hey guys, just wondering if i could connect my x over directly to the harness already connected to my stock speakers.

You can. Just no point though

The head unit would be under powering them and you would risk clipping.

do i just cut the wiring harness off then plug the wires into xover?

whats the meaning of clipping

cheers guys

Clipping is basically when the amplifier can't handle it and throws noise at the speaker - the amp might be rated to 100W, but the clipped signal and noise could be MUCH higher and can cause speakers to burn out.

Clipping cam happen when the amplifier is asked to put too much power to the speakers - Example causes: if you turn the volume up too high on a poor quality amplifier (including the integrated amps in head units) or if you run a speaker that has too small a resistance (eg: wiring multiple speakers in parallel) as this puts a lot of strain on the amplifier.

IMO - you can do this if you want. It is much better to have an amplifier for component speakers, but if you don't have one, running them from the head unit is better than not using them at all - just don't crank that volume knob too far :)

Cheers!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_%28audio%29

An audio signal is a smooth wave, the centre line is zero volts, and the outer lines are (+) and (-). If you turn up the amp, it magnifies the wave shaped audio signal more and more as you turn it up. Lets say the amp has a 25V power supply, as you turn it up, the maximim you should be able to go is to the 25V on the output, but depending how its set up it can try to go over this and put 26 or 27V through the output, since there isn't the voltage there to do this, it "clips" off the top and bottom of the waves, turning them from a smooth wave that smoothly pushes the speaker back and forth, to a wave with sharp corners that makes the speaker jerk a little at the peak of every wave, this sounds crackly when it gets really bad and can damage the audio equipment if there is clipping for a long time (not always detectable by ear) or if its turned up way too far and there is severe clipping.

thanks guys really appreciate the responses.

Wont be cranking it like crazy, just want to run these splits until ive saved enough money for an amp.

Can i just cut the harness off which is attached too my stock speakers and plug them straight into my cross over then to the speaker and tweets?

Cheers

Yep but remember that it can be clipping even if you can't hear any distortion, you don't want to ruin $200 speakers to save buying a $50 amp for a little while.

Would be good to see how well the stock headunit moves these speakers as its only pushing out 4 watts rms lol
TBH I would just wait until you get an amp and install it at the same time cause speakers can get damaged being run at so low rms
But yes you can use the wire that connects to your stock speaker as the input wire then just use extra wire to run to woofer and tweeter

Thanks guys really appreciate the help

Ive decided im gonna save up for the amp before installing my speakers. Just spent the whole day sound deadening car to take my mind off installing speakers :D

Really, you need to tell us what the Hektic model alpine speakers are, and what H/U you are running.

You could wire up the speakers to your original speaker wiring. And it would sound better.

If they are at the cheap end of the scale, you could expect good results at moderate volumes, but if they are high end, I wouldn't even bother, you could even burn out voice coils, over a long period, as the speaker won't move enough to cool itself, this would be pretty rare.
This is also one way distortion kills speakers, it vibrates back and forward, outside its normals excursion patterns and can't cool itself.

A couple of people have run alpine splits of the premium D/Din OEM Head Unit with good results, but they have more power than the single din stock player. If the speakers cost under $300, I would do it no problem. I would be especially comfortable if it was an aftermarket Head unit.

As for clipping.
I could imagine a head unit causing distortion, but its hard to believe it would clip the signal from its own source. They just dont make em that way. No engineer/designer would make a headunit where the incoming signal could exceed its amplifying limits. An external source, yeah, thats easy done.....

Having your signal too high through an external amp clipping, fair enough.


There is plenty of stuff on you tube, on clipping and tuning, but thats where amps are involved.

And I got this from speaker training at work, we can hear distortion @ 10 %, and at 1% its slowing damaging your gear.

Thanks Shoot,

Ive bought a set of Alpine Type Gs, they are 70 watt RMS with xover and tweeters. I really dont want to have to buy an amp for my splits i dont usally crank them up uber loud unless i wanna show off my subs.

Im currently running a basic $120 Sony HU which i bought late last year with only 1RCA out. Im happy for a cheap improvent on the splits but certainly dont want to stuff anything up.

Can you recommend me some splits im pretty flexible for my budget if im not going to purchase an amp and new HU.
http://www.jbhifi.com.au/car-sound-gps-navigation/speakers/

Cheers
Simon

Run those of the front channels of the sony, No Problems.

You could use the factory rears off the H/U too, but you'll find you'll use the fader to favour the splits.

Just be sure to a Low Pass cross-over on an amp to power the sub, cause the rca outs will be full range unless they are dedicated bass out, or selectable in the head unit menu.

Take no short cuts with your Head unit earths and amp earths, I would even go as far to say as move the earth of headunit away from the ECU and Interior fan.