Kenwood Sub vs Bazooka & Crossover requirement

I had the Kenwoods installed two weeks ago and the transformation is incredible. I couldn't be happier. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

I installed my bazooka in the weekend BTA6100, the midranges do sound alot more clear and the base is strong as hell. I couldnt believe the strenght of the base coming out of such a small device. The sound never distorts one bit, but you are right it does rattle a bit when the base is very high, but I still love it. There should be a way to stop the rattling, Ill find out, there is always a way

PS The base COMING Out of the bta6100 is almost too much for prius, it is definetly worth the 150 bucks

 

Actually I think you are misunderstanding what the sub's cross-over is doing. The cross-over in the sub amp itself has no effect on the bass load sent to the door speakers.
I know everyone says the addition of an amp and sub reduces the bass load on the door speakers, and expands the mid range.....
But that is an indirect result. They are turning down the bass on the head unit, (relieving the bass load on the door speaker), and then allowing the subwoofer to handle the bass load through it's crossover.
The door speaker bass load reduction is not related to the sub's crossover.
Simply, you are tuning down the bass at your head unit, and turning up the bass at the sub. That is the only relationship between the two, with a simple subwoofer install.

 

It all depends on whatever sounds best for your ear, the music you are playing, and how well your door speakers (OEM?) can handle the base. Furthermore, the BTA6100 (bta6200 has an adjustable crossover, but thats an overkill for me at this point and considering is around 50 or a 100 dollars more) has a fixed crossover and a knob to variate the output of the sub, but since I have an aftermarket radio installed I can tweak the sound alot more. Someone can expand on this and get into specifics. I tis 5 in the morning, I have atest in 5 hours, I am too tired to talk about frequencies.

 

exactly

 

If you had an adjustable crossover, the goal would be make the bass, from the sub , sound as if it comes from everywhere. If the bass from the sub sounds like it's coming from the rear, adjust crossover so it doesn't.

But don't fret, fixed crossovers are set to the freq. where the typical door speaker is limited, with the intent to accomplish the goal.

 

The Kenwood sub has a remote controller that has two knobs. One to control the volume, the other to vary the crossover frequency. Neither one affects what goes into the door speakers (of course!)

After much experimenting with various types of music (classical/electronica/folk/rock/etc.), I now have mine fixed at one crossover point and volume level. I rarely have to mess with them anymore. If I need to increase/decrease the bass or midrange level for a particular song or album, I use the Head Unit's equalization setting. It works out well for me.

 

What you want is a crossover before your door speakers (most descent speaker units come with crossovers: Kenwood, Alpine, Pioneer, Eclipse) this way you will get the most base out of the subwoofer without the risk of blowing your door speakers. The rattling will stil be there if you blast the base, unless you put some kind of insulation or somehow stop the rattling? which I am not really sure how to do.

PS: Google and Wiki are your friends.

 

Sorry, but you simply have no clue what you're talking about. Those crossovers will do nothing to limit the low frequencies going to the door speakers.

The normal way you would limit the low frequencies going to the door speakers is enable the high-pass filter on your amp. In a high-end, bi-amped system you might have an active crossover before the amp. But that passive crossover that comes with the speakers is only to cross over between the mid-woofer and the tweeter, it does NOTHING to limit the low frequencies sent to the mid-woofer. The included crossover provides a low-pass filtered signal to the mid-woofer, not a band-pass filtered signal.

 

Oh really? hah...haha... I didnt even know that, I guess next time I should read the specs (I havent put door/mid-woofers on my prius yet)

"The normal way you would limit the low frequencies going to the door speakers is enable the high-pass filter on your amp"

That would be the amp going to the speakers not the mid-woofers right?

 

The article states "More importantly, the midrange is now dramatically more open sounding. With the Bazooka's crossover network cutting off the lower bass from the midrange-woofer drivers, they are free to reproduce the midrange without having to do double duty on the bass. The result is a cleaner sound overall. The Prius now has a sense of transparently and immediacy that is lacking in the factory system."



I read the same article & was wondering the exact same thing. The article seemed pretty knowledgeable, but that part confused me. Is what they are saying possible?
I'm looking to install a bazooka tube soon, and I'd like to know the best way to do it.