My first "Active" "SQ'ish" build attempt.

I am starting to think that passive crossovers color the sound or add distortion. After I listen to music for a while at decently loud levels but not crazy loud, my mids and highs start to sound fuzzy/cloudy. After I get back to the restaurant and shut the car off for a few minutes then take my next delivery, the sound is fine again.

Do the components inside of a passive crossover act differently when they get warm? My midbass, which are fully active don't suffer from this "fuzzy-cloudy" issue. It is a barely noticeable thing but it is noticeable. It is more so my DD mids than the ARC tweeters though. At least it is more noticeable in the mids.

I am thinking about going from my 2.75" to an actual 3.5" mid as well.
 
I am starting to think that passive crossovers color the sound or add distortion. After I listen to music for a while at decently loud levels but not crazy loud, my mids and highs start to sound fuzzy/cloudy. After I get back to the restaurant and shut the car off for a few minutes then take my next delivery, the sound is fine again.

Do the components inside of a passive crossover act differently when they get warm? My midbass, which are fully active don't suffer from this "fuzzy-cloudy" issue. It is a barely noticeable thing but it is noticeable. It is more so my DD mids than the ARC tweeters though. At least it is more noticeable in the mids.

I am thinking about going from my 2.75" to an actual 3.5" mid as well.
I get that same feeling when I'm playing passives for an extended period of time and it will play better when it has cooled down. It could be the amp overheating too tho.. idk.. but I do know that passives have a higher power requirement and retain most of the heat inside the passives which = wasted power. Having more power on tap would probably help in this situation if you're playing for long periods of time. Tweeters will rarely ever get hot because even when it's split from passives, it's still very little power used compared to a mid.
 
I get that same feeling when I'm playing passives for an extended period of time and it will play better when it has cooled down. It could be the amp overheating too tho.. idk.. but I do know that passives have a higher power requirement and retain most of the heat inside the passives which = wasted power. Having more power on tap would probably help in this situation if you're playing for long periods of time. Tweeters will rarely ever get hot because even when it's split from passives, it's still very little power used compared to a mid.
Cool, so I am not going crazy.
 
if i remember correctly, youre not even using proper passives? that on its own is an issue. But the issue is most likely not the passives themselves, but the voice coils heating up. When they heat up, things change. Impedance being one of them. Impedance changing effects the crossover. Impedance is actually exactly why you should not be mixing and matching drivers/passives blindly. Could also be your ears. Our ears protect themselves from extended high volumes by tightening your ear drums. you might not feel it, but your hearing will be effected until it goes back to normal
 
if i remember correctly, youre not even using proper passives? that on its own is an issue. But the issue is most likely not the passives themselves, but the voice coils heating up. When they heat up, things change. Impedance being one of them. Impedance changing effects the crossover. Impedance is actually exactly why you should not be mixing and matching drivers/passives blindly. Could also be your ears. Our ears protect themselves from extended high volumes by tightening your ear drums. you might not feel it, but your hearing will be effected until it goes back to normal
I am using two way ARC Audio crossovers. The tweeters are ARC Audio tweeters. I am fully thinking it is the weak ass DD 2.75" mids. I think they would be fine on head unit power but when it comes to amplifier power... the DD's do well for a little while then you can hear them change and get odd sounding until again, I shut the car off for better than 5 min. The coils heating up makes sense because the last set separated from the cone which is glued around the dust cap which is atop the voice coil.

I am looking at some 3.5" mids to replace the DD's with. Like $150 and under for a pair. I am not sure what you mean "proper passives" though... could you elaborate?
 
These crossovers... I know I know... bad location.

20200415-174058-HDR.jpg
 
ok, its good that you are using the right passives for the right tweeters. When i say "proper passives", i mean ones that are designed for the drivers in use. Passive crossovers are more than just "pick a frequency, a slope, and DCR". They can actually get extremely complicated and take care of a lot of acoustic issues. Car audio ones are typically crap and super basic due to space constraints and cost, as well as the unpredictability of every car/install. for mids in your budget, look into the Audiofrog GS25 or GS40
 
The Audiofrogs are too expensive and the wrong size. My DD's fit because of the 3.5" adapter. I am looking a some old school Kicker R3's or some B2 Audio 3.5" or the Infinity Kappa Perfect 300M's. As you can see in the pic... I am using the stock 3.5" location in the factory speaker pods.

20200415-174318-HDR1.jpg
 
GS25 is 70 over your budget. Trust me, that 70 dollars will be worth it GREATLY over the other options you just mentioned. My advice has been good so far, hasn't it? ;) Just make an adapter to fit a GS25.

Also, please don't run the wire underneath the mounting flange of your speaker....
 
I am about to go to work but before I leave I have "bypassed" the 2.75" DD mids. I am running the Silverflutes from 80hz to 4khz. The 4Khz and up is still going into the passive crossover as I just used the 3Sixty.3 to set the crossover electronically. I haven't messed with speaker wires as I am in a "rush". I just want to see if tonight the faint weirdness (cotton like fuzziness) of what I am assuming is the DD's acting silly is gone by "bypassing" them. If yes, I am for sure up sizing or upgrading to a 3.5".
 
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