Questions on running active components

[Jeb McConnell]

Hey all,

Brand new to the forum and excited to see how everyone here can help with my build.  I currently have a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the premium Alpine system.  I'm looking to do a complete overhaul in the next few months and trying to pick out everything I want now to preplan and budget the expenses.  Today I just received and installed a pair of Focal ISU 6x9's.  These sound amazing so far and I'm extremely happy.  If you aren't familiar with these, instead of the big bulky passive crossovers, they utilize an separate inline crossover for the woofer and tweeter.  I like this due to the ease of installation and less bulk.  So far I just have them hooked up to the factory amplifier which I do plan to replace at some point.  I am bit confused though on how to hook these up when the time comes for an aftermarket amp.  With a traditional passive crossover, you supply one wire from one channel of the amp and it branches out the signal to two separate wires for the tweeter and woofer.  With the way the Focal's are set up with the separate inline crossovers, how would I be able to wire these up as 1 channel while still utilizing the inline crossovers?  I can't seem to figure that out.  It would be simple if I wired them each on their own channel, but I'm trying to avoid massive or multiple amps.  ALSO, if I was to wire them up as a 2 channel active crossover set up, how much power do you send separately to the woofer vs tweeter?  If each component is rated for 80 watts RMS, does that mean I can send 40 watts to the woofer and 40 watts to the tweeter?  

I hope I didn't make this too confusing.  Let me know if you need clarification on any of this.  Thanks!

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[saleian]

I'm trying to figure out the same thing about the component wattage going active.

 

[Timbo74]

Hey all,

Brand new to the forum and excited to see how everyone here can help with my build. I currently have a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the premium Alpine system. I'm looking to do a complete overhaul in the next few months and trying to pick out everything I want now to preplan and budget the expenses. Today I just received and installed a pair of Focal ISU 6x9's. These sound amazing so far and I'm extremely happy. If you aren't familiar with these, instead of the big bulky passive crossovers, they utilize an separate inline crossover for the woofer and tweeter. I like this due to the ease of installation and less bulk. So far I just have them hooked up to the factory amplifier which I do plan to replace at some point. I am bit confused though on how to hook these up when the time comes for an aftermarket amp. With a traditional passive crossover, you supply one wire from one channel of the amp and it branches out the signal to two separate wires for the tweeter and woofer. With the way the Focal's are set up with the separate inline crossovers, how would I be able to wire these up as 1 channel while still utilizing the inline crossovers? I can't seem to figure that out. It would be simple if I wired them each on their own channel, but I'm trying to avoid massive or multiple amps. ALSO, if I was to wire them up as a 2 channel active crossover set up, how much power do you send separately to the woofer vs tweeter? If each component is rated for 80 watts RMS, does that mean I can send 40 watts to the woofer and 40 watts to the tweeter?

I hope I didn't make this too confusing. Let me know if you need clarification on any of this. Thanks!

More power is always better, just set the amp so it doesn’t clip at the maximum volume you listen to music.
I have learned on here to not go solely by rms numbers.... overhead is good.
For instance I am running a set of Boston SL60s active 60w to each driver, even though they are rated 80w rms per side...It was suggested by another member that I bridge my 60x4 amp to my tweeters, and add my 70x4 amp bridged to my 6.5s...for even more overhead. I’m still thinking about it.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Theres lots of tiny powerful 4 channel amps with 100+ watts rms and good SNR.

However if you are dead set on a 2 channel amp... Grab a multimeter and see the impedance of each. If its 4 ohms wire them together in parallel to the amp. It'll be a 2 ohm final load and literally all 2 channels and 4 channels can handle that ohm load.