Please help me understand crossover wiring (giving up on searching)

Need more info...what amp? Looks like your trying to add an amp to existing factory system? What vehicle?

X amount of watts PER channel means exactly as it sounds. 50w x 4 channels means each channel puts out 50w at the specified ohm load that it's rated for. A 4ch amp can be used as a 4, 3 or 2 channel amp.

Back to what boomin said, what amp and vehicle and speakers?

[quote name='lmx107']Thank you very much for your replies.

My amp is a Soundstream PN5.640D. It is a 5 channel amp rated at 60W x 4CH + 200W at 4ohms.

My car is a 2 door, 2008 VW GTI with a factory radio called the Premium 7 (no factory amp) and has 10 speakers. Each side of the car has 5: Front (tweeter, midrange, and woofer); Rear (tweeter and woofer).

I am trying to upgrade to a set of Hertz MPK component speakers that has only tweeters and woofers and also adding a 10" pioneer single sub as well.

I am downsizing from the 10 speakers to just 5 (tweeters, woofers, and sub) thus the use of the 5 channel amp. I don't know how to wire all 10 speakers so will just go with what I know. The factory wiring is a mess because the color coded wires are different at the HU and at the speaker harnesses.

-The design is to run high level outs from the HU to a LOC (AudioStream LC7i, which combines signals and provides a separate sub channel)
-Run 3 sets of RCAs from the LC7i to the Soundstream amp (Fronts, Rears, Sub)
-Run channel 1 to xover in driver door, then run wires to tweeters and woofers
-Same for channel 2 for passenger door
-Run sub off of channel 5 (200 watts at 4ohms)
-Leave channels 3 and 4 alone

@THATpurpleKUSH - I see what you mean but I am still confused. If I have 60W per channel, and I am wiring 2 speakers to that one channel (through the xover), doesn't that mean it's 60W / 2 which equals 30W per speaker?

Just about 2 hrs ago, someone also explained to me that the speakers actually receive 60W EACH. The xover just splits the frequencies and thus, doesn't impact the amount of power each speaker gets. If this is true, then I am not sure why I'd even need a 4 channel amp (not considering the sub's 5th channel) if I could power the speakers with just 2. What am I missing and is there a better way to get the full output of the amp to all the speakers?

Thanks in advance for your help.[/QUOTE]

A crossover is a filter that allows a speaker to play a certain frequency range. Both the mid and the tweet will see the power rating for that channel but the mid will be playing from whatever you set the low pass filter on your headunit to the crossover frequency which is usually anywhere from 2.5khz - 5khz. The tweeter plays from the crossover frequency to it's upper ability usually around 20khz.

[quote name='lmx107']Thank you very much for your replies.

My amp is a Soundstream PN5.640D. It is a 5 channel amp rated at 60W x 4CH + 200W at 4ohms.

My car is a 2 door, 2008 VW GTI with a factory radio called the Premium 7 (no factory amp) and has 10 speakers. Each side of the car has 5: Front (tweeter, midrange, and woofer); Rear (tweeter and woofer).

I am trying to upgrade to a set of Hertz MPK component speakers that has only tweeters and woofers and also adding a 10" pioneer single sub as well.

I am downsizing from the 10 speakers to just 5 (tweeters, woofers, and sub) thus the use of the 5 channel amp. I don't know how to wire all 10 speakers so will just go with what I know. The factory wiring is a mess because the color coded wires are different at the HU and at the speaker harnesses.

-The design is to run high level outs from the HU to a LOC (AudioStream LC7i, which combines signals and provides a separate sub channel)
-Run 3 sets of RCAs from the LC7i to the Soundstream amp (Fronts, Rears, Sub)
-Run channel 1 to xover in driver door, then run wires to tweeters and woofers
-Same for channel 2 for passenger door
-Run sub off of channel 5 (200 watts at 4ohms)
-Leave channels 3 and 4 alone

@THATpurpleKUSH - I see what you mean but I am still confused. If I have 60W per channel, and I am wiring 2 speakers to that one channel (through the xover), doesn't that mean it's 60W / 2 which equals 30W per speaker?

Just about 2 hrs ago, someone also explained to me that the speakers actually receive 60W EACH. The xover just splits the frequencies and thus, doesn't impact the amount of power each speaker gets. If this is true, then I am not sure why I'd even need a 4 channel amp (not considering the sub's 5th channel) if I could power the speakers with just 2. What am I missing and is there a better way to get the full output of the amp to all the speakers?

Thanks in advance for your help.[/QUOTE]

Yes essentially the mid and tweeter will share the wattage.

In some cases the cross over net work will split the power in other ways such as a 60:40 ratio using resistors and other components on the crossover board.

In other cases and I believe the mpk crossover is one of them you can biamp the cross over dedicating 1 channel per speaker while still using the cross over to control the crossover points and protect the tweeter. This is nice if you have time alignment but not active crossover network capability.

Assuming you don't have the ability to time align of actively set your cross overs my opinion is you should bridge the amp front and rear one to left one to right crossover then let the crossover control the frequency setpoints. If you have time alignment but still no active crossover network biamp the crossover.

If you have time alignment and active networks and are comfortable in taking the risk at setting your own crossover points ditch the crossover and run straight off the amp.