Help going active

[saj21187 10+ year member]

I am somewhat confused about the whole going active thing. For instance my setup is going to be a set of kicker ss 61/2 components with the kicker ss 8" midbass driver up front and then my subs. As far as amps go i have a kicker zx2500.1(subs), zx450.2(midbass) and a zx850.4(6 1/2 and tweeters). And for processing i have a kicker KQ30 equalizer and a kicker kx3 electronic crossover. Im just kind of confused on how im going to hook this up. The crossover has sub, front, and rear outputs(which im not running rear fill) and a front and rear input. The EQ has an input and an output. So if im correct im going to run rcas from front preouts on the headunit to the input on the EQ, then run rcas from the output of the EQ to the input of the Crossover. Now this is where im confused. How do i go about hooking my amps up? I know the 2 channel that the 8" are running off of goes to the front output of the xover and the sub amp goes into sub output of the xover, but what about the 4 channel. Is there no way to hook this up so both the 6.5 and the tweeters are getting there own channels of power, while still remaining active? Should i sell my 4 channel amp and get anoter zx450.2 and run the tweeters and 6.5s both off that amp:crap: ? Would this still be an active setup? And do they make 4 way electronic xovers, because i know ive seen people run the same setups i have, how are they doing it? Any help here is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

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[saj21187 10+ year member]

ttt

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

Here's what I did in my van:

On the crossover, I did a 2.4kHz highpass on the front channel for the tweeters, a bandpass for the rears from 180hz to 2.4kHz, then I used the LPF on the sub channel for the midbass from 250hz (as high as it would go) and used a 40hz HPF on the amplifier itself. It works great. For the sub control, I went straight from my equalizer (KQ9) to my amplifier.

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

^ Ok but what do i do with the other 2 channels on my 4 channel amp. If im right i will not be able to use it, and have to run a two channel for both my tweeters and 6.5s

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

running components doesn't make it active. what you want to do is low pass the sub, probably around 60 hz. in your case and bandpass that 8" midbass prolly around 60-150/200 hz. and then have your comps play the 150-200 higher. imo i wouldn't use a 8" midbass and a 6.5". i wouldn't went for a better midrange in something in a 4" size. basically how you have it is you want the comps on the front, 8" midbass on the rear and sub on the sub output

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

running components doesn't make it active. what you want to do is low pass the sub, probably around 60 hz. in your case and bandpass that 8" midbass prolly around 60-150/200 hz. and then have your comps play the 150-200 higher. imo i wouldn't use a 8" midbass and a 6.5". i wouldn't went for a better midrange in something in a 4" size. basically how you have it is you want the comps on the front, 8" midbass on the rear and sub on the sub output

Ok so ditch the 4 channel and just run the components and the 8" off there own two channel amp, and use the existing xover that came with the component set. Why would you not run an 8 and a 6.5 iceteebone? I was planning on running the 8 in the kicks and then 6.5 and tweeters low in the door panels

 

[kublkmax 10+ year member]

So let me get this straight so that I can provide some assistance. You are going to run your 6.5 componets passive? you are only running your 8's active since they did not come with the 6.5's? If that is the case you are not really running an active system. You have 3 amps. run the mid range and tweets off of the 4 channel. Run the midsbass off the 450.2 and your sub off of the 850.2. lose the passive crossovers that came with the 6.5's. you are gonna want to band pass your midrange from 200/300hz to about 2.5khz. Bandpass the midbass from 60hz to 300hz. Highpass the tweets at about 3khz. There is nothing wrong with having 6.5" midranges you don't have to have a 4" mid. I am running 7" mids.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

So let me get this straight so that I can provide some assistance. You are going to run your 6.5 componets passive? you are only running your 8's active since they did not come with the 6.5's? If that is the case you are not really running an active system. You have 3 amps. run the mid range and tweets off of the 4 channel. Run the midsbass off the 450.2 and your sub off of the 850.2. lose the passive crossovers that came with the 6.5's. you are gonna want to band pass your midrange from 200/300hz to about 2.5khz. Bandpass the midbass from 60hz to 300hz. Highpass the tweets at about 3khz. There is nothing wrong with having 6.5" midranges you don't have to have a 4" mid. I am running 7" mids.

since he already has a dedicated midbass i would've chose something better for midrange

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

So let me get this straight so that I can provide some assistance. You are going to run your 6.5 componets passive? you are only running your 8's active since they did not come with the 6.5's? If that is the case you are not really running an active system. You have 3 amps. run the mid range and tweets off of the 4 channel. Run the midsbass off the 450.2 and your sub off of the 850.2. lose the passive crossovers that came with the 6.5's. you are gonna want to band pass your midrange from 200/300hz to about 2.5khz. Bandpass the midbass from 60hz to 300hz. Highpass the tweets at about 3khz. There is nothing wrong with having 6.5" midranges you don't have to have a 4" mid. I am running 7" mids.

haha if i knew how to set up a pic of what im trying to say it would be easier to explain. I want to run a completely active system. I originally was going to get rid of the xovers that came with the components. But where i am confused is how am i going to get 4 sets of rcas( 2 channel, mono, and 4 channel) into the 3 outputs(sub, front, rear) of the xover. Will i need to get a 2 way xover and just run it with the 3way? Do they make a 4 way xover that i should get. Ive looked around and all i can find is 2 and 3 way. Sorry if these are elementary questions its just that i know i have seen this done before, im just not sure how. Thanks for the help though guys

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

since he already has a dedicated midbass i would've chose something better for midrange

So why couldn't a 6.5" be used for midrange.?? As long as its only seeing midrange frequencies it shouldn't make a difference. I could see if he was wanting to use a 3" for midbass I would say that won't work but a 6.5" for midrange (albeit over kill) should work fine.

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

So why couldn't a 6.5" be used for midrange.?? As long as its only seeing midrange frequencies it shouldn't make a difference. I could see if he was wanting to use a 3" for midbass I would say that won't work but a 6.5" for midrange (albeit over kill) should work fine.

Thats how i saw it too, as long as frequencies arent overlaping i think it should be alright shouldnt it. Shoule i ditch the 8" and just run the components or what?

 

[alteraudiousa 10+ year member]

ok first off which HU do you have? You will not need to use the rear RCA outputs if not using rears. What you will need to do is run the sub amp off the sub RCA and the rest of the amp off the front RCA(which should play full-range so messing with the HU's HPF or LPF). Then if i get your equipment right, you'll run from the HU to the Kicker 30EQ and then to the 3way electrical crossover. From the crossover you should have a lows/mid/high outputs. The lows will need to play something like 80-200hz for the 8in speakers, the mids need to play around 315hz up to 2.5khz, and the highs will play the tweets at 3khz and higher. Alot of the frequencies will be determined by the crossover slopes that the crossover gives you and what you think sounds good. But there is no reason to give up the 6.5in speaker, it just is harder to install but since it won't be playing midbass you can install it in a small kick pod. Frequencies shouldn't overlap too much if at all though.

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

ok first off which HU do you have? You will not need to use the rear RCA outputs if not using rears. What you will need to do is run the sub amp off the sub RCA and the rest of the amp off the front RCA(which should play full-range so messing with the HU's HPF or LPF). Then if i get your equipment right, you'll run from the HU to the Kicker 30EQ and then to the 3way electrical crossover. From the crossover you should have a lows/mid/high outputs. The lows will need to play something like 80-200hz for the 8in speakers, the mids need to play around 315hz up to 2.5khz, and the highs will play the tweets at 3khz and higher. Alot of the frequencies will be determined by the crossover slopes that the crossover gives you and what you think sounds good. But there is no reason to give up the 6.5in speaker, it just is harder to install but since it won't be playing midbass you can install it in a small kick pod. Frequencies shouldn't overlap too much if at all though.

My headunit is an eclipse avn6600...Im not using rears, but im still dont think this will enable me to do what i want. Here is a pic i mocked up real quick, the highlighted parts are where im stuck at. Because im going out of one rca input/output yet its a 4 channel amp. How do i get around this. Do i have to get another 2way electronic xover and just run the 4 channel off that?Heres the pic and THANK you guys for the help.

 

[kublkmax 10+ year member]

I have that head unit. Here is what you need to do for the areas you highlighted in your drawing. The tweets run off the front input/output, the midrange run off the rear inputs/output, the midbass run off the sub input/output. your sub run the rca from the sub output on the HU directly to the amp and use the crossover on the amp to control the sub.

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

Haha alright thats all i really needed to know then..Should have drawn that in the first place i guess. Will i be sacrificing any sound quality going this way?? How do you like the 6600?