Car tweeter too loud

[c4ppucino]

Hi everyone,

So I'm running a budget car audio setup in a budget minivan. The tweeters are just too loud. Not too sharp/harsh, just overpowering the midbass from the doors' 6" speakers. I have a separate powered sub, so the lows aren't a problem, just lacking the midbass.

The schematic is more or less like this:

- The amp is an old (but good, IMO) 2CH Soundstream Granite
- The passive crossovers (PC) are Rockford Fosgate The Punch HQ
- The low output from the PCs are paralleled between the front and middle doors' speakers. All 4 ohms
- The high output from the PCs are going straight to the tweeters, also 4 ohms
- I don't hear any clippings and distortions, so I think the amp's power is adequate

I tried using a generic volume knob in between the PC and the tweeter, something like this one: Car Home Audio Amplifier Bass RCA Gain Level Volume Control Knob LC 1 Black on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group but it's making my amp to go into overheat protection, so it's a no go.

Tried putting a layer of foam in front of the tweeters, didn't do much.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

 

[Perry Babin]

Did you try setting the treble lower?

Does the crossover have a 'pad' switch to reduce the output level?

The passive level controller is for preamp level, not speaker level. You'd need an L-pad to adjust the speaker level.

 

[c4ppucino]

Did you try setting the treble lower?

Does the crossover have a 'pad' switch to reduce the output level?

The passive level controller is for preamp level, not speaker level. You'd need an L-pad to adjust the speaker level.

Hi, thank you for the reply.

I tried setting the treble lower in the headunit's EQ, but it didn't do much, and I don't like the end resulting sound. I think the PCs were originally meant as a sub's PC, coz I get most of the frequencies (mid and up) on the 'high' output, and midbass and lows on the 'low' output. But I'm actually liking the result (tweeter put out wider bands of frequencies, not just the highs). Maybe it's just the positioning, the tweeters are in my ear's level, whilst the doors' are on my feet's level. It's just the door speakers that are too low volume now, in relative to the tweeters.

The PCs don't have any switch on them. Just a pair of simple screw-in the connectors and forget. I think you were right, the PCs are actually meant as a pre-amp crossover, not post-amp.

I tried googling around about making a simple L pad (just a pair of resistors). For 4 ohms, and -6dB att, I'd need a 2 and 4 ohms resistors. My question is, what power rating of the resistors should I get. The tweeters are rated at 75W max power, although I understand it's very rare, if ever, that they'd actually use that much power. So should I go for 0.5 watts (the regular shaped resistors) or something like those white ceramic blocks resistors?

 

[Perry Babin]

Have you tried using a simple capacitor as a crossover? A bipolar capacitor of about 4.7uF might be a good place to start.

Parts express has some inexpensive 12dB/octave crossovers that work well for a simple system.
5 kHz High Pass 4 Ohm Crossover