Need ideas for a front stage

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

Right now I have my CDT COM-626 component set on an underrated 45x2 old school Sony amp. Although the set is being underpowered (75W RMS) the tweeters are cutting out after extended periods of time at high volume. Even then, they aren't doing a good enough job keeping up with the bass.

I figured I'd just replace the tweeters and go the pro audio route since it's cheaper, and PA has always interested me. Since most PA speakers are 8 ohm, I figured I could get two 50W 8 ohm tweeters wired to 4 ohm (with an amp that does 100+x2) and reglass my pillars and run two tweets in each pillar.

By all means, I love loud, crisp highs but I don't want the tweeters to be overpowering the midbass and sound bad. So would it better if I got two 3-3.5" full range drivers instead? Or are those both bad ideas, and I should only run one (100W 4 ohm) tweeter on each side?

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[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

The proper way to blend speaker outputs is by adjusting the loudest set down to match the quietest set. So I could suggest you trying simply dialing the mids down a bit till the output blends better.

Its quite possible you are clipping that small amp, which is why the tweeters are cutting out once in a while. Squared signal waves (clipping distortion) create excess heat that the speaker has to dissipate.

When I hear people say PA tweeters in their car, my mind always goes to piezo based bullet tweeters first, which sound like a nasally train horn.

Getting 3 or 3-1/2" mids would help the tweeters, since you could run the tweeter's HP filter higher, cutting out more of their bass output which will improve their heat problems and improve output potential. If it would be enough, or if you would be able to blend all three sets of speakers together well, is something I cannot guess at however.

IMO it sounds like you should start considering buying a processor so you can go with a fully active front stage.

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

I'd love to go active, but I don't have a HU that is capable, FWIW. I don't see why just using a four channel amp and crossing it properly wouldn't be fine though to do so though.

Getting a new amp is certainly in the near future, and that does make sense. I guess that will be the first thing I do, before I decide to do anything else. My impression was that if I was getting voltage drop and whatnot I would only be losing output; I didn't consider that instead I am getting the same output, just moderately clipped.

I'm sure those bullet tweeters are loud, but not sure if that's the sound I'm looking for. I'll take your word when you say they sound like a train horn lol.

As for the 3.5" speakers, I was planning on running two in the pillars with no tweeters. Something tells me that that is a bad idea, since those fullrange speakers would be playing the same frequencies as the mids in my doors, but I've seen it done before, so I had to ask. Then again, my other idea of running two tweeters in the pillars would be the highs overpowering the midrange frequencies.

 

[Beerdrnkr 5,000+ posts]

I've tried 2 tweeters per side and it was just too much and with the reflections from my windshield, I couldn't get it dialed in very well. I've also tried 2 - 2" fullrange speakers on each a-pillar and wasn't too happy with the results (lack of highs for one). However, mine were off axis so maybe having them on axis would work a lot better and help get that last bit of high frequencies out of them depending on the speaker. You could try a MTM mount but you'd definitely need an external processor/crossover for them.

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

So it sounds like the best idea is to find an amp that won't struggle pushing my front stage (like 100x2), then if the tweeters still protect, to get two (one on each side) 4 ohm tweeters that can handle the power?