jwzimm

Hey all,

I have begun to (timidly) upgrade my sound in my S. I will be installing a KMM-BT522HD Kenwook head unit soon. A thought occurred to me and I wanted to see if anyone has considered it. I have a pair of old crossovers from a set of component speakers I owned a long time ago. They are very simple and easy to wire up. Since the S has a set of components in it already I thought, perhaps I could wire in this crossover to the OEM components. I realize the OEM tweeter already has a capacitor built in that acts as a high pass filter but the woofer doesn't have any kind of filtering.

Do you all think this would provide any benefit? It is free to me so I may give it a shot ether way but figured I would ask.

Fokker

I don't think it would change much. The headunit makes the biggest difference over any of the OEM pieces. If you're going to go to that much effort, just buy a relatively inexpensive component system with an included crossover; you'll upgrade the speaker quality and filtering between the components. The Polk DB6501 can still be found on Amazon for less than $120.

osu1978

Get a head unit with built in crossover & EQ or a component system with inline crossovers.

jwzimm

If you read my post you will see I am putting in a new head unit. How would the EQ in the head unit replace a crossover network for the OEM component speakers?

My question is related to seeing if anyone has ever added a crossover to the OEM speakers. The OEM tweeter does have a filter capacitor on it but the woofer has no filtration on it. That means that it is being fed the complete audio spectrum (including the highs) which it cannot reproduce efficiently. I realize a good set of aftermarket components is a better way to go but I was asking since I already have the crossovers would it be worth a try as a 100% free mod.

I may end up just going with a set of Polk DB6501's anyway but was just curious what folks thought.

oth

In theory, the crossover is carefully matched to the speakers' characteristics so the rolloff/on doesn't create peaks and valleys.
Thus it's not clear whether using a random crossover will help or hurt the sound. Personally I doubt the filter capacitor is the
weakest link, so I'd skip the work, but if you're bored, go ahead!
Another potential downside is that per this thread (of unknown accuracy), passive crossovers consume about 20% of your power.

jwzimm

You make some good points. You might be attributing a little more to the crossover than it actually does though. If you look inside a typical passive crossover it is nothing more than a filter capacitor for the tweeter and a filter inductor for the woofer. The values of these components (farads and henry's respectively) will control the crossover frequency point. You are correct that the crossovers I currently have may not be configured to perfectly match the capabilities of the stock components (if memory serves they were from a set of 4.5" components originally).

As for power loss in a passive crossover, I do not buy that. The power loss through the filtering components would be negligible really. They simply filter out and do not allow to pass those frequencies that they are meant to remove. Since the mating component in the pair will pick up the filtered frequencies there should be no net loss. Now if you select and connect to the "-xdB" connection for the tweeter there could be some power loss but only in the high side of the spectrum. The way a crossover accomplishes the reduction in sound level is by passing the filtered sound through a resistor which reduces the net effective power output from the tweeter (similar to driving a 4ohm sub vs. a 2ohm sub results in a change in SPL).

In any case, this is really just academic. I am most likely just going to pick up a set of DB6501's to install if I am not happy with the stock speakers post install of the new HU. In case you are curious as to why it is taking so long; there was a SNAFU with Modifry when I ordered my adapter harness (they sent the wrong plug for my Kenwood HU). Hoping to have the new deck installed tomorrow afternoon now.

windhund116

I don't think adding a low pass filter to the woofer will help that much (sound-wise), in a 6-inch speaker. Heck, many home stereo speakers have straight pass to the "woofers." But, the mid and high frequency speakers need filtering. Or they will be damaged by the low frequency energy. Diagram in link, is the crossover for JBL 4310 studio monitor speakers (12-inch low, 5-inch mid, 1.4-inch tweeter).

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...1&d=1137613659

osu1978

I did read your post.

Easier to return the head unit and get one with built in crossovers for each channel. Much simpler than installing passive crossovers that will rob power and output from your setup plus you wont have to open up your doors.

jwzimm

It has frequency filtration in it already. What I am asking about in this thread is adding a passive crossover that will separate out the frequency between the tweeter and the midrange in the door. The head unit cannot do this as there is only a single pair of wires going from it to the door.

I am not sure you understand how the speakers are wired in this car (or really any other Honda for that matter). There are four channels; LF, RF, LR, RR. The front channels are all that we are talking about here and they do not separate out the tweeter from the midrange/woofer. How would a crossover in any head unit be able to properly split the frequencies between the tweeter and the midrange without the required separate wiring from the head unit to each component?

osu1978

The head unit with built in crossover would allow you to apply whatever frequency point you would like to the stock mid range speakers (which is what you seem to be trying to accomplish from your first post). Since the tweeters are already filtered at high pass their frequency settings would not change at all by using the headunit's cross over unless you set the cross over point way too high. If you are planning to go further and buy a component system you don't have to go this route but it may still provide fine tuning in the future, even with components.

I understand how these cars are setup from factory and have installed numerous systems including in my s2000. I dont think you will be satisfied adding multiple passive crossovers to an already extremely weak factory radio and speakers. Just trying to provide you time saving options that will also provide some flexibility for upgrades in the future.