what's better, a mid playing high, or a tweet playing low???

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so I've been wondering.....

I've been researching raw drivers recently for 3 way (possibly 2 way if i can score some REALLY capable drivers) set up for my car this summer and I was wondering if it's generaly better to have the tweet play lower in it's range or have the mid play higher.

I know there's always a common ground with each pair of drivers that needs to be reached, but let's say the tweet is good and flat down to 2khz and the mid is good and flat up towards 4khz or so. Would you want to stretch the tweet a little lower or the mid a little higher? (assuming xovers were limited and you had to pick one of the 2)

Like I said, I know there are comprimises that need to be made for every driver and install and that a middle ground is usually the best route to go, but is there a good rule of thumb on this subject?


also, feel free to toss out any driver combos you are especially fond of...2 or 3 way. I'm open to anything and everything as long as it'll sound good (don't like bright tweets, i.e. Focal) and have a good/strong low end (60-150hz). Oh, and no deep midbasses, 3" is my limit most likely. I'm just looking for options now so really just throw anything at me.;)

oh....I"ll probably go all active xovers
 
454Casull said:
What diameter would the midrange driver be?


Yeah I was gonna second that too, it all depends on then situation. I would want to take the midrange or midbass as high as possible to make the tweeters life easier. But if you have a capable tweeter you need to think which would sound best.

A 6.5" and a 1" seas millenium tweeter could be crossed from around 1600hz up to say 3000hz, I would not really take a 6.5 higher then 3000hz so that would be the upper limit for the midbass. But the tweeter is equally capable of going much lower so an xover at 2000 might sound better in this application.
 
cody6766 said:
thanks guys, that's the kind of info I was looking for. Driver size wasn't important to me....I just wanted to know the general rule.
There are a few factors here (not in any order):

1. The maximum SPL you're aiming for
2. The diameter of the midrange driver
3. The linear excursion of the tweeter
4. The power handling of the tweeter (usually not important unless you are aiming for high SPL)

The smaller the diameter of the midrange, the higher you can cross it while maintaining consistent off-axis behaviour (a big plus). The higher the excursion of the tweeter, the lower you can cross it (to prevent beaming of a larger midrange, or to keep the crossover out of the midrange region). The higher the SPL you want, the higher you'll have to cross the midrange and tweeter because you don't want the tweeter to hit xmax limits. But, even if xmax is high, you'll never reach the excursion limit if power handling is too low.

My take on it, anyhow.
 
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Since this is for in car use, I'd say the directiivity issue is probably not as important as for home audio (based on the fact that there will be so many reflections, and no where to mount the divers at ear height), so provided the mid is well behaved at higher frequencies, then cross over as high as the mid is comfortable :)


Tony (who really knows very little about car audio) ;).
 
there are quite a few reflections, but I have the worst ones gone. I'll be installing the mid/tweet (possibly midbass too) in kick pannels. I have the underside of my dash carpeted and also my center console. Nothing will be near ear height, total opposite actually, but by using the windows as reflective surfaces it's actually pretty easy to get a good, eye-level sound stage with good imaging. The best car system will never be as good as the best home set up, but it can be pretty good.
 
If I were you I would do as VD recommends in the loudspeaker cookbook. Install the mid speakers in the kick panels and then put the tweeters where the windscreen meets the trim of the car, pointing at the listener. Like highlighted in this picture ive bodged together.
 

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nah, that leaves too much room for problems. Sometimes it's good to have an extra pair of tweets up there to pull the sound stage up, but I don't need to in my car. I already have good staging/imaging with my current kicks, I'm just looking for more impact and a little more midrange finesse
 
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