Basic system questions?
Basic system questions?
What are crossovers? What are bridges? You "should" get components for the front and coax for the back? When a speaker has more then 2 ports, where do the rest go? Im a newb to systems but I do all my own work....
Evolving Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 183
Likes: 0
From: Monterey Bay, CA
crossovers, in simple terms, is a way to seperate the high frequencies and low frequencies to different components. There is no right or wrong answer to whether you should or should not get components for the front and coax for the back. I run component both front and back and it sounds fantastic. I don't know what you mean by a speaker having 2 ports.
"Bridges" - are you referring to bridging an amp or a rectifier? Bridging an amp is basically paralleling 2 output channels to create one higher power channel (ie 4 channel amp to 2 channels, 2 channels to 1 channel, etc.) A bridge rectifier is a type of rectifier which converts AC voltage to DC voltage, which as far as car audio is concerned is usually just used in power supplies.
crossovers, in simple terms, is a way to seperate the high frequencies and low frequencies to different components. There is no right or wrong answer to whether you should or should not get components for the front and coax for the back. I run component both front and back and it sounds fantastic. I don't know what you mean by a speaker having 2 ports.
"Bridges" - are you referring to bridging an amp or a rectifier? Bridging an amp is basically paralleling 2 output channels to create one higher power channel (ie 4 channel amp to 2 channels, 2 channels to 1 channel, etc.) A bridge rectifier is a type of rectifier which converts AC voltage to DC voltage, which as far as car audio is concerned is usually just used in power supplies.
No you don't need to bridge your amp.
The difference between components and coaxials are that the tweeter is seperate from the woofer (not subwoofer) in a component set and the frequencies (higher for the tweet, lower for the woofer. A coaxial has the tweeter mounted with the woofer and the frequency division is usually done by a simple crossover that's integrated in the speaker (you can usually see a little capacitor somewhere). Some higher end coaxials do come with seperate crossovers.
Now the crossover (referred to as active) on your amp does pretty much the same thing, but it does it prior to amplification in the signal chain. In your case you would want to set your crossover on your amp on it's "highpass" (passes higher frequencies, filters out lower frequencies) or HP setting and probably want to set it to 80-120hz depending on the size of your amp and speakers, and whether or not you have a sub. You need to do this with both components and coaxials. What kind of amp/speakers do you have. What are the ratings?
The difference between components and coaxials are that the tweeter is seperate from the woofer (not subwoofer) in a component set and the frequencies (higher for the tweet, lower for the woofer. A coaxial has the tweeter mounted with the woofer and the frequency division is usually done by a simple crossover that's integrated in the speaker (you can usually see a little capacitor somewhere). Some higher end coaxials do come with seperate crossovers.
Now the crossover (referred to as active) on your amp does pretty much the same thing, but it does it prior to amplification in the signal chain. In your case you would want to set your crossover on your amp on it's "highpass" (passes higher frequencies, filters out lower frequencies) or HP setting and probably want to set it to 80-120hz depending on the size of your amp and speakers, and whether or not you have a sub. You need to do this with both components and coaxials. What kind of amp/speakers do you have. What are the ratings?
I have the alpine MRV-F540 amp, I am seeing that its only 80wx4. I have alpine type-r speakers in the front, I need to pull them out to see if they are components or coaxials. And in the rear I have junkers that need to be replaced.
Trending Topics
You should be able to see through the grille in the door and be able to tell if they're components or not (you'll see a tweeter if they're not).
Ebay's better than Crutchfield for prices, but a lot of times you won't get a warranty and more than likely crappy customer service if you need it. You can't beat Crutchfield as far as service is concerned.
Ebay's better than Crutchfield for prices, but a lot of times you won't get a warranty and more than likely crappy customer service if you need it. You can't beat Crutchfield as far as service is concerned.
That amp has great power for four channels. Theres actually a couple ways you could go with it. You could bridge 2 channels for the fronts and 2 channels for the back and have a ton of power for your speakers. That amp will do that easily as I had a set of boston pro compnents front and rear in a car bridged just like that. That amp also has a built in crossover for the front and rear channels. You should really be able to dial that in once you get some new speakers for the rear.
Last edited by estorilcoupe; May 30, 2008 at 03:49 PM.
You can't bridge a 4 channel amp to run 4 channels, but like estorilcoupe said 80w is plenty of power for highs. If you really want more power, I would bridge the amp to 2 channels and just run a good set of components up front. I personally don't use rear speakers, but if you really want them you could run them off your head unit power. Obviously they won't be as loud as the fronts, but . . .
Either way you do have a great amp. To replace it with something of equal or better quality would be a bit of money.
Either way you do have a great amp. To replace it with something of equal or better quality would be a bit of money.
The amp is 4 channels like I said. I was trying to say bridge the 4 channels. You could bridge the front pair and the rear pair for more power. Making 2 channels out of four.
Last edited by estorilcoupe; May 30, 2008 at 08:27 PM.