 100 hz

Middle - 500, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0khz

Treble - 10, 12, 15, 17.5khz

Again, this is one of those "hard to answer over the internet" questions. It really depends on how things are interacting with your vehicle and how you prefer things to sound, etc etc.

If you are a complete novice, the best advice is to simply sit down and fiddle with them so you can learn how the different settings will affect the sound. Start out with the bass setting and with it set to each frequency adjust the level up and down (while obviously paying attention to speakers...if they start sounding stressed or distorted back off). Then do the same with the middle and treble bands.

If you need help understanding what the equalizer or crossover actually does, then we can help you understand that aspect of it. But as far as actual settings.....that's up to you and your ears.

 

[jrotary 10+ year member]

Thanks for the response - yes, I know how a crossover works (active and passive).

Basically, I was wondering what settings might be a good place to start on my simple setup....or if i should even use the crossover feature in the headunit or run the speakers full range.

The frequency range adjustments confuse me a little...in the treble and middle settings I can clearly tell the difference between say the 10khz and 12khz adjustments.

However, it's more difficult to tell the difference in the bass adjustments. The 60hz 70hz 80hz and 100hz settings all sound the same at a given level (+3 for example). Should it not sound different?

I assume it's because of my crossover setting - I'm running the high pass through the HU at 60hz front and 80hz rear (fader with slight front bias). With these crossover settings, I assume adjusting the 60hz or 70hz frequency band of bass in the equalizer will have no effect since I'm blocking these signals. Can someone confirm this?

This keeps the sound stage up front and the bass in the doors pretty punchy, even with no deadening (must help that it's a new car). With settings reversed at 80hz front 60hz rear the bass in back is too boomy in my opinion

Overall, it sounds pretty good...it could use a sub to even everything out though. The OEM sub was good for that...I lost it with the amp bypass. Perhaps one of those small powered subs are a good idea. Like this:

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=51000&i=113KSCSW1&tp=114

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Basically, I was wondering what settings might be a good place to start on my simple setup....or if i should even use the crossover feature in the headunit or run the speakers full range.

While it's possible to run them full range at lower listening levels....if you listen to the speakers are louder listening levels it would likely be ill advised to run them full range. They aren't designed to produce subbass at any sort of real volume level, so playing them full range at normal/louder listening levels would be severely stressing them and run the potential for damaging them.

A highpass would be advisable.

The frequency range adjustments confuse me a little...in the treble and middle settings I can clearly tell the difference between say the 10khz and 12khz adjustments.
However, it's more difficult to tell the difference in the bass adjustments. The 60hz 70hz 80hz and 100hz settings all sound the same at a given level (+3 for example). Should it not sound different?

The simple answer here is that the lower the frequency, the worse your hearing resolution gets. I wouldn't expect you to really tell a great deal of difference between 60hz and 70hz with music. Between 60hz and 100hz the difference could be somewhat audible even if it's not a big difference.

yes, I know how a crossover works (active and passive).
..........

With these crossover settings, I assume adjusting the 60hz or 70hz frequency band of bass in the equalizer will have no effect since I'm blocking these signals.

These two statements are in contradiction with each other //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

A crossover does NOT block any signal or frequency. It attenuates certain frequencies.

Here's a post where I generally cover how crossovers work;

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1746548&postcount=2

The skinny of it is that even though you might have the crossover set at or above 60hz or 70hz, these frequencies are still passing through to the speaker and are still going to be audible.

Overall, it sounds pretty good...it could use a sub to even everything out though. The OEM sub was good for that...I lost it with the amp bypass. Perhaps one of those small powered subs are a good idea. Like this:
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=51000&i=113KSCSW1&tp=114

Ehh.....for the same price, or maybe just a little more, I think there are far better avenues to pursue.