crossovers?

[SpecialK]

Can somebody explain the benefits of a crossover and if you have one where is it installed?

 

[Dignan]

a crossover restricts certain frequencies. for example... if you have a sub woofer that should only be hitting the lower frequencies (bass), you could install a crossover to restrict the higher frequencies. it gives your system a much cleaner sound, because the speakers only respond to the frequencies they were designed to respond to.

as for location, i have not yet installed any crossover in my explorer so i don't know were to put them.

 

[dmeis]

I have installed mine under the dash behind the carpet for the front. For the rear, I mounted them on the kick panel just below where the seat belt comes through the pillar.

Since then I have moved them to the bottom of the rear seats so they are all near the other equipment and secluded.

 

[JTang]

The If you get a crossover, to put it in layman's terms it will split up the frequencies so that the speakers can play desired frequencies that are better within their range. As the above example notes, you don't want a sub trying to play a high hat sound. It's like asking Barry White to sing like Prince. It just won't happen.

If you want an inexpensive crossover that works really well, I would recommend the Coustic XM-3e for starters. It's a great little crossover, tiny, and the "e" denotation means that it comes with an external bass know you can install up front to control the amount of bass you want. If you don't want the actual crossover, you can get frequency blockers like the RCA FMods and Bass Blockers that they sell from Crutchfield. You'll just need to know beforehand what frequencies you want to cut out. Plus, a crossover will help protect your non-sub speakekrs from being blown out by too much bass.

Good luck!

 

[§taßMa§terAr§on]

There are two types off crossovers, a passive, and an elctronic. An electronic crossover will cut out the frequencies before the pre-amp single is amplified resulting in very little, if none at all, loss in sound quality. A passive crossover is basically a coil of wire that will cut out certain frequencies. There are advantages to both. An electronic crossover puts out a cleaner signal and can be configured for many types of speakers. The downside is they can be quite expensive, take up more room, and require additional power and wiring. Most amps these days however have a crossover built into them. The passive crossover, which many refer to as "bass blockers" when applied to mids and highs, are relatively cheap and easy to install. You can pick one up for about $4.00. These are wired to the positive speaker lead and fit right within the factory space. The downside is that they do not produce as "clean" a sound as an elctronic crossover. However, you usually cannot hear the difference if you have a sub anyway. Why do you need a crossover you say? Distortion. Many people have heard distortion yet not even known, I'm sure most of us has a buddy or two who has installed a system then crank it up to show you how good it sounds. All you get is an earful of static and popping when those poor little mids try to reproduce a 35hz note. Another voice coil murdered in cold blood. Other than that, the system would usally sound good, but they forget that one little detail.