crossover suggestions

ilikesound

ok here's the setup:
2001 accord ex v6

Front of Car: 2 polk momo tweets housed in pillars
2 polk momo midrange woofers in doors, housed pointing toward
listening position
Rear of Car: nothing.
Trunk: polk c400.4 running all speakers,
jl audio sub amp running a jl W1 12'', sealed box.

wondering what would be the best crossover pattern for these as i want the bass pulled to the front, obviously, and clarity from the speakers in the front. since the tweeters are on a different plane than the woofers, crossing over has become somewhat of a chore. any help would be great. thank you.

MacLeod

You can use the passive crossover that came with the Momo's and youll be fine regardless of where the tweets are mounted.

You may however want to try flipping the polarity of the tweeters if theyre not blending well with the mids.

As for pulling the sub up front, thats going to be hard to do. In order to do that without time alignment youre going to have to cross it over pretty low. My sub sounded best at 60 Hz but anything over 40 and it pulled directly to the back.

I would stick with the passives for the front with the mids cut off at 70 Hz and then set the sub to 80 to start. From there if you dont like it you can fiddle with it til you get it set right.

ilikesound

im amping it straight into the c400.4, actually...if that helps

ilikesound

you say it sounded best at 60, yet fourty is lower than that...a typo, perhaps? (the sub, im reffering to...) also, if i crossover the woofers at 70, then 80 for the sub, wouldn't that do away with the frequencies that reside within that spectrum? im also using an alpine cda9857 so i can cross at 60, 80, 100, and 120 for the woofers, and for the treble freqs. i can do 7.5khz, 10.0khz, 12.5khz, and 15khz...if im running everything thru the active xover on the amp, do i need to fiddle with those? or you know, what's the deal?

MacLeod

No. It sounded best at 60 but it pulled to the rear on most bass notes. 40 sounded good too but with less energy but it kept the bass up front.

ilikesound

but i mean...shouldn't you put the bass xover at a bit higher than your mid-woofers are crossing over at, so that the bass doesn't get "lost" when certain notes hit? that would be my guess...i have the crossover at around 125 now on the sub, and the mids at 60..and the bass is in the dash. sounds great, but the sub doesn't sound as "vocal" now...

Greg Peters

ilikesound wrote:

but i mean...shouldn't you put the bass xover at a bit higher than your mid-woofers are crossing over at, so that the bass doesn't get "lost" when certain notes hit? that would be my guess...i have the crossover at around 125 now on the sub, and the mids at 60..and the bass is in the dash. sounds great, but the sub doesn't sound as "vocal" now...

That's partially dependant on characteristics of your mids, woofers/enclosure and their install, as well as the interior of the vehicle all are installed in- no hard and fast rules that could apply to every install.

Some cars reinforce certain frequencies more than others, causing peaks and valleys in system frequency response. This requires creativeness and sometimes drastic measures with crossover points and EQ to get a more pleasing overall system response.

Drop a sealed 12" woofer in a hatchback or SUV, then drop the same gear in a small sedan to illustrate the point. Even the vehicle's interior can affect frequency response- cloth (high absorption of sound) vs leather/vinyl or plastic surfaces (highly reflective). If you've ever transplanted your entire system from one vehicle into another that's very different, you've probably had to work at it to get everything dialled in to your liking in the new car.

For example, I am currently running my front stage high-passed at 63 hz (18db/octave), with sub low-passed at 80 hz (18db/octave). With most music this is pretty close to great in my car, but some bass- or midbass-heavy music sounds better with some adjustment to those crossover points and slopes to tame a peak in the response due to the vehicle.