weird question

Well, that was before my time but I imaging he just hooked each cabnet up to its own channel. I've seen people who used house cabinets in cars that way, cant say it sounded great but hey, at least they had their bass right? lol"Shiny chrome when used in conjunction with bikini models is particularly effective in inducing brain deficit disorder"

02 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Monster System on its way.

The "home speaker" systems included their own passive crossover networks inside the enclosures.Support the12volt.com

Yeah, I remember those days too.  Had a similar setup myself once upon a time in the back of a 1965 VW Bug too.  The amps back then didnt have built in crossovers either, but the home speakers did have passive crossovers built in as DYohn stated above.  They sure were loud.Never Let Those Who Say It Cant Be Done Stand In The Way While You Do It!

This may be a little meandering from the main question, but which is better, passive or active cross over? If I should answer my own question, I would say active, but then again I wonder why most home speakers have them (passives) inbuilt and they sound so great.

The answer is both. Most passive XOs are optimized for cost, then functionality, at least in the mass-market. Some passive XOs are really amazing, because of the way that the conponents interact with the electrical parameters of the driver(s). Usually, with a mass-market style XO, a DSP XO is better because it allows you to not only handle the various high/low pass crossovers, but you can use the time alignment to match the phase of the drivers, which is crucial for making thing sound natural and avoiding wierd "phasey" spots in the car. Home speakers operate in a much more idealized environment than a car. They are place in a fairly open space with comparatively few reflections, and they are generally a large distance from the listener (compared to the 24"-36" the left tweeter is from the head of most folks driving cars with A-pillar mounted tweets, vs the 48" or so for the right), so they image much more easily. Home speakers also don't suffer nearly as much from the penis envy driven advertising that the car audio industry has had for so long. The likes of Polk, Denon, Advent, Classe, and Martin-Logan don't give a second thought to chrome, neon or ugly graphics, the costs incurred to develop a 5 sided woofer that sounds like carp, or the ability of an amplifier to withstand being driven into half an ohm in full clip for a whole weekend. Home audio is a much friendlier place to be than car audio for a manufacturer, despit the fact that the margins are lower in most sectors. -daveThis is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

I just saw a kid the other day with 2 15" jensen home speakers in his escort. He didnt even have a HU, he was running it off a portable cd player hooked to the stock radio. It was extremly loud, but their where more highs than bass. It sounded pretty terrible and he had NO trunk space whatsoever.

dpaton wrote: Home speakers also don't suffer nearly as much from the penis envy driven advertising that the car audio industry has had for so long. -dave

lol, dpaton you come up with some good stuff.

Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

fuseblower wrote: His imaging was probably crap but he could be heard the distance and his system sounded good to him since he was looking for it to be loud.

It was definately loud.  His SPL was incredible for that "era".  That car was so solid, there was practically no need for dampering material, etc. Maybe it was just so full of fiberglass and bondo - that it made it seem like one single enclosure?  lol.     If I had to make a guesstimate, as far as db - I'd say he was hitting in the 135 -140 neighborhood.

Just remember, grasshoppa: The quality products of today - are the "old school" of tomorrow.