I need to run active. Show me how.

[emu1342]

I'm done with the passive crossover training wheels. I need to unlock the full potential of my work but I need help on how.

Current setup:

Head unit: pioneer 4100NEX

Front: Infinity kappa 60.11cs

Info: infinity kappa at Crutchfield.com

Rear: infinity kappa 62.11i

Info: infinity kappa at Crutchfield.com

Powered by: JBL GTO-804EZ

Info: JBL GTO-804EZ 4-channel car amplifier — 80 watts RMS x 4 at Crutchfield.com

Let's make this happen!

I have a Rockford Fosgate R600-5 at my disposal.

Info: Rockford Fosgate R600-5

Suggestions are welcome.

Click to read more...

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

I'm done with the passive crossover training wheels. I need to unlock the full potential of my work but I need help on how. Current setup:

Head unit: pioneer 4100NEX

Front: Infinity kappa 60.11cs

Info: infinity kappa at Crutchfield.com

Rear: infinity kappa 62.11i

Info: infinity kappa at Crutchfield.com

Powered by: JBL GTO-804EZ

Info: JBL GTO-804EZ 4-channel car amplifier — 80 watts RMS x 4 at Crutchfield.com

Let's make this happen!

I have a Rockford Fosgate R600-5 at my disposal.

Info: Rockford Fosgate R600-5

Suggestions are welcome.

If you want a dsp that's fine but they have really great passive that sound very nuteral. Passive is just as good as a filter network. Active meaning that you want an independent source per driver?

A really good digital network will run you a grand or so. I like passives ran bi amped with a good eq and time alignment.

The xovers you have with that set are pretty cheap. You can get very high quality passive and bl amp them as well as a good dsp.

Audison, arc, alpine as well as zapco are good units

BTW I'm not a big fan of the cheaper pioneer units.. I've always found the Alpine and Kenwood units to sound better.

Also the JBL is a good amp. 80x4 is more than enough to run active with a dsp. Using passives you get losses and it typically takes more power but you would still have enough power..

 

[bmk6795 10+ year member]

to run active you need to set the crossovers of your speakers, so you need an amp or headunit that can set the lpf and hpf. not sure if your headunit can, but neither of your amps will work. the jbl only allows you to set one crossover, as does the rockford. I haven't ran active yet, so im no expert. but I've been planning to for a while just need to get around to it.

 

[emu1342]

If you want a dsp that's fine but they have really great passive that sound very nuteral. Passive is just as good as a filter network. Active meaning that you want an independent source per driver?A really good digital network will run you a grand or so. I like passives ran bi amped with a good eq and time alignment.

The xovers you have with that set are pretty cheap. You can get very high quality passive and bl amp them as well as a good dsp.

Audison, arc, alpine as well as zapco are good units

BTW I'm not a big fan of the cheaper pioneer units.. I've always found the Alpine and Kenwood units to sound better.

Also the JBL is a good amp. 80x4 is more than enough to run active with a dsp. Using passives you get losses and it typically takes more power but you would still have enough power..

Could you explain what a DSP is? I'm not familiar with the device.

I have always heard passive eats up power from the amp and you basically lose some DB (loudness is not my objective but louder is nicer, especially if it's clear)

Do you have any specific model recommendations that you think would be as good as an active set up? Maybe someone can chime in.

to run active you need to set the crossovers of your speakers, so you need an amp or headunit that can set the lpf and hpf. not sure if your headunit can, but neither of your amps will work. the jbl only allows you to set one crossover, as does the rockford. I haven't ran active yet, so im no expert. but I've been planning to for a while just need to get around to it.

The headunit is able to set crossovers for he front, rear, and sub. I'm using those settings right now for my setup. 100hz.

Yeah, even if I've got to sell these amps to do it, I'll probably do it. Maybe not immediately, but at least I'll know what I need

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

dsp is digital sound processor. which includes time alignment crossovers, EQs and other sound shaping i prefer not to use.

active is technically when you use a crossover network BEFORE your amplifier. i often call it a digital crossover network becasue your not going to use passive in the same sense. frankly they both have benefits and flaws. both properly designed you wont hear a difference. i dont like to EQ anything if i dont have to and i ESP dont like to use any boost. only cut. ill cut every **** frequency to match before i boost. lol time alignment is great but you better make **** sure your phasing is very good originally with the x-over alignments etc otherwise your going to never get the perfect response. it will sound better imaging wise but other aspects suffer.. using a DSP with the built in crossovers can give you very high slopes and it is a-bit more efficient and you typically have slight better dampening over the drivers but there are the obvious issues with any digital alignment like latency and data corruption etc but a well designed system will sound amazing when you used a very good processor and a high quatitly waveform. people will swear they can hear the difference between 320kbps and wav/good flac but they are full of **** they have other issues in the hardware/software or flat out have ****** equipment.

if you really want to make big improvements in your existing system i highly suggest starting with proper placement of the drivers giving the the proper airspace and giving them dampening and avoiding refraction and diffusion. getting hte proper phase between the drivers is a big key to having great sound stage and imaging. this makes its MUCH easier to really tweek and avoids any unnecessary sound enhancements which often add more coloration in the signal.

another thing about DSP active is the amplifier amplifies EVERYTHING. so any distortion introduced by the DSP will be amplified with the original signal..

im to lazy to write the down falls of passive networks in which there are but ill leave that for you to research.

PS8 - Arc Audio Audiophile Digital Sound Processor

Bit One - Audison Signal Processor for Amplifiers

these are definitely the best DSPs. your not going to get anything funky with them(granted you can tune) and the options are nearly endless..

 

[The_Quiet_One 10+ year member]

Also I suggest sound treatment if you haven't already done so. A DSP can only fix so much. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif I think Keep_Hope_Alive has a thread talking about good budget options...maybe in his build log?

For DSP I think Helix makes solid DSPs as well Loved mine while I had it.

Budget option: mini-DSP is pretty popular.

 

[porkcereal]

Or an amp with DSP functions built in. I have a Kenwood X4r that has xovers, time alignment, and channel EQ built in. Everything you would need for a basic active system without the separate dsp. It sits on my shelf so i can remember my first active system.