FoSheezyFunk

i'm just getting into car audio, and i've got 3 JLaudio12w6's and a rockford fosgate 1000a2. very happy with the bass now, but i find the uppers lacking. i've been reading through as many posts as i could find, but i don't understand what a crossover is and does, and its relationship to tweeters. someone care to explain?

oh and also, if i want to install tweeters, i just hook 'em up to the front door speakers?

enlightenment is very much appreciated! thanks!

mr tl

you need a cross over with a tweeter so that it it only allows the tweet to play high frequencies. thats why the tweeter sound high and the mid sounds deep

if you dont have a cross over wired to the tweeter, youll probably make the setup sound worse, and youll kill the tweet over time

you can add tweeters to the factory setup, but you wouldnt need a cross over. a bass blocker or a cap would be smarter (its just a dumbed down version of a cross over)

my2sense

must mention low-pass crossovers too..
low frequencies at high volumes will blow apart your mids...
low pass to get your subs to handle the grunt work, leaving your mids free for their assigned job.

Brewboy

Very simply put, think of a xover as a window just before each speaker that lets only a certain range of frequencies thru to be reproduced by that speaker. A xover is just a circuit made up of resistors, capacitors, and inductors to block out certain frequencies from continuing on to your speakers. By using different values of resistors, caps, etc., you can change the window size known as crossover points. A sub requires a low-pass xover (only low freqs can pass thru that window). A mid-driver only needs the middle freqs and can be crossed with a bandpass xover(only the middle freqs can pass thru the window)(really a lowpass combined with a highpass) and the tweets should be highpassed (only the higher frequencies get passed thru). Why use xovers? Well mainly to protect your speakers. Speakers are designed to play certain freqs. A tweet is not made to physically handle a low signal and a sub is not physically designed to handle a high signal. Second, xovers, when used properly, enhance the speakers sound quality. A properly crossed system will give your speakers a chance to give you a nice sound stage with clarity, depth, and imaging.