image enhancing tweeter install

[bballa]

CMS 1'' Component Tweeters Soft Silk. I would like to install these tweeters in my truck as imaging enhancers, up in the corners of the dash. My question is how to wire them. My system consists of a pioneer deck(DEH-P77DH) a MTX mono amp running 2 subs, and a MTX 4 ch amp running my back spkrs and front comp spkrs(crystal CPE60s) Would it be best to power the tweeters from the front channel before the comps crossover so that the amp is powering the CPE60s and the pair of tweeters with their inline crossovers or power them from the decks internal amp. Thank’s

[mmmikkke]

CMS 1'' Component Tweeters Soft Silk. I would like to install these tweeters in my truck as imaging enhancers, up in the corners of the dash. My question is how to wire them. My system consists of a pioneer deck(DEH-P77DH) a MTX mono amp running 2 subs, and a MTX 4 ch amp running my back spkrs and front comp spkrs(crystal CPE60s) Would it be best to power the tweeters from the front channel before the comps crossover so that the amp is powering the CPE60s and the pair of tweeters with their inline crossovers or power them from the decks internal amp. Thank’s

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I'd power the tweeters from the MTX amp, not the in-dash Pionner. At high frequencies, there is little sound energy, so you won't be taxing the MTX amp by parallel-wiring the tweeters (with their crossover in the circuit), with the Crystal CPE60's.

 

The MTX amp is probably a lot lower distortion than the power amp in the Pioneer in-dash unit. So to keep your sound low distortion, with good imaging, I'd power from the MTX.

 

The only downside is you lose the ability to use the Pioneer's front level control to fade in the tweeters just right. Instead you might end up having to put a fader (L-pad, if you know what that is) on both new tweeters so you can bring their level down, or if the Crystals are louder, some series power resistor on the Crystals will attenuate them (and lighten their impedance).

 

Am I making sense to you?

[bballa]

I understand the imaging tweeters may need some attenuation separate from the front main speakers. A single stereo L-pad or one for each tweeter? Are they wired in line pos side only. I know an L-pad is basicly a variable resister but I have not used one in any of my car stereo installs. thanks

[mmmikkke]

I understand the imaging tweeters may need some attenuation separate from the front main speakers. A single stereo L-pad or one for each tweeter? Are they wired in line pos side only. I know an L-pad is basicly a variable resister but I have not used one in any of my car stereo installs. thanks

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

The reason I suggested an L-pad for the tweeters is because they're likely to be very high impedance, relative to full range speakers, and a simple series resistor might not give you noticeable attenuation...depends on the tweeter, of course.

 

But a stereo L-pad will definitely give you attenuation. It has no choice. It's a non-inductive (frequency insensitive) voltage divider. It sets up one resistance between the pos and neg of the source, and then also sets up another resistance between the pos and neg of the tweeter. The resistance ratio is equal to the voltage ratio, so if before insterting the L-pad, 5 volts between pos and neg gave you 10 watts of sound output, when you dial the L-pad to half-way, 2.5 volts will give you 5 watts of sound output.

 

But also keep in mind that if the new tweeters are LESS efficient than the crystals, you're going to have the opposite problem. At that point, you could just use the same stereo L-pad on each channel of the crystals instead.

[bballa]

Hey Mike, thanks for your responses. How are those bass shakers working out for you ? Adding the imaging tweeters to my system was very easy and sonically worth the effort. I wired them to the rear channel of my four channel amp so that I could control their output seperately from my front spkrs with my decks fader. My deck has three outputs(front, rear, and nonfading sub). I just fade forward 1-3 positions on the fader and the spkrs blend very nicely and image great. It really moves the image up and forward with great detail. These Crystal speakers sound fantastic, and for the price I paid can't be beat! Highly recomended !!!!

[mmmikkke]

Hey Mike, thanks for your responses. How are those bass shakers working out for you ? Adding the imaging tweeters to my system was very easy and sonically worth the effort. I wired them to the rear channel of my four channel amp so that I could control their output seperately from my front spkrs with my decks fader. My deck has three outputs(front, rear, and nonfading sub). I just fade forward 1-3 positions on the fader and the spkrs blend very nicely and image great. It really moves the image up and forward with great detail. These Crystal speakers sound fantastic, and for the price I paid can't be beat! Highly recomended !!!!

 

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Glad everything worked for you.

 

The bass shakers worked like I had hoped. I can get sinful bass from my Infinity Basslink, and the bass shakers just add to the pounding when the drums or the bass get really deep. It's truly satisfying.

 

I'm running them with just enough gain to make the bottoms of the front seats vibrate the same as the Basslink makes the back of the seat vibrate. The bass on more than one track has amazed me. It really feels like you are in a bar with a live band. And since I just got XM for my Pioneer, I've found that XM is a great bass source! That digital signal has a full bottom end; it's not "compressed" like regular FM radio.

 

The amazing thing is how well the bass shakers can blend with the tactile information given out by the Basslink. At first I was running the bass shakers a little hot, but I forced myself to turn their gain down a bit so I couldn't pick them out separate from the Basslink. Now they're seamless, and life is good.

 

Now you can't even tell they're on, unless I turn them off. You definitely notice their absense. I'm running a Pioneer 35W/ch (rms) amp to the 50W/ch (rms) bass shakers, it's about right. The Basslink puts out 110 dB from 30 to 100 hz with no effort, and I have no need for anything any higher.