On Thu, 03 Jul 2003 at 14:31 GMT, Doobie-Doo wrote:

Yes. The Crutchfield Guild "Car Stereo Installation" talks about
the different configurations:

1: 2-way system: Sub woofer and Full Range speaker
20Hz~110Hz for the Sub woofer
110Hz~20,000 Hz for the full range

2: 3-way system: Sub woofer, mid-range, and tweeter
20Hz~110Hz for the Sub woofer
110Hz~3,000 Hz for the mid-range
3,000Hz~20,000 Hz for the tweeter

3: 4-way system: Sub woofer, woofer, mid-range, and tweeter
20Hz~110Hz for the Sub woofer
110Hz~400 Hz for the woofer
400Hz~3,000 Hz for the mid-range
3,000Hz~20,000 Hz for the tweeter

I don't understand why all but #3 have mids. You think that would
be the most important speaker since it has the range which the
human ears can hear most easily.

Well, make note that the min-range (or woofer) in #2 has the same
range as both the woofer and mid-range in #3. A lot of folks like
to go with 2-way's as not to break up the vocals between two
speakers. I am in agreement with that attitude which is why I will
drive my 4" mid-ranges down to about 150Hz~200Hz while driving the
woofers from 60Hz~80Hz to 200Hz~400Hz. I want the voices on my
dash, for the most part. I might keep the woofer cut back real far
(below 200Hz) so that they are really just a "midbass" driver. I
won't know until the system is installed and I am tweeking it.

If I did not have mids on the dash, I would simply go with a 2-way
system, it is easier to work with then what I am doing.

If you install componant speakers (see this link for an example:
http://tinyurl.com/fwjm ) then you hook the amp upto the
crossover (box in the upper left corner). Then the crossover
will have one set of wires for the woofer and one set for the
tweeter. This will use only one channel of the amp.


There's two boxes, so does that mean there are two crossovers for
each set of woofer and tweeter?

Yes, one box for the left and one for the right side speakers.

If you install full-range speakers (see this link for an example:
http://tinyurl.com/fwjt ). Notice that the tweeter that was in
the lower right of the last link is not dead center of the woofer
and there is no crossover. The crossover is built into this
speaker. Because of this, you simply hook the amp to the speaker
and you are done.

It looks dead centre to me. I like these. They look easy! :-)

That is one of the advantages to full-range speakers, they have
everything in one package, they are much easier to install


There are a number of advantages in the component speakers. One
is that you can place the tweeters higher up to improve "imaging"
(see http://tinyurl.com/fwk4 for info on imaging). Also the
crossover in the componants are going to be of higher quality.
Depending, the speakers themself can also be better.

Well, I guess it all depends now on wether or not I have tweeters
in the dash. I still feel odd having a system with no mids. Just
woofers and tweeters. How would that sound differently from a
4-way system?

Oh, I don't think you would really miss them, all that much.

The sole reason I am putting in mids in my system is because of what
is already there... I am upgrading in phases, first speakers, then
amps and old head unit (stereo), and finally I will get a new head
unit. The problem I am faced with is the fact that my stock system
already has an external amp that is a small 8x200 watt system (25
watts across 8 channels). Two channels for the rear midranges, two
channels for the front woofers, two for the front mid ranges, and
the final two for the tweeters. The crossover that is spliting all
this stuff up is build into the amp! Considering the fact that I am
only upgrading speakers, I HAVE to use a 3-way system in the front
if I am going to use the factory amp.

Sam