How to wire a crossover car audio

A car audio crossover is a device that filters and balances out the sound of a car's audio. With this mechanism, you will likely have a well-sounding car audio system. Simply connect the speaker wires into the right spots and the job is done. Installing an active crossover is more complicated because it has to establish connections to the speakers, ground, turn-on lead, and power. The effort is worth it, though, because an active crossover can produce better sound quality and has better control over music.

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Content:

• How to Install Tweeters In A Car Without Crossover
• What Is A Crossover and What Does it Do?
• How To Install Car Speakers With Crossover in Any Car?
• Passive Vs Active Crossover Networks
• How To Connect Crossover To Car Amplifier?
• Audio crossover
• How To Install And Wire Car Speaker Crossovers The Right Way
• How to Set Up Active Crossovers
• How To Wire Multiple Speakers to One Crossover

WATCH RELATED VIDEO: How Do You Set Up an Active Crossover vs. a Passive? - Car Audio Q \u0026 A

How to Install Tweeters In A Car Without Crossover

Many car audio enthusiasts use either active crossovers or passive crossovers. Crossovers we can find in the speakers, but also in the amplifiers. They can be external or those built-in depending on the system, and how crossovers are connected directly affect the overall audio experience.

But how should you connect crossover to the car sound system and get most of it? Depending on the type of crossover used, it has to be connected differently. Active crossovers and in-line passive crossovers have to be placed between the car stereo and amp. Passive component crossovers should be placed between the amplifier and the speakers.

As an Amazon Associate, ImproveCarAudio will receive a small commission from qualifying purchases made through the links in this article. In this article, I will in-depth cover all aspects related to the crossovers.

What they are, how they work, the various types that there are and if you really need one, if your speakers need one, and if they really improve the quality of sound, if at all. You will also find out where each crossover is placed depending on its type, and I will show you how to connect it to your amplifier. A crossover in terms of audio, whether for either car or home audio, is an electronics device that takes a single audio signal and splits it up into two or more audio signals. These signals are split up into different frequency bands of high, mid, and low frequencies.

These separated audio signals of different frequency bands power each specific driver speaker in your car audio system. The low-frequency band signal will power your subwoofer, while the mid-range will power your woofers, and the high-frequency band signal will drive your tweeter. Then you could decide whether they would be beneficial to your circumstances.

Furthermore, some speakers come with built-in crossovers , and some do not, but why not? So crossovers are there for a reason, and just because they are not built into specific speaker types does not mean that they should not be implemented somehow. So, in short, crossover splits up one signal sending two or more specific signals with separate frequency bands to particular speakers. Without a crossover, all frequencies would go to all the drives, which is not optimal, to say the least.

Keep in mind that each driver is designed and manufactured to handle specific frequencies. You can tell by the way they look tweeters are small, midrange woofers are oval and medium in size, and subwoofers are typically large and round. These drivers are built this way because sound waves look and act differently at various frequencies, and thus that is why they look the way they do. Hence, tweeters are not designed to handle low frequencies, and your subwoofer will never be able to handle high frequencies.

Moreover, your midrange woofers and subwoofers duplicate many of the same frequencies. Having many speakers play the same frequencies would cause booming, clipping, unwanted noise, low audio quality and could even cause them to blow primarily because your speakers are all built to be separate entities.

When your subwoofer pushes out a low frequency, the sine wave is broad and wide, so the speaker resonates with a considerable forward and backward momentum. On the other hand, a tweeter deals with sine waves that are short and compressed and hence do not have to move to the degree that is comparable to a subwoofer. Now, if each of those speakers is receiving frequencies they are not built for, it is only a matter of time before some type of damage is incurred.

So, to answer the question, do you need a crossover for speakers? Coaxial car speakers will usually have a built-in passive crossover already. The passive crossovers rely on specific circuitry components to filter and separate the frequencies sending the correct frequency to each driver.

Even if you add an amplifier, the passive crossovers in your speakers should be more than sufficient. These types of crossovers are pretty much always built into these types of speakers, and you would be hardpressed to find a pair that did not have them this would be especially true for high-end quality aftermarket coaxial speakers.

Due to the drivers being built on top of each other, it is even more paramount that coaxial speakers implement a crossover so each driver can receive the appropriate frequencies. Otherwise, noise, clipping, and eventually blowing of the speakers can happen in no time.

Some subwoofers may come with a built-in passive crossover, and some may not. Always consider using the high and low-pass frequencies on your amp if it comes equipped with them, and if not, I strongly recommend that you purchase an additional crossover passive or active for your subwoofer to work optimally and correctly.

Component speakers are car speakers that have the drivers separated from each other. For example, the tweeters will be on the dash and the woofers in the door panels. Depending on the types of component speakers you purchase, they will come with a separate outboard crossover. You already know that a crossover is needed to send the correct frequencies to the valid speakers. Due to this, the audio quality will be improved tenfold. Each driver can now react independently and function correctly with the frequencies that it is receiving.

Crossovers improve sound quality so much, that you will not see a competition-level car audio system without them even incorporating various types and more than one crossover. Listening to audio from a speaker that is tuned correctly with a crossover is like night and day compared to one without. Now, an active crossover is placed between the stereo and the amplifier, cutting out the unwanted frequencies before they reach the amplifier, so the amp then does not have to waste precious energy trying to boos those signals.

In addition to that, some will feature an equalizer for additional delicate touches. The only possible downside to an active crossover you can see is that it may prove a challenge to install because it is powered and requires to be grounded. However, it will not be a problem for any car audio professional. So when you are prompted to choose either active or passive, the active option is usually a better bet providing better audio quality and more refined adjustments to said audio.

They were extremely easy to set-up and until today I am happy with the choice. They are available on Amazon, so if you are looking for a high-quality yet simple crossover, check the recent price on Amazon. Passive crossovers do not need to be connected up to any type of power source to work. There are two types of passive crossovers that you get, and they work in slightly different ways.

These types of crossovers are placed in the pather after the amplifier. The circuitry consists of a small network of coils and capacitors, which are usually installed near the speakers. Due to it filtering a signal that has already left the amplifier, this type of crossover wastes power, releasing unwanted parts of the audio signal as heat.

I have found it really useful when setting the loudness of the tweeters, that thanks to the adjustable octaves from -6 dB up to 3 dB, I found the perfect balance between bass and heights from the dash.

PRO-CFX is worth every cent, and is really cheap for its functionality, so why do not check the latest price on Amazon and save some money? Unlike component crossovers, passive in-line crossovers are placed before the amplifier. This means that they separate the signal before it reaches the amplifier, so the amplifier does not have to waste any energy on boosting unwanted frequencies.

An active crossover is this form of a crossover, yet it is powered. When you are thinking about installing crossovers without an amplifier , there is one thing you have to consider. Every audio situation, no matter what it is, requires an amplifier. An amplifier takes a line-level signal usually acquired from the preamp and boosts it through to your speakers so they are able o play.

Remember that your stereo has a small built-in amplifier and some standard OEM audio systems come with external amplifiers. Without an amplifier , there would be no audio coming from your speakers. Hence no matter what situation you find yourself in, there will always be some sort of amplification. However, depending on the type of crossovers being used, you may not require additional amplification, such as an external aftermarket amplifier.

Crossovers that are built into speakers and component crossovers that may or may not come with component speakers may not need an additional aftermarket amplifier.

These types of crossovers are more than capable of handling the amplification from your car stereo. In-line crossovers are designed to sit between the stereo and the amplifier, cutting the frequencies before they reach the amp so that the amplifier once again does not have to boost unnecessary signals.

Therefore you can imagine if you do not have an aftermarket amplifier, it would be quite difficult to try to implement this type of crossover in your car audio setup. Active crossovers definitely need to have an additional aftermarket amplifier and will not work correctly , if at all, if an aftermarket or some other type of external amplifier does not sit between it and the speakers.

This is especially true if you are looking to build complicated car audio systems where you would need multiple amplifiers. A two-way active crossover would need two amplifiers: one for each set of tweeters and woofers and sit between the amplifiers and the car stereo or head unit. This could even be split up into a three-way crossover. Then each amplifier would power each set of speakers tweeters, woofers, and subwoofers. Setting up a crossover in your car is pretty straightforward, even if you have no experience in doing so.

The first thing you need to do is figure out what type of speakers you have and what crossover system you want to integrate into your car stereo system. As we said, an active crossover needs to be placed between the stereo and the amplifier. By saying that, I assume that you already have or are going to purchase an aftermarket stereo.

With this in mind, the active crossover will have low-level RCA or high level speaker wire inputs or perhaps both depending on the model. The inputs are where the signal from your stereo will go. Considering you have an aftermarket amplifier, you would need to install your crossover relatively close to it, so you would not require additional wire. Furthermore, you could use the same power source cabling and utilize the same grounding area that the amplifier does.

Some active crossovers may even come with a remote connection, and then you could use your amplifier remote connection point for this. For example, consider your subs were on channels 1 and 2, and your standard coaxial or component speakers were on channels 3 and 4 of your amplifier.

Then you would send the low-pass channel of the crossover to your subs and the high-pass channel of the crossover to your coaxial or component speakers channel.

Keep in mind and consider that you are using the correct gauge wire for all connection types. Also, you have grounded both your amplifier and crossover correctly, and that they are powered up correctly. Then you should be good to go. Passive crossovers are into coaxial speakers, so you do not need to worry about connecting up those crossovers.

You either connect them straight up to your amplifier according to the speaker terminals, or connect them to your car stereo according to the correct colored wiring or harness. If you do not know the correct wiring setup of a car stereo and harness, check out my article How To Wire Car Speakers To The Radio Without The Harness , where I go over the speakers and car stereo harnesses in detail.

External component passive crossovers come with an instruction manual, and the steps will be easy to follow. It would be the same concept as wiring up your amplifier to your speakers just with a device the passive crossover in between them. In-line crossovers are connected between your head unit and the amplifier.

What Is A Crossover and What Does it Do?

Installing a high-quality speaker system in your vehicle is a great way to get the most entertainment from your music when out on the town. Powerful speakers however, will almost certainly require a crossover to accommodate the wide range of audio frequency output. So, how do you install car speakers with crossover in any car? As a general rule, to install car speakers with a crossover in any car, plug the speaker wires from the amplifier into the input of the crossover unit. As an Amazon Associate, ImproveCarAudio will receive a small commission from qualifying purchases made through the links in this article. Tip: There are crossovers included in most of the speaker system packages you will find.

How To Install Car Speakers With Crossover in Any Car?

Crossovers are normally marked with the correct speaker wire polarity to connect to as well as which speaker you should connect. This is especially helpful for situations like adding bass blockers inline high-pass crossovers from an amp to your main speakers. Just be aware that some vehicles may have factory crossovers installed on the speaker itself very common for factory tweeters or somewhere else in the speaker system. It pays to be sure before connecting your own. That avoids a lot of problems with them bouncing around and even potentially having a short-circuit if the terminals come close to metal. One of the installation tricks I use to solve this is by connecting wire ties to each other end-to-end for extra length. How to wire tweeters with built-in crossovers to speaker crossovers. The good news is that in most cases if the tweeter impedance matches that of the 2-way crossover this can work. Case 1 is a bit trickier.

Passive Vs Active Crossover Networks

Hear your music the way it was meant to sound with the In Phase XTC4cx component speaker set, giving you clear highs and deep lows. These speakers come with a 3-way crossover so you can pair them with another set of XTC speakers for superior sound. In Phase have launched the new XTC series, sticking with our heritage we have continued to use our Famous Glass Fibre Woven Cone, giving for a more rigid and stronger cone without the additional weight producing a faster and more powerful bass response regardless of the power. We have kept our rotary tweeter design to allow a more tailor sound stage inside your car by adjusting the tweeter to the required listening angle the listen can enjoy crystal clear sound even when the speaker is position at the bottom of the door.

How To Connect Crossover To Car Amplifier?

To optimize the performance capabilities of a speaker, it should operate within the frequency range for which it was designed. A tweeter will self-destruct if you ask it to try to play bass frequencies. For this reason, we use three- and four-way speaker systems in most vehicles. That means using crossover networks. The purpose of a crossover is to split up the frequencies that pass through it. We are going to delve waist-deep into the benefits and drawbacks of the crossovers commonly used in car audio system component speaker sets.

Audio crossover

Integrating a pair of tweeters to your car may seem a little technical and complicated. But once you have the blueprint for installation, it becomes quite easy. Still, a certain level of technical knowledge is necessary. In this article, we will explain the installation process in detail and also help you understand which type of mount is ideal for a particular location. This will guide you in making the right decision. A tweeter, also known as a treble speaker, is a type of loudspeaker that is capable of producing high-frequency music.

How To Install And Wire Car Speaker Crossovers The Right Way

There seems to be some confusion when it comes to installing more than one amplifier. Should you use one power wire or multiple wires? Do you ground everything to the same point? How do you split the low level signal?

How to Set Up Active Crossovers

RELATED VIDEO: How To: 2 Amplifiers 1 Active Crossover Tuned With SMD DD-1 \u0026 CC-1

With the help of Tweeter, you will able to hear the treble of your music. You can define treble as the combined sound of synthetic keyboards, vocals, drum effects, guitars, cymbals, and horns are used in the music. Before learning how to wire Tweeters without Crossover in the easiest way, you should know some basic things. You have to find out all the answers to why you need Tweeters and Crossover altogether. For your curious mind, I am here to give you all the possible solutions to your queries. Likewise, Tweeter crossovers are an electronic component used to separate an input signal to two or three types of different frequencies.

How To Wire Multiple Speakers to One Crossover

Many car audio enthusiasts use either active crossovers or passive crossovers. Crossovers we can find in the speakers, but also in the amplifiers. They can be external or those built-in depending on the system, and how crossovers are connected directly affect the overall audio experience. But how should you connect crossover to the car sound system and get most of it? Depending on the type of crossover used, it has to be connected differently. Active crossovers and in-line passive crossovers have to be placed between the car stereo and amp. Passive component crossovers should be placed between the amplifier and the speakers.

Last Updated: January 12, This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness.