Went active last night! WoW! What a difference!

[robsatx]

Ok, when I first agreed to let me truck be a "guinea pig" I was not much of a stereo guy. I have a BADA$$ home theater setup in my game room and living room . . .

Now that I have learned a lot about car stereos, I have been tweaking my home stereo and it sounds better than I ever thought.

Last night I got my truck back with 2 10" Image Dyanmics subs wired at 2 ohms. I then stayed up till 2AM to install my Diamond S600.S. With a few pointers from Cam, I setup my head (alpine 9853) unit in 3way mode. Plugged the tweets into the front 2 channels, the midrange into the 2 rear channels and of course my two subs into my mono amp.

I set my xovers and started playing with the sound. It was so cool the way I can control the entire spectrum of music. NEVER thought I would be doing this kind of thing. I have never been much for tweaking stereos - no patience. But the sound is truly awesome. It sounds so much better than before. . . .

My setup now:

Alpine 9853
Alpine Ipod Controller -
Apple 60 Gig Video
Diamond 600s mid and tweets
(2) Image Dyanmics 10" ID10V.3
Polk C400.4
Polk C500.1
tacotunes.com - Front 6.5 mounts, rear 6.5 mounts, (2) 10" sub cabinets, 1 amp board
Rockford Fosgate Dist Block
Military Grade battery
120' monster cable
3 - 18" patch cords - stinger

Anyhow, this is stereo madness!!

I will post some pics later today or tomorrow so you guys can see how it all fits . . .

[Pb]

Cool. So are you not using any rear speakers?

But it's a shame that you can't use those pretty Diamond crossovers.

[cam2Xrunner]

Awesome.


Do you know how to properly use the time alignement feature?

[robsatx]

I was reading the manual, looks pretty easy. From what I understand, timing can make the sound be bad for others in the car . . is this true?

BTW, was not very happy at first with the midbass but the diamonds are loosening up. . . dual 10s is great also, cause you get the great visceral effects of bass without needing a lot of volume. Kind of reminds me of a very high end system like a Mcintosh type recevier and speakers . . . not that good but the same over all concept . . .

The clarity at all volume levels is the biggest benefit . . . I can hear my music very clearly and still carry on a conversation on the car or crank it and still have the entire spectrum without any mud.

[cam2Xrunner]

Originally Posted by robsatx

I was reading the manual, looks pretty easy. From what I understand, timing can make the sound be bad for others in the car . . is this true?

Yeah but who cares, it's all about you!

BTW, was not very happy at first with the midbass but the diamonds are loosening up. . . dual 10s is great also, cause you get the great visceral effects of bass without needing a lot of volume. Kind of reminds me of a very high end system like a Mcintosh type recevier and speakers . . . not that good but the same over all concept . . .

If you're gonna be playing really loud to where the mids can't handle being crossed over at 63hz, you can cross them over at 80 hz, then have your subds pick up from there. That way you're not asking the mids to do too much midbass.

The clarity at all volume levels is the biggest benefit . . . I can hear my music very clearly and still carry on a conversation on the car or crank it and still have the entire spectrum without any mud.

[Stealth]

Sup same amp buddy!?

I'm trying to convince my buddy to go active in his '93 300zx TT he just picked up. What would you guys recommend?

[Anshu]

mmmm, active
mabye one day my shit will sound as nice as yours

good work m8!

[_VVTi_]

passive is using manufacturer's xover, while active is using the HU's xover and omit installing the manufacturer's xover.

...............RIGHT??

you said that you hook up the midrange to the rear on your amp. does that mean the woofers of your components are located in rear of your vehicle??

[88 LE]

Originally Posted by _VVTi_

passive is using manufacturer's xover, while active is using the HU's xover and omit installing the manufacturer's xover.

...............RIGHT??

Active = electronic.

It could be built into the headunit, amp, or a standalone (electronic x-over).

you said that you hook up the midrange to the rear on your amp. does that mean the woofers of your components are located in rear of your vehicle??

He has a 4 channel amp. It has front L/R and rear L/R, inputs/outputs.

He's using the front channels for the tweeters and rear channels for the mids.

[_VVTi_]

but isn't all xover electronics? using capacitors, inductors in different configurations for xover circuitry?
also you if you are already using other source of xover (hu, amp), then wouldn't you be xovering the xover with the speaker manufacturer's xover?

excuse my lack of car audio knowledge. but doesn't component speakers already comes with midwoofers?

[BrandonM7]

Originally Posted by _VVTi_

but isn't all xover electronics? using capacitors, inductors in different configurations for xover circuitry?
also you if you are already using other source of xover (hu, amp), then wouldn't you be xovering the xover with the speaker manufacturer's xover?

excuse my lack of car audio knowledge. but doesn't component speakers already comes with midwoofers?

Yes, it's certainly all electronics. The main difference is with passive filtering you're sending the entire spectrum from your sound/power source, then a filter is stripping out what it doesn't want to send to the speakers. So you're amplifying sound that never hits the speakers, and you're filtering it back out - this has the potential to waste power, and to induce noise. With active filtering, an electronic device, be it the source itself (head unit) or a standalone unit, strips the signal down to the needed frequency range before forwarding it to the amp(s.) As a result, the amplifier only works on the sound the speakers will receive, making the most effecient use of their power. An added benefit (which many people actually consider the most important,) of the active crossovers is that the solid-state electronics typically offer adjustability, so you can tweak the freqeuncy range and pre-amp signal strength to be exactly what you want, whereas passive filtering would require seperate circuitry to do the same.

[cam2Xrunner]

^ Nice explanation!!!

[Corollacrazy42]

wouldnt ya know it it cam.. some of this information you pass on rubs off on us.. not so audio smart people.

[_VVTi_]

Originally Posted by BrandonM7

Yes, it's certainly all electronics. The main difference is with passive filtering you're sending the entire spectrum from your sound/power source, then a filter is stripping out what it doesn't want to send to the speakers. So you're amplifying sound that never hits the speakers, and you're filtering it back out - this has the potential to waste power, and to induce noise. With active filtering, an electronic device, be it the source itself (head unit) or a standalone unit, strips the signal down to the needed frequency range before forwarding it to the amp(s.) As a result, the amplifier only works on the sound the speakers will receive, making the most effecient use of their power. An added benefit (which many people actually consider the most important,) of the active crossovers is that the solid-state electronics typically offer adjustability, so you can tweak the freqeuncy range and pre-amp signal strength to be exactly what you want, whereas passive filtering would require seperate circuitry to do the same.

ahhh icicic... haha i feel like a super-noob now... even though i'm in the avionic industry working with electronics every day, i just realize that i have much more to learn in the car audio electronic industry.

now i have more questions. just want to clarify if i'm having all these concepts correct.

with passive xover, you are using the pre-made xover from the speaker manufacturer, going in this order:
HU -> Amp -> Xover -> component speakers

with active, you are using your HU to adjust your xover-pass and frequencies
HU -> Amp -> component speakers

do i have these concepts right?

now back to robsatx's original post.

assuming i have all the theories above correct. he is running active setup right now.
so therefore he is not using the speaker manufacturer's xover, but using the HU as the xover. In total he current have 6 speakers not including the sub. 2x tweeters, 2x woofers (from the componet set), and 2x midrange in the back.

my question is, if he is connecting all the speakers to his 4 channel amp. there are 6 speakers therefore requires 6 channels. how does that work with his 4 channel amp?

somehow i think i'm missing a concept or misunderstanding it.

please enlighten me!!

[Corollacrazy42]

well i know this one.. and im not even very good with electronics.. basically you have it all right.. he removed his xovers and is using his H/U and amp as the crossover to adjust frequencies. But now his 4 channel amp is power his tweeters and midbass ( his front set) and his back set is now being powered from the H/U.. lol tricky huh? yes that is what you do. His four channel is used up at this point so you either.. use the H/U and you main source of power to the rears again.. or.. you can simply hook up a small 2 channel and run it to them as well. which one he's doing im not sure. but those are the two alternatives to this problem. hope this solved your question