Guys, I have seen numerous posts regarding speakers "taking a knee" or adjusting gains and listening for distortion. My ears are not as sensitive as they used to be so I was hoping for some more info here. Obviously I can hear gross distortion but when setting crossovers and gains what am I listening for? Should I try setting the mid-range woofers first with the tweeters disconnected? I don't want to damage my speakers because I am setting my crossovers and gains wrong.

 

Well "taking a knee" is not a commonly used audio term so not sure that's the best way to describe distortion. How are you setting your gains? Are you using multimeter? If so, what test tone are you using. First thing is to get a distortion free signal from your amp and that's as much of a dmm computation as it is your ears. Now once you have a clean signal it doesn't mean your speakers can handle it. For example a clean signal to a 5.25 speaker won't sound the same if it was going to a 6X9. So this is where the "tuning" and adjustments come into play. We kinda already know that your speakers can take 150w with no issues it's the crossover setting you need to adjust. 80hz-100hz is where you want to be. You will be able to hear if the bass is breaking up if you set it too low. The tip that I'll offer you and I hear this from folks is that at 150w and max volume it's starts to break up/distort....that's NOT the speakers. That's the amp at FULL MAX pushing as hard as it can. Think of your bike going 80mph in 3rd gear. It's going, but it feels and sounds like crap compared to 6th gear. To get a fully clean sound at 150w to any speaker you really need a 200w to them to give you some headroom. So with that, focus on getting a clean signal with your DMM first, then adjust the HPF to where there is no break up of the lower freqs.

 

I would also add
The source music is as important as the Gain and Filter settings.
Making sure that all of your source music is clean and balanced will help prevent distortion.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I don't think I'm having any issues but wanted some expert advice. Since you have to eyeball the crossovers I just wanted to know how to tell if you have it set too low. I'm not reaching full volume, it's plenty loud enough before that.

Alex, I fully understand that a higher power amp is needed to push the DDs and I plan to do that.

Makdaddy, I fully appreciate the need for high fidelity source audio as well and am looking to make sure I have that as well.

Aftet a a long weekend riding through the mountains with my wife on the back, I asked her if she thought it was worth the money I spent and she said "hell yeah" so thanks for everyone's help!

Rick

 

Very well written and explained!! I hope you don't have a patent on that 3rd - 6th gear explanation, cause I might need to use that one someday. Great words Alex.
Kris