Should I go 3-way?

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

errr if i i were setting up a system i would go 2 way unless i had a few weeks to tweek and reinstall stuff. factory locations arent to good to begin with then add to it buy fitting in a 3 way simply because you can. i like my 2 way set up now alot more than my 3 way set up and a 2 way horn set up to me is the best. people often have this miscoception that more means better in 90% of those situations ill say 2 way propperly set up as good as it gets. i know ALOT of competitors that "showed" a 3 way type set up but when push came to shove channels became unhooked an they were back to a 2 way lol. the guys that go to the 3 way set ups usually have a ton of expeirence as well as time but even they have to tip their hat to a simple set up. thing is with how soundwaves work its mighty tough to create "REAL" with too much going on. sound waves fight reflect cancel eachother out and in a car it becomes alot moe complex due to glass and interiors. the ultimate set up for a whole car would be a 1 speaker set up that played 20-20k smoothly and could posses a soundstage but i dont see that happening anytime soon lol

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

i was also wondering this i breifly looked over the replies and never found a answer 2 the question

The truck is a Titan and it comes with some real shitty but real big stock tweeters, the hole in the dash is 2.75 inches wide for the tweeter and the grill that pops over it is a bit larger, so if I go with a 2 way I would be making an adapter to fit a smaller DLS 1.1 inch tweeter, probably out of plexy as MDF is way to thick for this location.

Nissan Titan to be more specific,

Thanks everyone, I went ahead and ordered the DLS Iridium 6.2's instead. Ill jsut suffer with them instead of the 3-way

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

Mostly it's because they get better imaging if they invert a mid, but they wish to keep their midbass, which is hurt by the cancellation. 3 ways are only good if everthing is placed in the correct locations which can be difficult to determine, my advice, stick to a 2 way.

Actually, in my opinion that is not the main reason why most people go with 3 ways. I have never inverted a mid and don't know anyone that ever has in such a system. The main reason for a 3 way is to divide the midrange and midbass resposibilities between 2 drivers so neither of them has to work hard. Therefore your midrange driver isn't at full excursion while trying to reproduce delicate upper midrange sounds. And finally my favorite advantage of a 3 way is the imporved midbass response without loss of clarity. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Installing the midrage in the kicks would be VERY difficult for me on the drivers side. I do not think, it would be worth the extent of fiberglass work that would be need to be done. So I guess I will go with the 2 way setup, thanks.

Yup. Sounds like the best option then.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Actually, in my opinion that is not the main reason why most people go with 3 ways. I have never inverted a mid and don't know anyone that ever has in such a system. The main reason for a 3 way is to divide the midrange and midbass resposibilities between 2 drivers so neither of them has to work hard. Therefore your midrange driver isn't at full excursion while trying to reproduce delicate upper midrange sounds. And finally my favorite advantage of a 3 way is the imporved midbass response without loss of clarity. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

I believe he meant you invert (reverse) the polarity of one of the mids. This is commonly done in systems to clear up some phasing issues in the midrange area. But, reversing the polarity of one of the mids usually kills the midbass response. So, in a 3-way you can reverse the polarity of one of the mids and still retain your midbass output since it is being played by a completely separate driver.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

I believe he meant you invert (reverse) the polarity of one of the mids. This is commonly done in systems to clear up some phasing issues in the midrange area. But, reversing the polarity of one of the mids usually kills the midbass response. So, in a 3-way you can reverse the polarity of one of the mids and still retain your midbass output since it is being played by a completely separate driver.
//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Yeah, I know what he meant. I just never had that problem before I guess. But I guess that would be a decent way of combating phasing issues. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

Actually, in my opinion that is not the main reason why most people go with 3 ways. I have never inverted a mid and don't know anyone that ever has in such a system. The main reason for a 3 way is to divide the midrange and midbass resposibilities between 2 drivers so neither of them has to work hard. Therefore your midrange driver isn't at full excursion while trying to reproduce delicate upper midrange sounds. And finally my favorite advantage of a 3 way is the imporved midbass response without loss of clarity. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

yea thats what I thought I would be going for, more clarity since each speaker had a smaller is dedicated to a smaller frequency range. Oh well too late now

Thanks again for everyones help, I did not know if it would be a good idea or not to mount them like that this will be easier and better I guess. My Wallet thanks you too.

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

A 3-way definitely does have its advantage as t3mpest pointed out.

A lot of time, betting imaging can be achieved through the use of kickpanels. At the same time, a lot of 2-way system in kicks may develop unwanted resonance unless the kicks are deadened to death. This will occur in midbass freq and will tend to drown out the lower midrange a bit, giving you the illusion that clarity is not really clear.

Does not apply to all cars, but will in some. As Audiolife said, if you have time to dedicate with tuning and such, a 3-way may be worth it. But you going with a 2-way setup is definitely not a bad idea. I heard a pair of iridiums 6.2 in a mid 90s mercedes c-class. The door were not deadened, and the tweeters were mounted on the dash, with a slight on-axis base. They definitely sounded great for what they were installed in. Can't really go wrong. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Also, a lot of speakers can get you better results when you mount the tweeters far apart from the midrange. back in April, I went to an IASCA show at Image Dynamics and most of the cars there had their midrange in stock door location and the tweeters are least on the dash or the A-pillar. They blended in very well, but then again, most of them were running Seas Lotus reference midranges where they sound more transparent. With that in mind, they are more forgiving in terms of being able to distant the tweeters.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

i dont care what anyone says the more point sources you have the less clarity you have period. you REALLY need to know your stuff to get widespread point sources to work together propperly. dont base your thought on this as too "maddonna sounds better on these 3 ways than it did on the 2 way" get some actuall test material then set it up propper then go listen to your "madonna" or whatever. i will with 100% conviction say when you do this you will have realized what is really happening as you will notice 100% more clarity and will actually be able to pick apart the who song down to the instrements with ease and probably notice quite a few things in your music of choice that you never noticed before.

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

In a mid to large sized vehicle a and all else being equal a properly set up 3 way system OWNS a properly set up 2 way system.

I've noticed in a compact car or short cab truck that there isn't much need for a 3 way so my first statement doesn't apply to all vehicles.

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

Well maybe I should have got 3 way but I figure with all the recomendations to stick with 2-way, and already spending 2x what I planned to I should be good enough with a 2 way setup. My Truck is not a short cab as there are no short cab Titans, however mine is the shorter of the 2 King Cab and extended cab. I will be running some mids from my old set of components off my HU in the back. I guess I could have done Midbass in kick panel, midrange in dash and tweeters in A-pillars but to thell with it all now it's too late.

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

I personally prefer 2-ways over 3-ways in most applications. The only time I will consider 3-way will be for use with horns (through the advice of winslow) or when I'm anal and need a dedicated midbass driver. Other than that, my car right now is running 2-way

 

[robman69 10+ year member]

I have the CDT ES643 with the HEX5000 crossovers in a Scion XB. I have all three speakers mounted in the door but it was way too much for a noob like me to attempt the install. The door panels have been completely rebuilt and a .3 enclosure was created for the 6.5 midbass driver. I am also running JL 6W0 subs in kick panels and the stage front addition with 1" silk DRT26 tweets. The sound is amazing and more than I hoped for but it was very costly to have this done.

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

I think I know enough to build the enclosures for midbass myself but I don't think I'm that picky, I just sealed my door with RAAMAT and Ensolite foam. I didn't plan on getting even the 2 ways, I was jsut going to use some 5 year old dual mag components so I hope these are noticably better then my kenwoods. Ya I know kenwood sucks, but these soudn really really clear to me eith the silk tweets, however I have blown the tweeters many times (sterio shop kept installing the amp and changing it to lowpass) Hell the last time they switch my amp to Lowpass and told me not to change ANY settings cause they were tired of fixing it....LOL Soon as I got home I switched it back to HP what a joke...and there is hardly any midbass with them also....So they are not that great thats for sure.

I hope the Iridiums will slaughter them but only time will tell.

I mainly asked the question cause when I removed the stock tweeter I noticed how much space there was and jsut started dreaming about 3 ways

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

In a mid to large sized vehicle a and all else being equal a properly set up 3 way system OWNS a properly set up 2 way system.
I've noticed in a compact car or short cab truck that there isn't much need for a 3 way so my first statement doesn't apply to all vehicles.

lol BS!! to get what you claim you need 3 things exact or tuned (processed to be) exact (not easy to do). my smaller 2 way set puts a big hurting on my 3 way set not even close. besides that sub bass AND mid bass are the 2 most often OVER emphisized frequencies people put in their cars (meaning way past natural) . my 5.25 smacks it moves your pant leg and you can feel it on your face....only time i can EVER recall feeling that in real is actually playing a drum and loudly at that. im not saying a 3 way is bad at all but i do question what you are calling propper. read up some on superposistion i know it is theroey but its made up of alot of laws