[Merk_RR]

I have a 2000 king cab. There are only 2 mids and 2 tweeters for speakers In the truck. I installed new jbl speakers and they sound amazing compared to stock. So basically what is the advantage of installing crossovers on my setup. P.s. I do not have an amp hooked up to them, also has a kenwood headunit.

 

[Mylt1]

are you running an aftermarket deck?

 

[Merk_RR]

Yes, it's a kenwood. With the new deck installed I realized that when you fade it to the rear or front it just fades to the tweeters or the mids.

 

[devious1]

Crossovers are for the tweeters. They allow one wire from the stereo to go to both your mid and tweeter. Hooked to the correct connections the crossover with only send your high sounds to the tweeter. Yes, they are kinda necessary.

 

[ToddG]

The main purpose of a crossover is to send the correct frequencies to the appropriate speakers.

No crossover means you are sending mids/bass to your tweeters.
They were not made to reproduce these frequencies and will consequently shorten the lifespan most likely (not to mention not sound right).

 

[mwnaylor]

I would recommend crossovers, and Todd is right, if you don't use them, your speakers will be receiving frequencies that they cannot produce. If you spend a little extra and get a good crossover you can adjust the frequencies on the channels and tune the sound a little more.

 

[Merk_RR]

Ok thanks. Just really not sure how to hook them up. It has a +/- for tweeters, +/- for mids, and then one input for power. Which one do I hook to the power? Do I use the power from the mid wire or the tweeter wire?

 

[ToddG]

Main +/- input line from the amp or HU.
Then +/- output line to tweeters, and +/- line output to mids.

Then adjust crossover, meaning a knob or multi position switch to what sounds best.
This is for a passive crossover set-up just for the record.

 

[mwnaylor]

does your crossover have a built in amp and is asking for a 12 volt source? or is the power +/- you mentioned the only other port besides to the tweeters and the mids?

 

[Merk_RR]

I believe it's the passive type that does not need a 12v. Also I'm still not understanding which wire to hook up for the power. Basically the setup I have is using the factory wiring just upgraded speakers and headunit. So the only wires to hook up for power would either be from the factory mid wire or the factory tweeter wire.

 

[mwnaylor]

does your head unit have a pre-out? if not, you can tap into the factory wires using a Y electrical connector (which I've used to make wire-tracing easier) or cut and use a splice... which can be tricky with putting two wires in one side, it'll be tight. here's my recommendation:

tap into one of the factory speaker wires using a Y crimp connection, branch off and run speaker wire to your crossover from the Y connector (make sure to know your +/- wires). From there run speaker wire to your tweeters.

Also keep in mind that the more speakers (including tweeters) you run off a single line, the less signal each speaker will receive, which means if you tap into your left front speaker to run tweeters, depending on the wattage the tweeters pull, you may notice a decrease in volume/sound quality from that particular speaker. Also make sure that you don't exceed the max for that head unit as it could cause a drop in wattage going to the speakers and shorten the life of them. If you think you're going to get close to the max wattage for the system, consider getting an amplifier to take the load off the head unit.

PS. If you're going to run the crossover for your mids as well, it'd be a bit trickier. PM me or use Yahoo messenger to grab me and I'll see if I can draw out a simple diagram if you're a visual person like myself.

 

[Merk_RR]

Ok from what I read, you use the power from the factory mid wire and then send separate wires to the mid and tweeters fromthe crossover. Does this sound right?

 

[Merk_RR]

Hey thanks mwnaylor! Clears up a few things. Im going todo it this afternoon hopefully everything works out

 

[mwnaylor]

Ok from what I read, you use the power from the factory mid wire and then send separate wires to the mid and tweeters fromthe crossover. Does this sound right?

that is correct, if you run into problems, let me know. like I said if you're going to use the crossovers with the mids, it can get trickier depending on how you want to go about setting it up. good luck to you and feel free to contact me with questions.

 

[ToddG]

Ok from what I read, you use the power from the factory mid wire and then send separate wires to the mid and tweeters fromthe crossover. Does this sound right?

Exactly.

 

[mwnaylor]

Nice diagram Todd, that looks excellent

 

[ToddG]

Courtesy of Google. :mrgreen:

 

[mwnaylor]

haha nice, I was going to draw one out in Visio... but google saves us yet again

 

[mwnaylor]

Be sure to let us know how this turns out Merk, some folks in another thread thought me to be an audio/electrical idiot because of my setup in my truck.

 

[Merk_RR]

I got it hooked up, sounds about the same as before, but a good piece of mind that my speakers won't blow as easy. Thanks for the help! Hardest part was finding a big enough space to fit the crossover behind the door panel