Going active- Opinions

  • 4
    Participant count
  • Participant list

scatterbrain
10+ year member

Member
38
0
kuwait
I am planning on replacing my infinity kappa and am leaning toward the ID ctx comps. But after reading about all the benefits, i'm considering going active. the locations are stock (woofer in door/ tweeter up on dash near windshield). This is what i'm planning for the tweets: Usher 9950c large format Tweeters. These are rated at 10/15 watts RMS. How can I amp them?

 
What's going to be your active crossover/processor? The full benefits of going active are realized when gains are set properly, as well as time alignment and equalization to suit car's characteristics. In my experience, the improvement from setting up a good processor (specially self tuning) such as Pioneer DEH-80PRS will dwarf those of buying expensive speakers and running with no good processing. When going active, you may be better served by using car-audio oriented speakers and tweeters, but without the supplied crossovers. For one, tweeters and woofers usually fit in factory locations and have 4ohm impedance. If you need a drop in replacement for the Kappa tweeters, consider the Seas neodymium tweeters with aluminum dome sold by madisound. For the price, they are decent tweeters and perfect for car audio, with usable frequency range extending down to 2KHz with a sharp crossover, if you need to take them so low.

As for amplification, just use any amplifier you want. Tweeters are not very demanding of power. Even head unit amplifier could work, though I am not sure about 8 ohm tweeters, as that will result in your tweeters seeing maybe 7-8watts RMS at most with a typical head unit amp. (I am not sure what the poster above meant by "bridging" a head unit amplifier. I have never heard of head unit amps being bridged). The only precaution that should be taken is to prevent the tweeters from being destroyed by an accident, such as if you send a full range signal to them. In order to prevent this from happening, it's recommended to wire a capacitor with an appropriate value inline with tweeters. It will act as a high pass filter with 6db slope, with crossover frequency dependent on the capacitor value.

 
I am planning on replacing my infinity kappa and am leaning toward the ID ctx comps. But after reading about all the benefits, i'm considering going active. the locations are stock (woofer in door/ tweeter up on dash near windshield). This is what i'm planning for the tweets: Usher 9950c large format Tweeters. These are rated at 10/15 watts RMS. How can I amp them?

Ignore what smitty tells you he want's to blow up your tweeters.

 
I just realized I cannot fit the larger format tweeters. It has to be 1 inch. I have the Piooneer DVD 4400 and can't change the HU cause of need of a rear-view camera. I currently run the kappa in front and alpine type r 6x9 in the rear off a 100 watt rms x 4 channel JVC amp with the pioneer tsw3002d2 running off a brutus 1700. While i'm happy with this set up, I want something that sounds better. I live in Kuwait and cannot audition speakers since nothing is available here. Only option is when i'm in NY for a week in November I can audition speakers but dont really know where.

I've tried keeping only the fronts on and I for one like the rear fill. Can i buy two sets of tweeters and run them in parallel to give a 4 ohm load (one for front stage the other for rear fill) connect them to an amp feeding it the front channel signal and then get good mid bass drivers and run them off another amp (rear channel signal)

 
Zako: Thank you for your advice. Considering I already have the HU, Sub and sub amp. Can you suggest a mid range/ tweeters and rear fill options with amp that I can look at. The seas neos are quotes everywhere but they have multiple options as well. What would be a good starting point to go active? Do you think I should run the kappas active?

 
Well, I don't really know what this question is about. I feel like if you go active with a good processor with many options for tuning, then it will be a big improvement in sound quality regardless of what speakers you're already using. The frequency response in a car is always a mess simply due to position and orientation of woofers and tweeters as well as their distances from each other, so a given speaker will not necessarily sound the same in two different cars. Imaging is again a mess because of pathless differences between the speakers. I have heard of frequent stories of Infinity tweeters (and many others) being too bright, harsh, etc, but that just one of the many things that one can correct with an active crossover. That's why being able to tune things can helps a lot. Unfortunately, this is not cheap. I think Pioneer DEH-80PRS is the cheapest option there is for running the active front stage with good tuning options, and IMO it's worth it. Once you look at external DSPs like JBL MS-8 or Alpine PXA-H800, they're a lot more expensive. If you find that you need rear tweeter that play an identical signal as the front, then your front stage is lacking something or you're used to this kind of flawed sound. The stereo format was designed to convey the sound through two front channels, left and right. It was never meant to be played through a speaker placed behind once's ears. There exist encoding formats for 5.1 sound, such as Dolby formats, DTS, SACD, Logic 7, etc), which can use the rear channels for additional effects, but their signal will be nowhere near what the fronts are playing. If you can't have a good DSP, you can certainly try other speakers. Word of mouth is that the newer JBL MS-series speakers sound pretty good, but then again that's probably subjective and installation dependent.

 
Activity
No one is currently typing a reply...
Old Thread: Please note, there have been no replies in this thread for over 3 years!
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.

Similar threads

As title. Once i get to about 4/5 max volume my JL HD600/4 amp goes into protection mode on 2 channels, powering my mids. The other 2 channels...
0
411
maybe bad amps. I would purchase a decent amp off of Amazon. They usually arrive in 2 days if you have "Prime." If the problem persists, you can...
11
2K
Now you're annoying me because you are attacking me personally without addressing anything I've said. Show me a single post I've made that's...
20
4K

About this thread

scatterbrain

10+ year member
Member
Thread starter
scatterbrain
Joined
Location
kuwait
Start date
Participants
Who Replied
Replies
6
Views
1,808
Last reply date
Last reply from
LosIsATool
1000008028.jpg

Mr FaceCaser

    May 20, 2024
  • 0
  • 0
1000008027.jpg

Mr FaceCaser

    May 20, 2024
  • 0
  • 0

New threads

Top