New Amp Install Crossover Question

[latreche34]

Although this is a car section but my application is no different from a car system install, I'm planning in installing Pyle Audio PLAD618 to the head unit JVC KW-HDR81BT in a shop built wooden music center box, both head unit and amp have 6 channels inputs/outputs, On the head unit side they are labeled Subwoofer, Front and Rear on the amp side they are labeled CH1/CH2, CH3/CH4 and CH5/CH6, They will be connected as follows:

Subwoofer L to CH1

Subwoofer R to CH2

Front L to CH3

Front R to CH4

Rear L to CH 5

Rear R to CH6

I will be using one subwoofer only mounted up side down on the bottom of the wooden cube (I have it already 10" Pioneer) and 2 mid range speakers and 2 tweeters (I will appreciate the help for choosing a good set to buy)

My question is what is the best crossover to use with this setup and what type to use active vs passive?

Note: I don't have the head unit yet but I chose JVC KW-HDR81BT for 2 raisons:

1- It is built in HD-Radio a good to have in our shop

2- Built in 24bit DAC to bypass my iPhone's internal DAC for best performance

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[CSCStang]

The amp is junk, but anyway. Run the subs off the sub out, bridge those 2 channels. Get 2 sets of 2 way passive crossovers for mid and highs. Pioneer makes decent enough comps for what you need.

 

[latreche34]

The amp is junk, but anyway. Run the subs off the sub out, bridge those 2 channels. Get 2 sets of 2 way passive crossovers for mid and highs. Pioneer makes decent enough comps for what you need.

Thanks for the reply, I have heard bad and good about this amp but I think It will be ok for what I'm setting it up for, Anyways so you think the sub out from the head unit is crossed over to low freq already so I only need a 2-way crossover for mid and high rather than 3-way? Do you think passive crossovers will sound better?

 

[latreche34]

Upon browsing the head unit manual I found out that it is built in active crossover HPF and LPF, however HPF is adjusted for both front and rear outputs and not individually, while the LPF for the subwoofer output is as follows LOW/55Hz MID/85Hz HIGH/120Hz. At this point I'm not sure if I set both filters to OFF and use a passive 3-way crossover, or turn the HPF off only and use 2-way passive crossover, Other option is to use 2 3-way active crossovers like this, what do you guys think?

I forgot to mention in my original post that I will be using sub channels for subwoofer in bridged mode as I have one subwoofer only, front channels for mid range speakers and rear channels for tweeters.

 

[CSCStang]

Thanks for the reply, I have heard bad and good about this amp but I think It will be ok for what I'm setting it up for, Anyways so you think the sub out from the head unit is crossed over to low freq already so I only need a 2-way crossover for mid and high rather than 3-way? Do you think passive crossovers will sound better?

Yes. Run the sub bridged using the sub out on the Hu set at 85hz. I would bridge 3&4 and run the left mid and tweet off a 2 way passive and 5&6 for the right. If you run one speaker per channel, you would need to use 2 capacitors for the tweets and 2 coils for the mids to separate frequencies (which is a 2 way anyway). So passive would be easier and cheaper. An active crossover would be ideal though.

 

[latreche34]

Yes. Run the sub bridged using the sub out on the Hu set at 85hz. I would bridge 3&4 and run the left mid and tweet off a 2 way passive and 5&6 for the right. If you run one speaker per channel, you would need to use 2 capacitors for the tweets and 2 coils for the mids to separate frequencies (which is a 2 way anyway). So passive would be easier and cheaper. An active crossover would be ideal though.

If you think using active is ideal I can get a pair of those in the link in my previous post and use only the front or rear outputs of the HU and turn off all HU internal crossovers and feed the 6 outputs from the two active crossovers to the 6 inputs of the amp.

I don't know if it's true or not but I've heard that active crossovers generates noise, as they operate in low level that noise is amplified by the amp, If that's the case what is the best 2-way passive crossovers that I will be looking for?

 

[latreche34]

I just figured out that the Amp has an internal 3-way active crossover for front, rear and sub so I'm just gonna use it to make installation easy, I don't think its going to be a big difference in sound quality vs external crossover.

 

[latreche34]

Here is the installation diagram:

View attachment 26551048