Going 3 Way Active (Need Help)

[IBleedMusick]

Okay so I am planning on going 3 way active in my upcoming build and so far I have 2 super tweets (Can find another 2 if needed), 4 6.5's and I still need to order my 2 8's(Still trying to decide on the company to use for my 8's). The question I have is simple. What is the ideal freq range to run each speaker at. The amps being used are SoundStream Rubicon 4.600's I have 2 right now and will be ordering a 3rd soon. I will be using my CC1 to tune em. The range I was planning on running each at was:

8's - 60hz - 250hz (full pass)

6's - 250hz - 3500hz (full pass)

Tweets - 3500hz & up. (high pass)

I emailed this to the company and was told it wasn't ideal to run the 8's in such a small bandpass but I didn't really understand what he meant by that so if anyone can clarify what would happen by running the 8's the way I listed about that would be great. The company said to run it like this instead.

8's - 60hz - 3000hz

6's - 120hz - 4000hz

Tweets - 4000hz & up

[OrionStang]

The first way is better.

How are you going to bandpass the 8's and 6's?

EDIT: I would lower the 6 lpf to 2800-3000, and lower the tweeter accordingly.

Edited April 30, 2012 by OrionStang

[IBleedMusick]

The first way is better.

How are you going to bandpass the 8's and 6's?

EDIT: I would lower the 6 lpf to 2800-3000, and lower the tweeter accordingly.

The 6's are on their own amp and the 8's will share an amp with the tweets until I get a third amp. I was going to set the amp to full pass and cut off accordingly and okay I can bring the 6's down along with the tweets. I just wanted to see if there was a specific reason why I was told the pass was to small for the 8's.

[Team Bassick - Kimo]

Personally I have set my three way:

8"- 45-250

4"-200-2k

tweet-1k-18k

now slope and eq settings.

[IBleedMusick]

Personally I have set my three way:

8"- 45-250

4"-200-2k

tweet-1k-18k

now slope and eq settings.

Okay maybe I don't understand going active as much as I thought lol. So let me explain what I have and you guys can tell me what I need to do. I have a Clarion EQS746, Clarion CZ501 and Clarion MCD360 (I was planning to nix this since the amps go up to 4k). Amps are SoundStream Rubicon 4.600 the plan was to get three so each amp controls a set of speakers. 1 for the 2 tweets (eventually it would be 4) 1 for the 4 6's and 1 for the 2 8's (bridged to 2 channels @ 4 ohms). I thought I understood what going active meant but I guess not.

By setting the amps to full pass on the mids that means where I set the LPF and HPF will determine what frequencies my mids will play, am I correct?

When you say slope and eq settings what are you referring to?

[OrionStang]

Full pass means all the freq are getting through. You need a high pass AND low pass on the 8's and 6's, called bandpass.

Thats why I like my Sundown amps, the built in crossover allows me to run 3-way without external crossovers or processing.

[IBleedMusick]

Full pass means all the freq are getting through. You need a high pass AND low pass on the 8's and 6's, called bandpass.

Thats why I like my Sundown amps, the built in crossover allows me to run 3-way without external crossovers or processing.

Okay so if I continue to run the clarion mcd360 crossover how should I set it up and how should I set the amps. I will use all three channels for highs mids and mid bass and then run my sub rca separately. Or do I need to drop the crossover and get a processor? If so what processor will do the job at a reasonable price?

[OrionStang]

I am not familiar with that Clarion piece. A processor will not be cheap. You would need an ms-8 or bitone or similar to do a proper 3-way plus subwoofer.

[OrionStang]

Using a combination of that crossover and the crossovers on the amps, you should be able to do it. I'll work something up for you later if I get a minute.

[IBleedMusick]

No rush that would help alot but speakers don't ship til May 7 its the new crescendo pwx line and the xst tweets which I have already. Do I need external processing eventhough I am running 3 amps each doing a specific job for the tweets 6's and 8's