[Turf]

im going to be installing an LC6i, amp, and powered sub, and im looking for a way to tap into the speaker output from the stock 6cd head unit with 4 speakers without cutting wires. peripheral says they are coming out with an add-an-amp harness for LX's, but its been delayed a couple times already, and it looks to be pricey, so im not holding my breath. i was wondering if anyone here had any suggestions.

another question i have is this: im adding a BA GT40 4-channel amp, and also a set of 3.5" speakers for the dash. im thinking i would wire them into the door speakers, which would give a resistance of 2 ohms, while running 4 ohms on the rear channels. the amp says its stable at 2 ohms. can i run the amp this way, 2 ohm front channels, and 4 ohm rear channels? the documentation i can find on the amp doesnt offer any clues if it can be run this way.

thanks for any help you can throw my way!

 

[06SilverSteel]

yeah you should be fine... usually if an amp is rated at 2 ohms that is for all channels so no problem here. Also you might want to get some bass blockers for those 3.5's, you install them on the positive lead right at the speakers. Or you can go to radio shack and get a capacitor somewhere in the range of 2-4 micro farads, this will act as a crossover for those smaller speakers and keep them from popping when the volume comes up. I believe before I did my component set, which came with crossovers for the dash, I used a 4.7 mf capacitor, this allowed them to play all the vocals and higher without distorting. these things should be less that .50c each and pay attention to which way they are mounted, it does matter, there are arrows on the body of them.

 

[Turf]

thanks for the info, i beaned you :wink:

about the 3.5s in front, the amp has built-in crossovers, i was going to set the channel to high pass, would i still need the capacitors?

that leaves the best way to tap into the speaker output, i would prefer not to have to cut anything if possible. i was thinking about getting a male and female plug to put between the harness and head unit, and passing through everything but the speakers output, but not sure where to find the plugs.

 

[06SilverSteel]

yes, cuz if you use the high pass and set it too high, your doors won't have any kick to them. set it to full range, or if you listen to heavy bass you might want to set it to about 100-150 hz, that way everything from there up is played by your bigger door speakers, and the 3.5's basically do their thing with the capacitors. they will be receiving the same frequencies as the door speakers right up to the cap, but the cap will block out the lower stuff for the smaller dash speakers.

 

[06SilverSteel]

btw thanks for the good note. so do you understand what I mean??? if not pm me and I'll hook you up with further info.

 

[06SilverSteel]

oh, and if they do rattle and pop a bit, just remove that capacitor and go higher numerically to the next capacitor, that adjusts the frequencies up a bit. somewhere lost in a pile of data I had from working at a shop some years back was a chart that showed crossover points for each capacitor size according to speaker impedance. If I remember correctly if you use a lower impedance speaker, say 2 instead of 4, the crossover point is cut in half, and doubled if you go to an 8 ohm speaker. Much like power of an amplifier, but the exact opposite.

 

[JamminWagon]

Here is a good link describing passive filter. http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/cross.asp#lp

their 4 ohm charts
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/cross4ohm.asp

2 ohm charts
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/cross2ohm.asp

and calculators
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/crosscalc.asp

Caps are high pass and coils are low pass.

This is the way my system is crossed over.
300hz (cap-powered by HU) for my 3.5" dash
100hz on amp for 6.5" doors for 6X9" Rear
and 100hz on the sub.

 

[06SilverSteel]

excellent find!!

 

[Turf]

cool, thanks for the help.

but confused by the charts. the front channel will have 2 speakers in parallel, both 4 ohm speakers. do i need a crossover for 4 ohm on the 3.5"s, or a crossover for 2 ohms?

i was looking at these crossovers, will they do the job?: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Ahvc2gVxBjb/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=127BB600A2&cc=01&g=761

 

[schexy1]

The 800Hz Bass Blockers will work fine but you can save some money by using capacitors from Radio Shack.

You can run the 3.5 and door speakers off the amp without any problems. Set you amps X-over to 100Hz and add a 50 microfarad cap inline to the 3.5. That will give the doors a 100Hz and the 3.5 a 800Hz cutoff. If you want to you can add a .79 or smaller coil to the doors to make them a bandpass midbass driver. That may help imaging but cut the volume on the highs a little.

There are wire taps that can be purchased from Home Depot or Radio Shack that will eliminate the need to cut the wires for the LC6i install.