Germanium crossover...

[Motovet 10+ year member]

Well I finally got around to tweaking the crossover on the Germs in my new install. Sweeeet speakers are even better now. I was reading the manual and am confused on something. It says that if tweet and mid is far apart to turn the polarity approx. 180* at the tweeter and switch phase at the crossover. What is the turning all about?

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[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

Its essentially reversing the polarity. It can make a world of difference on your imaging. Try it out.

 

[headless 10+ year member]

Reversing polarity/phase can help immensely in some situations. I swapped mine and never looked back, it really helped with pulling the soundstage up from the floorboard to closer to the dash. To do so, simply swap the polarity on the tweeter OUTPUT from the crossover (NOT the input!!!!!!) so that the pos pole of the tw goes to the negative output on the x-over and vice versa, instead of the normal +/+ -/- setup.

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

I believe the germ xover lets you do this internally from the xover itself..

 

[headless 10+ year member]

I believe the germ xover lets you do this internally from the xover itself..

Not on mine, unless i misunderstood the instructions or one of the jumpers or they've since changed the crossover design...

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

Ah I c, cool. I know there's quite a bit of adjustability with them. Might be my next step up from the slc's.

 

[headless 10+ year member]

Ah I c, cool. I know there's quite a bit of adjustability with them. Might be my next step up from the slc's.

Yep, they are pretty hardcore really...4 attenuation settings for the tweets, one of which includes a -2db/octave low pass x-over from 2.5khz to 20k for cutting out harsh extreme highs when mounted right next to glass windows/windshields...you can adjust x-over settings for the woofer from 2.2 to 2.6khz, and separately you can do the same thing with the tweeter crossover. I found the tweets strained a little @ 2.2khz with my setup so set both them and the woofers to 2.6khz, which i really prefer (it also brought the sound stage down some though). I've finally got an amp i could run these Active on but i don't think it's worth it until i fully deaden my vehicle, considering the crossovers it came with let me tweak them to my liking quite well.

 

[PremierAudio 10+ year member]

Yep, the Germaniums have a very tweakable crossover. Germs from the SLC are a big step up! But both are great speakers.

You can actually pull a lot more out of them by running them active and having them setup properly, either way you will love them.

 

[slick rick 10+ year member]

so to reverse the polarity, just change the wires on the xovers and DO NOT touch the wires directlysoldered to the tweeters?

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

If/ when I upgrade its going to be between the germs and some of the DLS offerings.

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

so to reverse the polarity, just change the wires on the xovers and DO NOT touch the wires directlysoldered to the tweeters?

Correct. The ones on the output side of the xover.

 

[headless 10+ year member]

Yep, the Germaniums have a very tweakable crossover. Germs from the SLC are a big step up! But both are great speakers.
You can actually pull a lot more out of them by running them active and having them setup properly, either way you will love them.

Considering at higher volumes (but not high enough for me) i'm seeing the lights glowing merrily on the crossovers, do you think i should be worried about switching to an active setup and losing the PTC tweeter protection?

I've asked about these lights before and nobody really seems to know if they only light up when there is excess current or if they glow relative to the amount of current flowing through the x-over, or if they glow more when you choose to attenuate the tweets more and less when you turn off tweeter attenuation, etc.

What's your knowledge of the light bulbs?

What do they do?

Why do they come on?

If they are coming on, is there a problem?

And if so, what problem does it indicate?

If the lightbulbs are glowing, should i be scared i'm about to fry things?

If i shouldn't be worried, and the reason is because 'they are doing their job and protecting your tweeters', then should i be scared if i switch to active and leave the same gain settings & try to play them at that same volume? Should i expect a blown tweeter?

Thanks for the input!

 

[PremierAudio 10+ year member]

You kind of answered that your self. They are there to protect the tweeter from excess wattage so they do not blow. How much power are you feeding them? You wont need much power when going active we usually run a max of around 120 watts, which on an active setup is pretty loud. 75 watts will do must justice.

 

[Motovet 10+ year member]

OK, that's what I thought. It just threw me when I read turning polarity at the tweeter....like I had to do something there. So just swithch the +&- at the crossover out to see how it sounds. I spent a long while playing with the different settings and found the linear setting with the attenuateing jumper on "A" and crossing both at 2.6 was the very best for the Tahoe. I used the stock location in the pillars shooting at the glass, and it sounds darn good now. I agree with the optional crossover dropping the stage a bit, but it did a great jog bringing the imaging closer togather. I will try the reverse phase to see how it sounds. Any better is hard to believe, but......

 

[headless 10+ year member]

OK, that's what I thought. It just threw me when I read turning polarity at the tweeter....like I had to do something there. So just swithch the +&- at the crossover out to see how it sounds. I spent a long while playing with the different settings and found the linear setting with the attenuateing jumper on "b" and crossing both at 2.6 was the very best for the Tahoe. I used the stock location in the pillars shootong at the glass, and it sounds darn good now. I agree with the optional crossover dropping the stage a bit, but it did a great jog bringing the imaging closer togather. I will try the reverse phase to see how it sounds. Any better is hard to believe, but......

Great, man! You decided on the same settings i did. Let us know how reversing the polarity on the tweets effects your sound. It can be a major change, or it can be difficult to detect to the ear depending on vehicle accoustics and distance between woofer & tweeter