I was wondering if there is a good primer for guys like me who just do not understand how to tune a hi-fi system. I want to better understand how crossovers work and how EQ settings and Crossover adjustments affect each other. I am hoping there is a good book for dummies?

 

I'm actually looking into the same thing, I have a great system as it is, but I'm looking for high-tech sound quality. (maybe move from mainstream to spectialty car audio) I think crutchfield sells a book like that.

Google works like a charm too!

 

This might help:

http://ccs.exl.info/frame_main.html

 

hmmm....

well, you could always try www.the12volt.com, they have some basic information about the functions of crossovers and stuff. btw, what exactly did you want to know-- i may be of some help

T

 

I am trying to visualize and understand how the setting interrelate with each other. I.E. When I adjust the crossovers according to dB/Oct slope and dB width, where the overlaps are. Also, where the crossover freq's are in my speakers (Infinity Reference Series). I was told to set the crossovers to 80Hz for the 6.5 fronts and 125Hz for the rear 5.25's but I do not understand why. I also was told to set the crossover for my 10" subs to 80Hz. I assume that the subs have low pass filters and the others have high pass filters, so how and where does the crossover exist? I need to VISUALIZE all of this in a graph or chart form in order to truly understand it. I have played for hours with Alpine's i-Personalize website tuner but still cannot understand the why and when. That is why I thought there must be some sort of primer for idiots like me.

 

Okay, so let me ask a couple of other questions.

First let me say that I am a product of the loud sixties ... music, guns (NRA member) and VietNam, so my hearing is not the best. However, I keep noticing in every car that I drive, the music in the front always appears louder and weighted to the passenger side speakers. I am almost 100% certain of the quality of installation I did on the speakers in my 4runner and sure that I paid close attention to the polarity of the wires so as not to hook them up out of phase, but it just does not sound right. Maybe it is my hearing but when I turn the balance all the way to the left, most music has less highs coming out of the left side speaker and vocals always seem to come from the right side. When I turn the balance to the right, it sounds brighter. I guess I will have to take the door panel off and double check the speaker on the left side.

My other question has to do with static engine noise, or alternator noise. There is static but not the typical whine you here with alternator noise. This only happens with the radio on, not the CD player, and it only started to happen when I changed out the 8-awg power wire for a 4-awg wire going to a splitter box under the rear seat where the wires out were 8awg going to the subs. I checked my grounds on the sub, changed them, and now they are securely attached to the seat belt bolts .. one ground per sub. What should I be looking at next?

I'll say one thing, the tweaking part of CCS link that was suggested is very interesting: http://ccs.exl.info/tweak.html

However, I cannot justify buying the tuning CD's or meters they are talking about. I have a whole new respect for these guys who compete in Sound Off contests. You've got to be really bright to do this stuff well.

 

u are absolutely correct about the skewing of the soundstage to the passenger side in a truck. That has to do with the on-axis beaming of the tweeter toward your ear. Even though the path length from the driver speaker to your ear is 1/2 the passenger speaker, the angle of deflection of the high frequencies from the tweeter and the midrange cannot compete in volume with a speaker which is pointing more directly to your ear, no matter how close. the only way to fix this is to either move the driver to the center of the car so that both the path lengths and angles are identical OR somehow make the off axis response of the driver speaker identical to the on-axis response of the passenger speaker. This is accomplished with either active equalization of both speakers independently or with experimentation with positioning (kick panels, door panels, tweeters on the pillar, etc.)

Now about crossovers-- its funny that you mention that, the original purpose of a crossover (filter network) was to separate the wide band audio into smaller bands so that each could be amplified separately and achieve higher volume. Back in the 50's, power supplies in amps had a terrible time recharging the storage caps after low frequencies drained them and lowered the amount of power available. To combat this, crossovers were enabled which limited the amount of low-frequency information to the speakers playing midrange. If they still distorted, more low frequencies were removed--eventually, the amplifier could keep up with the high current demands of the music and play undistorted.

An completely ideal system would be 2 speakers which could play all frequencies at infinite volume without distortion. That will never exist because people keep demanding higher and higher volumes with more and more bass.

For car audio-- speaker and amplifier companies employ crossovers to cheat their ratings, for instance-- most 50w amps couldnt put out 50w into a reactive load if their life depended on it, so you set the high pass crossover to the point where it doesnt distort ( easiest on the amp ). The converse is true for speakers, they want as much clean power as possible without too much low frequencies, when you cross over your mids so that they only play say,... 80Hz and up, you are making it easier on the speakers so that they dont have to move as far on the low frequency notes--nothing to do with fidelity.

If you want to hear a REAL car audio system just play music with lots of midbass and see if it sounds realistic, more often than not, whomever set up the system has inadvertently created a "hole" at 120Hz by crossing over the mids and subs where they dont distort and calling it good. Sometimes it is further complicated by people playing midbass through a woofer...which sounds like something i wont describe here. So, when setting up your system, realize that the crossover is usually abused as a cheap fix for either mids that cant handle bass or amps that cant put out power.

T

sorry i dont have any diagrams for u 2 visualize

 

T -
Thank you for your response. It looks as if I am going back to square one to see if I can make things better. As you can imagine, I have spent countless hours on this, and it sounds pretty darn good, but I keep wondering if it can be better. Everything I am reading now tells me I am achieving my success through numerous bandaids and the grail is still not in sight. With regard to balance (and fade), I find that when I go one click to the left channel, the L/R balance becomes equal and at zero fade the front to rear soundstage seems correctly positioned. I am also using Alpine's time correction feature which I find is very interesting in terms of positioning me in a hypathetical center of the sound stage. However, I thought that would take care of the L/R balance problem I discussed earlier on. I can understand that when I set the rear speaker crossover to 125Hz and the fronts to 80Hz that I am creating a hole. These speakers should have a built-in crossover so I think I will try zeroing out the front and rear crossovers. I have also noticed that I am getting some distortion out of my left side tweeter and hope that does not mean the speaker is damaged. I appreciate it that you took your time to respond to me, it made me feel better. I find this stuff facinating but way over my head. Maybe in time I will learn more. I really wish there was someone like you who lived in my back yard.