crossover settings needed based on below specs, thanks guys

[devinblaine 10+ year member]

i need to know crossover settings for two match ups (please and thank you guys):

1. 60W RMS components (in front and back) driven by a 4 chan amp that puts out over 110 so the installer has the gains set very low. the amp shut itself off a few times before i turned the treble to -4 because the tweeters are ear piercing (pioneers).

the spec sheet says the components have a crossover frequency of 5000Hz. It also says the woofer (LPF) - 12dB/oct and the tweeter (HPF) is the same.

the amp has a "built in variable crossover: 12dB high pass or low pass variable from 50-200Hz. defeatable for full range operation."

so what crossover setting do i use with these specs? thanks.

the second crossover frequency i need for the amp is for a kicker mono. it says it has a "full time variable crossover, 12dB lowpass variable from 50-200Hz." the sub it drives says it has a Frequency Response : 24Hz - 500Hz.

also, the mono amp is rated at 400W RMS, and the sub is 500W RMS.

Basically, where am I setting the crossover knobs?

what should i do with the "kickbass" feature, which says it is a variable bass boost circuit which provides up to 18 dB opf boost at 40Hz. I ask this because my head unit can be set to focus on several diff bass levels, 60, 80, 100, and 120, so does the kickbass make sense to use?

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[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

Hmmmmmmm.

Well, you want to set a high pass on your drivers depending on the quality of the speakers, and the way they're installed. 99% of the time, door speakers are installed in free-air conditions, so they don't appreciate slammin' really low bass, where the resistance of the speaker drops, and the speakers move around a lot.

Without knowing what speaks you have, or how they're installed, i'd tell you to set the HPF @ 80, or if they're in custom kickpods, or sealed enclosures, lower @ 60-70hz is fine. Set the LPF on your subwoofer to the same frequency you set your HPF to. If your subs are in a ported box, you need to find out what the box is tuned to, and set your subsonic filter (could have a different name on your amp) to ~70% of the port's tuning frequency to keep the sub from unloading trying to play frequencies too much lower than tune, not to mention ported enclosures usually have a ridiculous dropoff, with a -3db rolloff around 5% under tuning frequency anyway.

Set your x-overs @80 or 60 respectively like i mentioned earlier, and then just play around with them a bit. If you notice bass notes on your door speakers buzzing or rattling, or distorting, turn the HPF up a bit untill it goes away. I wouldn't crank the LPF on the subs up, tho, leave it no higher than 80, a small gap in response wont be noticeable for the most part.

As for your tweeters making your amplifier turn off? That's a new one. Make sure they set the gains correctly. Gains are NOT volume controls, there's actually a proper way to set them, you don't just pick and choose a gain level to set an amp at. They can be turned DOWN from optimum setting, but UP can cause damage of your equipment, and fast destruction of your speakers and sub. Also make sure the ground connections are good on the amp. The only other thing i can think of is that the wiring in the car is pinched in a doorjamb somewhere and grounding out, causing the amplifier to self-protect, or you're clipping the hell out of the amplifier (gains too high) which is overloading the amplifier, and causing raw dc current to be sent to your speakers through your channels.

Either way, make sure you figure out what's wrong before more than your amp end up broken.

Summary:

1st, fix your gains, something's going to break

2nd, speakers hpf 80hz

3rd subwoofer lpf 80hz

4th subsonic filter @ 70% tuning frequency (eg.; 30hz box: 21hz ssf/ 42hz box: ~30hz ssf.)

5th go make some noise.

Lastly, i wouldn't advise using bass boost at ALL, unless you have access to a oscilloscope. You want to turn the bass boost to the level you want, or the highest setting even better, download a -3db test tone of the central frequency of the bass boost slope, and set your gains with the oscilloscope with the bass boost ON! Or if you have no idea what i just said, leave it off or you're gonna blow your speakers up and be very sad.

 

[MBrock4u 10+ year member]

Nice advise there! Good stuff.

 

[devinblaine 10+ year member]

i have been an avid board member on body b u I LDING . c o m, anabolicminds.com and the Metallica, TOOL, and Avenged sevenfold Fourms for many years.

that was the most helpful response i have ever received from a thread. i decided now to do my own tuning after considering taking it to a pro.

here's the deals:

im trying to determine what settings my

Alpine CDA - 9856

» Bass Engine

(bass center freq., width, and level, plus treble center, frequency and level adjustments)

» BBE processing

» three sets of preamp outputs

» Source Tone Memory

» HD Radio-ready (requires Alpine HD Radio Tuner, available soon)

» controls for an optional XM or SIRIUS satellite radio tuner

» controls for iPod with Alpine's Full Speed interface cable

» CD changer controls

» clock

» CEA-2006 compliant amplifier

» CD frequency response: 5-20,000 Hz

» CD signal-to-noise ratio: 105 dB

» FM sensitivity: 9.3 dBf

Pioneer TS-C160R Components in all 4 doors, pushed (and overpowered) by a Kicker KX650.4.

TS-C160R:

Size 6-1/2"

Cone Woofer Kevlar® Fiber Composite

Butyl Rubber Surround

Voice Coil CCAW (Copper-Clad Aluminum Wire)

Voice Coil Bobbin Glass-Imide

Conex Damper

Projected Pole Yoke

VCCS (Voice Cooling System)

Tweeter 1" Polyester Fiber Soft Dome Tweeter with Magnetic Fluid and Neodymium Magnet

Surface (angled) or Flush Swivel Mounting

Outboard Crossover Network -12dB/Oct. HPF and -12/Oct. LPF, Tweeter Protection Circuit and Tweeter Level Adjustment (0,-3dB)

Full - Depth Basket For Rich Bass Response (Aluminum Die-Cast)

Gold Plate Binding Posts

Specifications

Watts MAX. Music Power 250 Watts

Watts Nominal Power Handling 60 Watts

Frequency Response 25Hz ~ 32kHz

Sensitivity 90dB (1W/1m)

Ohmn Rating 4

overpowered by:

Kicker kx650.4

» 4-channel car amplifier

» 120 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (170 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms)

» 325 watts RMS x 2 in bridged mode (4-ohm stable in bridged mode)

» cooling fan

» 2-, 3-, or 4-channel output

» CEA-2006 compliant

» Tri-way capable (Tri-Way Crossover required)

» speaker- and preamp-level inputs

» variable front & rear high-/low-pass crossovers

(variable 50-200 Hz, 12 dB per octave)

» variable bass boost (0-18 dB) centered at 40 Hz with wired remote control

» three-way protection circuitry

so 120 W RMS (at least) going to each set of components with a rating of 60W Rms (which makes me nervous).

next stage is a KX400.1 mono amp powering a Alpine Type-R SWR-1042D in a sealed Q Logic (with is 1.0 while Alpine recommends .5 - .8).

mono amp:

» 200 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms (400 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms)

» variable low-pass filter (50-200 Hz, 12 dB per octave)

» variable bass boost with wired remote (0-18 dB at 40 Hz)

» switchable subsonic filter (12 dB/octave at 25 Hz)

» speaker- and preamp-level inputs

» preamp outputs

» CEA-2006 compliant

» three-way protection circuitry

running at two ohms with:

Single 10" Alpine Type-R SWR-1042D

» 10" 4-ohm subwoofer with dual 4-ohm voice coils

» Kevlar-reinforced pulp cone with Santoprene rubber surround

» cast aluminum frame with perimeter venting

» frequency response: 26-600 Hz

» power handling: 200-500 watts RMS

» peak power: 1,500 watts

» sensitivity: 83 dB

» top-mount depth: 6-7/8"

» sealed box volume: 0.5-0.8

» ported box volume: 0.6-1.3

What exactly do i do with apine settings before i set my gain levels by ear using test mp3? specifically, my bass is turned all down to keep the components "bass blocked."

what do i do about the level of bass setting in terms of width before I set my amp gains(1 thru 4).