Active setup - Overpowering tweeters?

[REVOofRustler]

Hey! I'm lookin at taking out the rear speakers in my club cab Dakota and then running an active front stage. My plan right now is to run Herts HV 165L mids and HT 25 tweeters off of a Rockford T400-4. I've got a Pioneer DEH-80prs head unit, so getting everything set up to run active will be a breeze.

My question is how you guys running active are keeping from overpowering tweeters? I know that you need to be really careful with tweeters, as they'll blow very quickly when overpowered. The HT 25 tweeters are 4 ohms, so they would be getting 60 watts rms from the T400. Hertz says that the peak of the tweeters is 120 watts, but they don't have anything listed for RMS power handling. Should I just use ohms law and set it with a dmm to a point that seems a bit safer than 60 watts (like 30-40 watts)? Any advice is appreciated!

[MrSkippyJ]

proper xover points and use your ears.

[meade916]

use an O-scope or Distortion Detector on it and use the -5 db track to set the gains. If you have WAY more power then your tweets can handle, use the 0db track. A dirty signal will smoke those tweeters quicker then (a little) too much power will. Don't run them @ 1 ohm, do 4 or 8 if you can. In my experience, that has always been safer. Don't be dumb though and put WAY WAY too much power on them. Use the right size amp and set the gains right you should be good to go.

[meade916]

proper xover points

this too ^^^ for sure

[MrSkippyJ]

use an O-scope or Distortion Detector on it and use the -5 db track to set the gains. If you have WAY more power then your tweets can handle, use the 0db track. A dirty signal will smoke those tweeters quicker then (a little) too much power will. Don't run them @ 1 ohm, do 4 or 8 if you can. In my experience, that has always been safer. Don't be dumb though and put WAY WAY too much power on them. Use the right size amp and set the gains right you should be good to go.

Yes, I should probably clarify. Set gains with a DD-1 for sure. What I meant by use your ears is that with tweets is that you can hear when you are driving them too hard. So get the signal clean with the DD-1, set the gain with the DD-1 then turn the gain down to adjust for less power. Then once that is done, make sure while listening it sounds like it should.

Didn't mean for that to sound like I was saying use his ears to set gains! oops!

[REVOofRustler]

proper xover points and use your ears.

use an O-scope or Distortion Detector on it and use the -5 db track to set the gains. If you have WAY more power then your tweets can handle, use the 0db track. A dirty signal will smoke those tweeters quicker then (a little) too much power will. Don't run them @ 1 ohm, do 4 or 8 if you can. In my experience, that has always been safer. Don't be dumb though and put WAY WAY too much power on them. Use the right size amp and set the gains right you should be good to go.

Thanks guys! I've got the DD-1, so keeping distortion out of the system will be no issue. The tweeters are also 4 ohm, and I'll be running one tweeter off of each high level channel, so I don't really have any options there. What do you guys suggest doing as far as setting crossovers? I don't really have any experience there, aside from getting everything set up on my sub amp. Is there a specific crossover point that I should start out at and then just tune from there? I would get the IM-SG, but I've gotta get all the speakers, amp, HO alt, and probably another battery before I have any money to spare...

use an O-scope or Distortion Detector on it and use the -5 db track to set the gains. If you have WAY more power then your tweets can handle, use the 0db track. A dirty signal will smoke those tweeters quicker then (a little) too much power will. Don't run them @ 1 ohm, do 4 or 8 if you can. In my experience, that has always been safer. Don't be dumb though and put WAY WAY too much power on them. Use the right size amp and set the gains right you should be good to go.

Yes, I should probably clarify. Set gains with a DD-1 for sure. What I meant by use your ears is that with tweets is that you can hear when you are driving them too hard. So get the signal clean with the DD-1, set the gain with the DD-1 then turn the gain down to adjust for less power. Then once that is done, make sure while listening it sounds like it should.

Didn't mean for that to sound like I was saying use his ears to set gains! oops!

No problem man! I still have quite a bit to learn, but I do know how important setting gains correctly is! Haha

[meade916]

use an O-scope or Distortion Detector on it and use the -5 db track to set the gains. If you have WAY more power then your tweets can handle, use the 0db track. A dirty signal will smoke those tweeters quicker then (a little) too much power will. Don't run them @ 1 ohm, do 4 or 8 if you can. In my experience, that has always been safer. Don't be dumb though and put WAY WAY too much power on them. Use the right size amp and set the gains right you should be good to go.

Yes, I should probably clarify. Set gains with a DD-1 for sure. What I meant by use your ears is that with tweets is that you can hear when you are driving them too hard. So get the signal clean with the DD-1, set the gain with the DD-1 then turn the gain down to adjust for less power. Then once that is done, make sure while listening it sounds like it should.

Didn't mean for that to sound like I was saying use his ears to set gains! oops!

i didn't say a word about the ears

i was agreeing with the Xover points, i forgot to mention that.

to the O.P. Start with 3500 and up for the tweets.

[MrSkippyJ]

yeah i saw you spare me for saying use ears!

I just wanted to clarify so OP didn't go off and set his stuff up using his ears and if it messes up, tells everyone he got his info from here.

[REVOofRustler]

Thanks for the info! It probably won't be a few months til all this is put together, but I like learning these things in advance. Thanks again!

[Jessica]

I'm running active and found that on my 65X4 amp after setting gains with the 0db track i had to turn my gain for my tweets way down. Not that i was worried about blowing them but rather they didn't need the power. Tweeters usually have way more sensitivity than mids so get loud easier on less power.

edit for spelling