Best way to wire 'plug & play' active sub and speakers with crossovers?

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k1s

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Hi - What's the best way to wire 'plug & play' active sub and speakers with crossovers?

I have some new Focal speakers and 'plug and play' sub that I'm trying to connect to my Pionneer Avic F80DAB, but would appreciate advice on how they're best connected.  The head unit has line level 4V RCA subwoofer outputs (manual here).

The active sub is a Focal iBus 2.1 , which can amplify the front 2 speakers as well as the built-in underseat sub. 

It shows in the manual here that It allows either a connection from an included harness that plugs into the ISO leads from the from the head unit, or it can take a connection from the RCA outputs (in which case a separate wire is needed to turn it on and off automatically).

The new front speakers are also Focal PS165FX that have a cross-over.  

Should this cross-over be 'after the iBus unit?  i.e. between the iBus unit and the speakers, or before the iBus unit- i.e. between the head unit and the iBus unit?

If I have a choice - which is the simplest and most effective?

 
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Hi!  Thank you for providing links to the manual and explaining your question well.  Your effort is appreciated.

You want a full range signal out of the Pioneer F80DAB into the Focal iBus 2.1.  Run a pair of RCA from the front RCA output on the Pioneer to the RCA input on the Focal.  The Focal iBus has built-in crossovers for the sub and the amplified speaker outputs. Do not use the amplified output (speaker wires) from the Pioneer as it will have distortion that the RCA outputs do not have.

The passive crossovers that came with your Focal PS165FX are to be wired after the Focal iBus and between the woofer and tweeter, follow the manual for wiring the crossover to the Focal speakers.

 
Hi, thanks for taking the time to reply.  I've connected the speakers as described, and they work, albeit the overall sound is a bit tinny/top end with the equalizer settings at neutral/flat...which leads me to the conclusion that the potentiometers (Lo & Hi pass and 'Subsonic) on the sub/amp aren't set optimally. 

I asked Focal what should be the proper settings for the potentiometers expecting they would know given it's a combination of all their products, but response I finally got was "...please contact a retailer.

They seem to be suggesting that respective retailers have better technical understanding of the integrated performance of their products than Focal itself?  Perhaps retailers are supposed to have a better understanding of the installation manuals than those who wrote them as well?

I'm staggered.  What a way to treat customers who paid more than £1000 for the combination of their products!

I'm also struggling with the so-called 'plug and play' harness on the iBus2.1. The headunit is reset every time the ignition is switched off.  

When I put a multimeter on the car's ISO power connector pins none of them are actually live when the ignition is off, which makes me wonder if the CAN Bus is involved somehow, and the Focal harness is somehow conflicting with it

Any ideas?

I looked for a pin diagram in the Focal manual, but there isn't one. Looking at their harness itself, it seems not to change the pin positions on the power part of the ISO connectors.There is an obscure reference in the manual which I don't understand: 

Auto Power On: In ON mode, it's not necessary to connect the remote cable if you're using the high level inputs. Do not function with the RCA inputs. However, we prefer the direct remote wiring on a “plus after contact” (cf Nb 3).
No idea what this means and there appears to be no note 3.

 
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k1s

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