just wondering, what frequencies should my ported 10" sub, 6.5" drivers and my 6x9s be set on the amps? the sub could some better in my opinion and the 6.5" should be punchier rather than trying to emmitt bass.

tried searching but havent come across any numbers

thanks

Alex

A good starting point is to set the crossover frequency for your sub/rest of speakers to be 80Hz.
Set the Sub at low pass and the 6.5s and 6x9s at full range (the 80Hz crossover will remove anything lower than that).

Then once you are there, just fiddle till your ears are happy!

One thing I found though, is that the little crossover pots on amps are not always linear which makes them a pig of a thing to figure what frequencies are where unless they are really well labeled in small increments. I ended up getting a signal generator from work and feeding 50, 80, 100, 150Hz and marking them on all my pots to make it a bit easier.

Not many 6.5inch splits can play well below 100hz, a few brands can, but most lack in this region (is more towards subbass than midbass.)

The 6x9s can play to about 80hz clean, perhaps a fraction lower (73) depending on the brand.

The sub will be able to play easily up to 100, but be aware, it will drag your stage back (if that matters to you)

The other important thing is what slope your crossovers are. I tend to prefer 24db slops 99% of the time. 12db slops may require a higher, and lower crossover point (lower for sub, higher for mids). This gets further complicated, depending on what type of slope is used, Butterworth, or Linkwitz-Riley (there are others, but these are the main two). Using a LR slope, the transition is smooth, with no peaks between drivers when they are crossed at the same frequency, whereas a Butterworth crossover, as a 3db peak at the crossover frequency.

I could go on forever, but it may be a wasted post, lol.

As you can see, crossovers arnt as simple as picking a frequency.

Not many 6.5inch splits can play well below 100hz, a few brands can, but most lack in this region (is more towards subbass than midbass.)

The 6x9s can play to about 80hz clean, perhaps a fraction lower (73) depending on the brand.

The sub will be able to play easily up to 100, but be aware, it will drag your stage back (if that matters to you)

The other important thing is what slope your crossovers are. I tend to prefer 24db slops 99% of the time. 12db slops may require a higher, and lower crossover point (lower for sub, higher for mids). This gets further complicated, depending on what type of slope is used, Butterworth, or Linkwitz-Riley (there are others, but these are the main two). Using a LR slope, the transition is smooth, with no peaks between drivers when they are crossed at the same frequency, whereas a Butterworth crossover, as a 3db peak at the crossover frequency.

I could go on forever, but it may be a wasted post, lol.

As you can see, crossovers arnt as simple as picking a frequency.

Yeah ar3nbe is right, its is really hard to just pick a xover Hz. Each set will be able to play differently. For example, Sony 6inch splits that cost $99 will need to be HP up at that 80Hz region. Then say my Boston Splits can be HP as low as 55-66Hz. Then the Oz Audio OZ 380CS set can play down to 36Hz. Now all have 6.5inch drivers but different characterists and price of course.

*For the front start at 80Hz and work your way down.
*For your 6x9's, start at 80Hz and work your way up ( yes up ) if they in the rear. I often HP the rears at 150Hz or 200Hz. You have a sub and front speakers, you don't need it.
*Ideally the sub should overlap the front's a little ( again depends on the xover slope ). Start around 80Hz. Since you have a 10inch, and depending on your fronts, I probably wouldn't go down my further than that.

As i said above, very few splits can play bellow 80hz. Normall, the speaker rolls of to fast, or, on occasion, distortion becomes quite high.

Alot of cars I hear end up having a slight hole on there midbass to subass crossovers, as they believe there front splits can play low. I can graph most car audio 6.5inch speakers, and you will be suprissed just how bad they really are.

A good way to tune is with a sinewave cd and your ears, tune it flat to your hear, and you will be impressed with your results. I say, for most 6.5inch splits, a crossover of about 100hz is the almost max you can go (this is for a 2way systems, many 3way systems include a midbass, not a midwoofer, and thus are made to play alot lower). Hell, even my hella expensive DLS' play flat to 80hz, they can play lower yes, but, not as strong, and thus, a frequency gap is created

Hell, even my hella expensive DLS' play flat to 80hz, they can play lower yes, but, not as strong, and thus, a frequency gap is created

That is why you add a subwoofer... When you have one there is no real reason that you need to go much below 70Hz as your ears will have a hard time determining where the bass is coming from under 80Hz.

No car audio component set is perfect as they are, most will not be flat around the xover point either ( they dip ). Since this is usually around the most sensative part of the hearing spectrum, you never really pick it up. This is why we have EQ's.

thanks guys, that made some sense to me towards the end, well explain in plain terms and easy to follow numbers. i appreciate your help heaps

Alex

:bowrofl: I hope it helped.

Do you have a sub sonic filter on your sub amp? That is the only one we may have missed.

Make sure you work from front to back. The sub(s), regardless of what fully sick people tell you, is not the most important part of the system.

No, we have EQs to fix any issues, normally installed related that just cant be worked out any other way.

Crossovers, and speakers should be nearly all the tunning you need :)

A dip, or peak in the crossover frequency should be avoided at all costs, this is the start of frequency masking.

Frequency masking is an amzing thing, im short, if two different frequencies are being played, and one is 5db louder than the other, we will only hear the louder frequency, and not hear the softer frequency at all. This is where alot of systems fail. A common car is like this, peak of 3db (or more) in there midbass ( 100-250 is quite common, as its where most of the "snap is"), followed by trying to get front speakers to play low (60 hz is often a crossover many use for the fronts/sub).

So, peak of 3db at 100-250, followed by a gap of -3db between 50 and 80. Basically, our brains wont hear 50-80, and thus, the system sounds floored.

Not saying your car is like this, but just saying, in general :)

Best bet is to tune with music! Get your ear in on a good system or with live music. Next time you are listening to live music really listen to the attack and decay and the life of the instruments.

A system that looks good on an RTA alone can and usually will sound like ****. Crap speakers eq'd to sound better will still sound crap.

But agree with the rest

Make sure you can clearly make out your highs, midrange, midbass and sub bass

Neither should be dominant.

Peace

Tim

Best bet is to tune with music! Get your ear in on a good system or with live music. Next time you are listening to live music really listen to the attack and decay and the life of the instruments.

A system that looks good on an RTA alone can and usually will sound like ****. Crap speakers eq'd to sound better will still sound crap.

But agree with the rest

Make sure you can clearly make out your highs, midrange, midbass and sub bass

Neither should be dominant.

Peace

Tim

Agree. RTa flat is poo, but, ear flat (with sinewaves) can be an amazing technqiue. Shows up alot more flaws than music ever could, and, amazingly, once tuned, makes the music sound even better.

Issue with tunning to music, is its hard to know excatly which frequency to change, alter. using sinewaves, there is non of that issue.

Bah RTA response is ear response with the right scale (which decent RTAs are tuned to). Waves and tones produce standing wave issues. So shouldnt be used to tune to, yes good to pick up slight holes in your system, but nothing beats music.

Using tones is a good 30 second check, but proper tuning takes hours.

Cant show more flaws than music could as music is real and dynamic, I can produce many frequencies with a driver, but this doesnt prove how real it will sound. You get a cheap speaker and it will produce all the frequencies within a given range, it will play the sinewave no dramas, all that proves nothing though.

Using sinewaves there are big issues, when you compare say a 200 hz wave with a 500 hz wave and notice a difference in loudness. What does this mean? Does it mean that we need to boost or cut? how wide does our boost or cut need to be? where should we boost or cut?

RTA at least gives you a proper graph of your frequency response, but only music can tell you how good your system sounds.