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Understanding Active
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<blockquote data-quote="bbeljefe" data-source="post: 8272781" data-attributes="member: 655960"><p>DSP (digital signal processing) is what you're looking for with a head unit that's "active capable" but frankly, any head unit can be used in an active setup. All active means is that each band of frequencies is controlled and powered by separate active crossovers and amplifiers (or amp channels). In home and pro audio, active is normally called biamping, although speakers can be biamped and still be crossed passively.</p><p></p><p>If your head unit doesn't have the correct crossover options then you need them on your amps. Monoblocks have low pass filters so they're a no brainer but for the separation between midrange and treble, you need an amp(s) that has filters with multipliers and/or bandpass filters.</p><p></p><p>With multipliers, there is a switch on the amp that multiplies the crossover frequency by a factor of ten. In that case, the options will usually be 50-500Hz or 500-5000Hz depending on the multiplier switch position. With bandpass filters, there are separate high and low pass filters for each pair of channels.</p><p></p><p>Here's a pretty common setup, since most modern head units with three preamp outputs have built in crossovers:</p><p></p><p>Head unit low pass is set to 80 Hz. High pass is also set to 80Hz. Subwoofer amp filter is turned off or, turned up all the way so that the head unit controls the crossover point. Midrange amp channel low pass filter would be set to low pass with multiplier engaged and crossover point would be 2500Hz. Tweeter channel filter would be set to high pass with multiplier engaged and crossover point would also be 2500Hz. In this scenario the head unit controls the low frequency cutoff point for the mids and the midrange amp controls their high frequency cutoff point The mids are the only stage requiring a bandpass type filter. Subs and tweets are simply low and high passed, respectively.</p><p></p><p>As for putting passive filters (bass blockers) on the tweeters, that defeats the purpose of running active on top of possibly introducing phase problems. The reason being is that one of the beauties of active is that you can adjust crossover points and with passive filters on the tweets, you can't.</p><p></p><p>Another important feature for running active in car audio is time alignment. It's particularly important in vehicles because the tweeter and midbass drivers are often located far apart. You can run active without time alignment but if you do, you run the risk of having your imaging out of whack.. which basically means that you'd be able to hear that the tweets and mids are coming from different locations. That's most noticeable when the mids and tweets are playing at or near the crossover point because they're playing the same frequencies but those frequencies are reaching your ears at slightly different times. This can cause a phase shift that can result in a perceived dip in frequency response as well as some other annoying phenomena. All that said, time alignment isn't just for active setups. It's nice regardless of how your speakers are set up and even if you're running coaxials.</p><p></p><p>I know that the AVH series of head units from Pioneer have time alignment but you have to buy a microphone from Pioneer in order to run the setup procedure, as it's not manually adjustable. Also, I'm pretty sure the NEX series have DSP and some pretty comprehensive crossover options.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="bbeljefe, post: 8272781, member: 655960"] DSP (digital signal processing) is what you're looking for with a head unit that's "active capable" but frankly, any head unit can be used in an active setup. All active means is that each band of frequencies is controlled and powered by separate active crossovers and amplifiers (or amp channels). In home and pro audio, active is normally called biamping, although speakers can be biamped and still be crossed passively. If your head unit doesn't have the correct crossover options then you need them on your amps. Monoblocks have low pass filters so they're a no brainer but for the separation between midrange and treble, you need an amp(s) that has filters with multipliers and/or bandpass filters. With multipliers, there is a switch on the amp that multiplies the crossover frequency by a factor of ten. In that case, the options will usually be 50-500Hz or 500-5000Hz depending on the multiplier switch position. With bandpass filters, there are separate high and low pass filters for each pair of channels. Here's a pretty common setup, since most modern head units with three preamp outputs have built in crossovers: Head unit low pass is set to 80 Hz. High pass is also set to 80Hz. Subwoofer amp filter is turned off or, turned up all the way so that the head unit controls the crossover point. Midrange amp channel low pass filter would be set to low pass with multiplier engaged and crossover point would be 2500Hz. Tweeter channel filter would be set to high pass with multiplier engaged and crossover point would also be 2500Hz. In this scenario the head unit controls the low frequency cutoff point for the mids and the midrange amp controls their high frequency cutoff point The mids are the only stage requiring a bandpass type filter. Subs and tweets are simply low and high passed, respectively. As for putting passive filters (bass blockers) on the tweeters, that defeats the purpose of running active on top of possibly introducing phase problems. The reason being is that one of the beauties of active is that you can adjust crossover points and with passive filters on the tweets, you can't. Another important feature for running active in car audio is time alignment. It's particularly important in vehicles because the tweeter and midbass drivers are often located far apart. You can run active without time alignment but if you do, you run the risk of having your imaging out of whack.. which basically means that you'd be able to hear that the tweets and mids are coming from different locations. That's most noticeable when the mids and tweets are playing at or near the crossover point because they're playing the same frequencies but those frequencies are reaching your ears at slightly different times. This can cause a phase shift that can result in a perceived dip in frequency response as well as some other annoying phenomena. All that said, time alignment isn't just for active setups. It's nice regardless of how your speakers are set up and even if you're running coaxials. I know that the AVH series of head units from Pioneer have time alignment but you have to buy a microphone from Pioneer in order to run the setup procedure, as it's not manually adjustable. Also, I'm pretty sure the NEX series have DSP and some pretty comprehensive crossover options. [/QUOTE]
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