Tweeters require crossover?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=83159
Printed Date: April 29, 2024 at 11:00 PM
Topic: Tweeters require crossover?
Posted By: jquest03
Subject: Tweeters require crossover?
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 9:20 PM
i just hooked up my components- Polk Momo 6.5"- and i could not find anywhere to mount the crossover that did not stick out like a soar thumb so i ended up not using the crossover at all. Is this the reason my tweeters sound blown after 3 minutes of playtime?
Replies:
Posted By: stevdart
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 9:30 PM
Is this a joke? If not, how did you connect the speaker wires, one + and one -, to two drivers in the component set? Find a place for those crossovers and use them promptly. The glovebox is an easily accessible and out-of-the-way place...and hope like hell you didn't already trash those tweeters. ------------- Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.
Posted By: jquest03
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 9:37 PM
haha i wish it was a joke and yes i wired them to the woofers. AHHH... Well it looks like i won the "jack*** of the day" award. Thanks for your reply none the less.
Posted By: KarTuneMan
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 9:50 PM
Polk Momo 1 inch paper weights.....
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Posted By: jquest03
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 9:50 PM
stevdart- Can you educate me for a second. Why do you need a crossover for components and not normal speakers with the tweeter built on it? It's all the same equipment correct? but just the tweeter physically separate from the woofer? I've seen speakers where you can unscrew the tweeter and it becomes seperates. Would a crossover then be required when making the speakers separates?
Posted By: jquest03
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 9:51 PM
what do you mean by the one inch paper weights?
Posted By: jettagli03
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 10:41 PM
haha he means they're useless. paper weights. garbage. whatever.
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Posted By: KarTuneMan
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 10:46 PM
If you take a look at the typical coaxial speaker....there are cap's glued to the underside, or the pole of the speaker....these are basically "bass blockers" The crossover, if you will, is attached to the speaker itself. What I meant by paper weights is....chances are you have toasted them poor tweeters by playing them a full range signal....BUT, they might be ok, you'll just have to wire them up WITH a crossover and see. Paper weights....MY SAD ATTEMPT AT HUMOR...sorry.
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Posted By: jquest03
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 10:55 PM
Its okay...the humor was exhausted with my professional install!!! Well ill wire up the crossovers and let ya know the results.
Posted By: stevdart
Date Posted: September 20, 2006 at 10:58 PM
jquest03, a "normal speaker with a tweeter built on it" DOES have a crossover. It's not a very good one, and that's being generous, but it's there. It's a very tiny capacitor underneath the tweeter that separates the tweeter from the woofer. It selects the frequency range that can be sent to the tweeter, and in this case, it's a first-order crossover at 6 db/octave. The woofer is not provided with anything, just the tweeter, and that's because the tweeter is so sensitive to receiving low frequency source material. It's the ultimate basic. In a component set, depending upon manufacturer and level, the crossover provides a higher quality separation of frequencies to the woofer and tweeter. A second-order crossover is used whereby the frequencies to the tweeter are cut (or sloped) at 12 db/octave instead of 6 db. This provides greater protection to the sensitive tweeter from damaging low frequencies. In this crossover, the woofer as well is protected from having to extend its frequency range up into tweeter territory. The result is better overall output from the woofer. By not utilizing the crossover, you provided the tweeter with the full range of frequencies that were meant for the combination of woofer and tweeter. That is the quickest and surest way to destroy a tweeter. ------------- Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.
Posted By: saxophonemn
Date Posted: October 04, 2006 at 8:14 AM
or you can just go to Mouser and just order the right capacitor and then wire it into the positive lead. That will take up next to no space.
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OYE VEY being seen and heard!
Posted By: sprawl85
Date Posted: October 04, 2006 at 12:21 PM
No, dont do that, it will sound like poop. The crossover for the tweeter on the momo comps is a 12db/oct like specified earlier and just using "the right capacitor" from mouser or PE or anywhere else would make it a 6db/oct and the power handling would greatly be reduced and there would be a chance of damage again. Plus polk took a lot of time to get a flat frequency response on those and there would be a huge peak around 1-2k because the woofer would still be playing it and the tweeter would be playing twice as loud as it would have been with the 12db crossover.
Just use the crossovers. Put them whereever you can and run the wires clear across the car if you have to.
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fiberglass reminds me of peanut brittle... but fiberglass tastes better!
Posted By: saxophonemn
Date Posted: October 04, 2006 at 3:45 PM
Fine so you wire in a capacitor and an inductor and make a 2nd order high pass filter. Typically from what I noticed the resistance of a tweeter is slightly lower to make up for that. As a materials engineer I know that the size of a cross over's components don't need to be that large, it's just a network of capacitors and inductors that are geometrically controlled by dielectric constants and what have not.
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OYE VEY being seen and heard!
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