use factory speaker wire or run new wire?

haemphyst wrote: First of all... STOP HIM!!!! All of those tweeters, from your descriptions, are ALL going to be WAY too far from the mids... THEY NEED TO BE CLOSER TOGETHER!!! Can you say "suckout"? Also, passive crossovers should be as close to the drivers as possible... ALWAYS! ...so, the crossovers in the amp rack, IMO, was a bad idea anyway. A TWEETER for a center channel? Wrong answer there, too! Center channel information is as full-range as he doors! That system is going to sound like crap...

What I was explaining was the factory speakers. Here is a link to a picture of the factory system: http://www.dodge.com/en/2009/ram_1500/innovations/multimedia/ Maybe there not tweeters but they are small and look like tweeters to me? The factory amp is supposed to separate the signals like a crossover does. My installer will be using a JL Cleansweep and a JL Summing device. The installer was going to put the tweeters next to the mid on a custom plate or I have had them mounted in the a pillar/side view mirror housing before. He suggested not putting the "ZR" tweeters in the dash because the windshield has an effect on the sound and even turning the crossover down, the tweeters are to bright. Why should the crossovers be located next to the speakers? I have had them displayed in the trunk of my car on previous systems just like the photo in the other post (great install by the way!). This being a truck, there is just a limited amount of space for display.

t&t tech wrote: sweet work ckeeler, how'd the system bump.

thanks t&t. it "bumps" awesome. the system sounds like crap however. this customer wanted the dumbest setup i think i had ever done. if you notice there is 1 15" in the center with an inverted 10" on each side (stupid). and then componets in the back facing the rear hatch door (hmmmm...). i tried to talk this guy out of the way he wanted it done (and for good reason) but he would not listen at all and insisted i do it like he wanted. basicly some people have waayyy more money than sense, and i do have to pay my bills and be able to eat so i did what the customer wanted and charged accordingly. the entire system got stolen after about 6 days of him showing the entire south side of Albuquerque NM what was in his SUV. his insurance company paid me to redo the entire thing again, so it was a good paying job for me and got all the "ohhhs and ahhhhs" at the car shows and yes it was quite loud, but not an SQ system by any means. i think as he is getting a little older he sees what i tried telling him before we started the entire thing and he is now talking about taking it all out and letting me do it all over only this time it will be my way...muahahahaha!

ckeeler wrote: drober30 wrote: Why should the crossovers be located next to the speakers? I have had them displayed in the trunk of my car on previous systems just like the photo in the other post (great install by the way!). actually if you notice, the crossovers are right next to the componets (cause that customer insisted he have componets in the back that point out when you opened up the rear door, lol)

OK... so it's very apparent you know your stuff so why are crossovers supposed to be near the speakers? Can't you just run the wires to the speakers from a more distant location? I'm leaning toward having all new speaker wire run, after all, from the clean sweep the RCA's will go to the amp's and then you need to run speaker wire from the amp's to the speakers. So the only thing I would be requesting is that the run from the amp go through the door molex and attach to the new speaker. I don't think that's much to ask for a complete high end install. This would leave all the factory speaker connections in tact (not cutting the plugs off). I think the only invasive part would be connecting the cleansweep to the speaker wires coming out of the factory amp. The less cutting or splicing of the factory wiring the better!

I always recommend crossover placement as close as possible to the drivers to prevent cable interaction (resistance most notably, with capacitance a close second) with the crossover point. The crossovers are idealy already designed with zero ohms between them and the driver, so ANY additional resistance can affect the voicing of the system. Too much wire, and you can start to dramatically effect the entire thing! There should be a harness available for nearly EVERY audio harness out there. Have your installer look for one, rather than cutting your factory harness. Looking at the system you linked, the OEM Alpine system is woofers with a mid/tweeter type of affair. With the JL systems you are replacing them with, you are installing a mid/woofer with a tweeter type of affair. The tweeters are NOT going to be acceptable replacements for the mid/tweeter drivers you are trying to use. The crossover point will be FAR higher in the aftermarket kits than they are in the OEM kit, absolutely necessitating the closer placement. The crossover point on the JLs is FAR too high to have them placed more than about 3 to 5 physical inches apart. More than that, and they will not integrate correctly. I'm just sayin'... The higher the crossover point, the closer the drivers MUST remain. Also, the higher the crossover point the more important it is to keep them on the same physical plane. Once a driver starts to "beam", and you bring another, higher frequency driver in, it becomes vitally important that the crossover point maintain that same plane for proper phasing of the wavefronts being produced. With the described placements, you ARE going to hear the tweeters as a driver and the mids as a separate driver, rather than one point of sound, which is FAR more desirable. Good call on the replacing of the wires, though... With that kind of change already being put into the system, a few extra bucks into the speaker wires will at least LOOK good! It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

haemphyst, Thanks for the "full" explanation! I was seeking and appreciate the knowledge of "why". I will have the tweeters mounted next to the mids. This is where the installer said he personally did in his car. I will have him install/hide the crossovers in the doors ( I think this is where they usually put them). I would very much appreciate your suggestion on what adapter could be used to interface the JL Audio cleansweep into my system as to prevent the factory harness from being cut! My understanding is they will have to attach the summing device after the factory amp to sum the signals and then feed them into the cleansweep to achieve a flat signal and then they will send that signal to the after market JL amps. I'm familiar with adapters for the head units but do you think they would have one for the harness out of the amp? Really appreciate you taking the time to help out!

Whew... You had me worried a bit there! Here's the12volt's application guide for that truck... Looks that way. There is a module available for doing just that.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."