TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

If I install full range coax speakers in the front doors, I want the treble to go to both them AND the oem tweeter. Is that the way it already works? Or do I have to modify the wiring to accomplish this?

Thanks in advance !

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

I've just read that the signal delivered to the front door lower speaker is in fact full range. That's exactly what I want, so unless someone knows otherwise, looks like I have my answer!

rockthebeef

If you just drop in coaxial speaker into the front doors you will in fact hear sound from both the coaxials and the stock tweeters. If you remove the stock tweeters, you will get no sound unless you jumper the tweeter wires together to complete the circuit. I jumpered those wires and put in component speakers. Have you thought about components? They'll probably sound better than the coax+stock tweeter combo.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Really? That seems strange! Since the lower frequency signals should be blocked from the tweeter, I would expect some degree of parallelism between the drivers. If a capacitor rolls off the lows (to protect the tweeter) that signal could not then be seriesed into the lower driver since there would be no mids & lows! If it were recombined with the lower frequencies, they would have to use an inductor as in a traditional crossover, but the inductor would be somewhat bulky and relatvely expensive. What would make sense to me would be to put the two drivers completely in parallel except with a capacitor in series with the tweeter (cheap and simple.) If that were the case, shorting the two tweeter wires together would be hard on the amplifier. I'm thoroughly confused !

rockthebeef

I understand what you're saying. I never thought of why it is the way it is, but it seems like you have a pretty good grasp on what the possibilities can be. I just remember I removed the stock woofers and tweeters and installed the components. When I tried to play music through them I got nothing. I shorted the wires that went to the original tweeter and everything worked. So I ran a jumper and called it a day.

But what you said confuses me now too! Why did my new components only work when I shorted the original tweeter wires? They must not be in parallel, right? Did I do something wrong? Wow... I've been runing my comps this way for several months and everything is fine. I need to investigate a little bit...

(edit) I'm still stumped and should actually be getting stuff done at work now. Let me know if you figure it out or if what I said is completely wrong. I belive I remember things correctly but my memory could be a little fuzzy. I may have to pull out the original tweeter wiring just to satisfy my curiosity.

rockthebeef

OK, I'm obviously not working - haha.

Check this out:
http://www.fsu-clan.com/scion/audio/audio%20wiring.pdf

It looks like the tweeter is in parallel with the woofer, so why did I have to jumper the tweeter wires? Man maybe I'm seriously trippin', but I'm fairly certain that's what I had to do to make my components work. I'd hate to give out false info so please take whay I say for what it's worth (not much at the moment!).

I'll post back if I take my wiring out and double check what I did.

rockthebeef

OK I got it. taking a closer look at the wiring diagram I linked, the tweeters have a 4-prong plug connected to them (I thought it was only 2). Take plug "E5" for example. Points 2 & 4 are getting (-) and (+) speaker signals from the head unit. The points 1 and 3 deliver the signal to the woofer. The tweeter is the physical connection between points 3&4 (+) and 1&2 (-). I had to jumper 1-2 and 3-4 in order to get the signal to the woofers with the stock tweeters removed.

Clear as mud? Check out the the diagrams and it should be clear. I feel redeemed now, and less crazy!

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

OK, that makes sense, you have to bridge 3 to 4 and 1 to 2 for both connectors D5 and E5, otherwise no signal gets delivered to the lower speakers. On the other hand, bridging 2 to 4 or 1 to 3 would put the amplifier at serious risk !

I just installed two pair of Alpine 6-1/2" coax drivers in the doors, and kept the oem tweeters. I'm finding the sound very enjoyable and the output from the two sets of front tweeters seems to meld nicely. Best sound I've personally ever had in an automobile -- I'm satisfied ! (Much better than oem.)