How should I cross these over?

[gmrulz4u]

As of right now, and for the past year or so, I have had the following
set-up.

6.5" speakers in the lower doors, 4" in the dash, and 6x9's in the
rear deck-lid. All of them are Infinity Kappa's. They are all getting
about 45 watts RMS from 2 different MTX amplifiers. The 4-channel
powers the 4 fronts, and a 2 channel powers just the rear 6x9's.

On top of this I also have two 10-inch Infinity subs in a ported box
in the trunk, again powered by an MTX mono amp. Total sub power is
about 350 watts RMS.

Now, I have learned a lot over the years about getting the best SQ.
Just recently I finally realized that my system sounds 1000 times
better with every stupid feature on my Sony deck turned OFF! Back in
the day, I used to use the DSO(virtual soundstage thing), the
LOUDNESS, AND the built-in EQUALIZER!! Holy crap, I can't believe now
that I used to do all of that. I was trying to just get it as loud as
possible regardless of how bad it sounded. Boy have I learned my
lessons...

But like I said, now everything on my deck is FLAT and turned OFF, no
frequencies being boosted at all. And it sounds pretty amazing.

BUT, I am now starting to wonder what I should do, if anything, with
regards to an outboard crossover. As it is right now, I am using the
Sony decks built-in high-pass and low-pass crossovers that are both
set at 125hz. As well, I am using the built-in crossovers on all of
the amplifiers. The front MTX amps are crossed over at 85hz, and the
subwoofer amp at about 120hz.

So here's my question, should I be adding a seperate crossover to
better the sound in my car? Because as of right now, my 4" dash
speakers are playing everything over 125hz, and I am not sure if this
is really a good thing or not? I was thinking they should be used
mostly for highs, or anything above 400hz or so.

What do you all think?? And advice is appreciated!

THANKS!:)

[MZ]

You're right. The 4's should be dedicated to high frequencies
and the 6's to low frequencies. In an ideal world, you'd high-pass the
4's anywhere between 400-700 Hz, low-pass the 6's around there too, and
high-pass the 6's around 80-140 Hz or in that vicinity. Do whatever with
the 6x9's. I usually like to bandpass rear fill - something like
150-200Hz HPF, 500-1kHz LPF or thereabouts.

Just how adjustable is your current configuration? Can your deck or your
amps switch from HPF to LPF? Or are they set?


On Thu, 10 Mar 2005, gmrulz4u wrote:

> As of right now, and for the past year or so, I have had the following
> set-up.
>
> 6.5" speakers in the lower doors, 4" in the dash, and 6x9's in the
> rear deck-lid. All of them are Infinity Kappa's. They are all getting
> about 45 watts RMS from 2 different MTX amplifiers. The 4-channel
> powers the 4 fronts, and a 2 channel powers just the rear 6x9's.
>
> On top of this I also have two 10-inch Infinity subs in a ported box
> in the trunk, again powered by an MTX mono amp. Total sub power is
> about 350 watts RMS.
>
> Now, I have learned a lot over the years about getting the best SQ.
> Just recently I finally realized that my system sounds 1000 times
> better with every stupid feature on my Sony deck turned OFF! Back in
> the day, I used to use the DSO(virtual soundstage thing), the
> LOUDNESS, AND the built-in EQUALIZER!! Holy crap, I can't believe now
> that I used to do all of that. I was trying to just get it as loud as
> possible regardless of how bad it sounded. Boy have I learned my
> lessons...
>
> But like I said, now everything on my deck is FLAT and turned OFF, no
> frequencies being boosted at all. And it sounds pretty amazing.
>
> BUT, I am now starting to wonder what I should do, if anything, with
> regards to an outboard crossover. As it is right now, I am using the
> Sony decks built-in high-pass and low-pass crossovers that are both
> set at 125hz. As well, I am using the built-in crossovers on all of
> the amplifiers. The front MTX amps are crossed over at 85hz, and the
> subwoofer amp at about 120hz.
>
> So here's my question, should I be adding a seperate crossover to
> better the sound in my car? Because as of right now, my 4" dash
> speakers are playing everything over 125hz, and I am not sure if this
> is really a good thing or not? I was thinking they should be used
> mostly for highs, or anything above 400hz or so.
>
> What do you all think?? And advice is appreciated!
>
> THANKS!:)
>