What exactly does going active mean?

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

This is a noob question but what do they mean when someone says they want to go active?

Let me give you my scenario. I have a set of 2 way components (tweeter and 6.5 mid) in the front doors. I have recently purchased a set of 8in subs. I want to use the 8in subs to take some of the strain (bass) off the 6.5in mids. Would this be what I'm looking to do, go active? What exactly happens if I just power the subs w/ another amp or the 5th channel on my 5440? This amp has crossovers built in but I **** at setting stuff up like that. I may also be purchasing a set of 4in speakers to make my set a 3 way set-up but not sure yet.

I'm not looking to shake any screws loose or have people hear me coming 100 yards away. I just like good clean sound w/ good tight bass.

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[tRiGgEr 5,000+ posts]

When you go active you use your own X-over settings. Basically setting your own slopes. It lets you fine tune your system for better imaging and overall sound reproduction.

You can use a HU, amp, external X-over, or a mixture/combination to accomplish this.

 

[PhatTonyDeMarco 5,000+ posts]

No, that is not an active set-up. Do a search, you will find tons on the subject.

From my understanding, it is when you have your headunit> crossovers> amp as opposed to headunit> amp> crossovers

I could be way off, but maybe not //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[3onDubs 10+ year member]

Active means you don't use any passive crossovers for your components, but rather, you use another device (such as eq or hu or amp) to set the crossover points.

 

[nissanrider06 10+ year member]

search...

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

i don't know what the hell you are talking about with all your speakers, but with a basic 3-way active setup, you have low, midbass/midrange, and highs, so subs, mids, and tweets. each piece has its own amplification. you then set your xovers. most common method is a 3-way xover. you lowpass the subs, bandpass the mids, and high pass the tweets or horns.

 

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

i don't know what the hell you are talking about with all your speakers

With all my speakers? I mentioned a tweeter, 6.5 mid, 8in sub and maybe a 4in mid.

Yeah, I somewhat made the typical mistake. I bought what I thought I wanted but then decided on something different. I was just curious if I could make what I had work like a typical 3 way set up.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146726&highlight=active

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

Which Eclipse HU do you have???

 

[alteraudiousa 10+ year member]

biggest thing when going active is

1) each driver is driven off its own channel of amplification. This allows the power to be better distributed to better suit each driver.

2) going active allows the user to setup the crossover points for each driver. This allows each driver to play in a frequency range that it is more suited for and can help reduce chances of damaging a speaker

3) user typically has the ability to chose the slope of each crossover point which will help with how much or how little overlap there is at each crossover point.

Going active is not that easy to do well and takes more time and equipment to obtain a good setup. A good HU is a must. I also like Eclipse 84 series and the newer 5000 or 7000 series. Look for features like 3 way crossover, time alignment, and a good PEQ. Eclipse has one of the best built in EQs in a HU. Also most amps have crossovers built on them that can do this too if your HU doesn't. I don't like it as much as a HU since I can't adjust anything while driving. But have fun running active, its an adventure.

 

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

Which Eclipse HU do you have???

I have an older Eclipse 5441. It's old but I love it, I don't like the flashing lights and colors of the new Eclipse H/U's (I'm looking for an older Eclipse HU that has 8V outs if anyone has one). I have a PPI 5440 amp and may be getting a PPI PC2600.

Thanks for the link alpha. I'm a big fan of keep it simple, so I may stay away from this ative stuff. I have a hard enough time just adjusting the bass and treble settings much less figuring out where to set my pass filters at.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[wagz 10+ year member]

Active means you don't use any passive crossovers for your components, but rather, you use another device (such as eq or hu or amp) to set the crossover points.

exactly, nothing else to it

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

This is a noob question but what do they mean when someone says they want to go active?
Let me give you my scenario. I have a set of 2 way components (tweeter and 6.5 mid) in the front doors. I have recently purchased a set of 8in subs. I want to use the 8in subs to take some of the strain (bass) off the 6.5in mids. Would this be what I'm looking to do, go active?

If the subs will be mounted behind you, then a typical sub amp with 80 hz lowpass is in order. You can then set the hipass up higher on your main speakers and take some of the burden off them. You also get the sub bass that main speakers can't reach. That may be all you're looking for.

If the 8's will be installed up front, you can play them higher than 80 hz and really get some midbass. Some 8's will play well IB all the way to 250 hz.

If you wanted to use the 8's for midbass duty only, then you need to bandpass them to limit both the low and high ends. That would require some level of "active" crossover. It doesn't need to be complicated, it could be as simple as using the amp's hipass filter at 50 hz and an external F-MOD inline lowpass filter.

That'd be a "psuedo active" setup. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

Thanks Maylar;

The two 8in subs will be right behind me (right behind the center console, in the center of the vehicle). They will be no more than 18in from me.