- Thread Starter
- #16
what?? thousands of daily visitors and no replies?? well johnb and geolemon... thanks for your enthusiastic participation... :-D
obviously...
- Thread starter Mixophrenia
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Let's make sure you aren't confused on this... this is good stuff. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gifWhat you typed makes sense, you don't seem off at all, I just want to be clear.
First off, a crossover is a combination of a high-pass filter and a low-pass filter, aligned together in such a way that either the phase response or the acoustical response across the crossover point (frequency) is smooth.
Differentiate that from what amp manufacturers sometimes build into their amps, where "crossover" is a misnomer.. amps usually only contain LP or HP filters, not a complete crossover.
Also, crossovers (and/or filters) come in either active, or passive varieties.
An active crossover is installed between your source unit and your amp, in the signal chain.
A passive crossover is installed between your amplifier and your speakers.
Usually active crossovers are electronic boxes, usually with switches or potentiometers on them that allow you to adjust the crossover or filter points, sometimes they have other features like attenuation adjustments, etc.
Passive crossovers on the other hand are not adjustable, although some include attenuation adjustments, which can be nice.
In all cases, a crossover takes one input [pair.. left and right channels
] and splits it out to as many outputs as there are filters.A simple one would take input, and split out the highs to one output, the lows to another output.
So..
If you have an active crossover, you gain adjustability, but you need more amplifier channels, because you are splitting the signal up upstream of the amp.
That adjustability might not be valuable to you, because this isn't a setting like an EQ that is adjusted often (in fact even EQ's are generally "set it, and forget it"
).If you have a passive crossover, you lose adjustability, but you can use a single 2 channel amplifier to run the whole range of speakers in your car...
And to do so without compromise, since power is frequency dependent.
This is an interesting thing, because you can present different impedances to your amp, and the amp will make different amounts of power to each frequency range, as they are each now isolated from the amp.
So, let's say you had an amp that did 100x2 at 4 ohms, and was capable of doing 200x2 at 2 ohms, or 400x1 bridged.
Say you built a passive crossover, for an 8 ohm tweeter above 4000Hz, a 4 ohm midrange from 4000Hz down to 80Hz, and a 2 ohm subwoofer below 80Hz.
In this way, the amp would only "see" an 8 ohm load above 4000Hz, so it would send 50x2 to the tweeters, and only from 4000Hz and up.
The amp would "see" a 4 ohm load between 80Hz and 4000Hz... so it would send 100x2 between 80Hz and 4000Hz, which only the mids would receive...
And the amp would see a bridged load of 4 ohms below 80Hz, so it would do 400x1 below 80Hz, to the 4 ohm subwoofer.
Interesting stuff! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif
If you do decide to go the all-active route, be sure to get a real crossover, not a device that's simply a bunch of individually-adjustable high-pass and low-pass filters and leaves you to try to coordinate them together... that's a nearly impossible task.
If you do decide to go the all-passive route, be sure you know the impedance of your speakers, and the crossover points you want, because you will be locked into them once it is built. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif
- Thread Starter
- #18
eh all this stuff confuses... when i get all the stuff i'll probably just get a friend to help me install it... =\
have you decided on what you are goign to get?
- Thread Starter
- #20
well i know exactly what i want, but i don't think i'm implementing it correctly... i want a fancy CD/MP3 in the dash with fancy graphics... and i want my system to sounds really good and crisp without clipping when i turn it way up, and some bass that will rattle your insides without distorting making it sounds like sh*t... and all this within a grand... i'm open for LOTS of suggestions...
- Thread Starter
- #21
any takers??
Sure, you can get a good MP3 deck reasonably inexpensively, I don't know about "fancy graphics".. that's sure not a priority of mine (it rather makes more sense to me, in a car, to be able to glance at the HU and see info I need to see
)...I got my Alpine 7894 for $300, once online, then once on closeout (as the models have changed this year) at an actual authorized dealer. It's a quality unit.
So that would bring your budget down to $700.
As I mentioned above, you can buy an active crossover (which installs between the head unit and amp, and splits the signal up to feed multiple amplifiers), or build a passive crossover (which installs between the amp and the speakers, and splits the power up appropriately to multiple speakers).
The less expensive option is the passive route, since you only need to purchase a single amplifier, to power everything (no power compromises either... power is a frequency-dependent concept //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif).
The more expensive, but more flexible option is the active route, since it's an adjustable unit, but it requires multiple amplifiers (or multi-channel amplifiers) to accept and amplify all the distinct signals, which gets expensive quick.
Your speakers, you can find a decent set of coaxial speakers for around $75-$100, or a decent component set for around $150-$200.
You can get a decent subwoofer for around $100-$150, and an enclosure for around $50-$100 (less than $50 if you do it yourself //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif).
- Thread Starter
- #23
is audiobahn any good?? they got those 10" aw1006t that hit 900 rms... but is the quality any good???
- Thread Starter
- #24
bump bump bump :-D
I think Audiobahn is neither good nor bad... it all depends on what you are looking for.
I think they have a reputation for being a bit pricey, for the quality and design features of what you get..
And speaking of design features.. what are their products, subs, components, etc designed to do? They don't really have an "image", if you will, unless you count a somewhat negative one, ownership by people "not really in the know", the fast N Furious crowd, that sort of thing.
That being said, there ar a few models of Audiobahn subs that fare well in SPL competition, but those subs certainly have no poise, nothing to stand on in terms of sound quality, most likely quite equihung, for maximum BL.. they are efficient.
I don't know of any Audiobahn products that have a reputation for sound quality, yet Audiobahn doesn't seem to manufacture products geared to the SPL crowd either... very vague product lines, not sure where their direction is, or who they are marketing to... generally that's not a good sign for a company.
But again, their gear has proven to be more reliable and better quality than lots of other mass-market companies out there, just a bit pricey. Maybe it's the chrome. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif
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