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Thread: Question- Wiring speakers to sub with crossover

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    Question- Wiring speakers to sub with crossover

    Okay...so i have a ten inch sub with a built in crossover. It has a left and right input and a left and right output thatgoes through the pass filter.

    What i am wanting to do is wire all four door speakers to go into the subwoofer first. Front speakers will be the 'left channel' and rear speakers will be the right. (Allowing me to still control the fade) I have the passenger front and both rears wired in but it seems like the sub has gotten quiter than it was with just the rears wired in (left and right respectively.)
    I havent wired in the drivers side door yet because i havent had the shot since I got home from work but my question is this...
    The sub is capable of processing up to 150 watts and the channel signals are 15rms (at least thats what I assume since the speakers are 15w rms in the mirage) using the stock headunit.
    Does anyone have any indication why its caused less excursion and/or can think of a way to remedy this?

    I don't really want to take the sub route since I will be trading this car in in about 6months but i was going for a little less door bang and more overall boom which worked well with two speakers in.
    At the present time i have the rear speakers in the right and front speaker on the left. Wiring the rear with the front whether switching polarity or not causes distortion in the front speaker for some reason.


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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 36.2 mpg (US) ... 15.4 km/L ... 6.5 L/100 km ... 43.5 mpg (Imp)


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    It seems that what you are trying to do (if I'm understanding it correctly) is to use a 2 channel crossover to handle the 4 channels of the factory stereo.

    If you do this, it seems that you'll either lose the balance (right left) control of the factory stereo. or the fader (front back) control.

    Combining fronts (r&l) into one crossover channel would make the stereo signal mono. Same for the rears.

    If I were trying to make this work, I'd route the front speaker outputs from the stereo into the right and left channels of the crossover's input, and then route the output back to the speakers. This would give me stereo and remove the low frequencies from the front speakers -lowering door thump. I'd then use the factory stereo's fade control to move most of the sound to the front speakers.

    Reducing the volume to the back speakers will also help reduce "thump" and lets them fill in sound.

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    Senior Member Ares's Avatar
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    I see what aydu is saying, but also, I think that OP was more concerned about fade (f/r) instead of l/r. Not sure how mono it would sound though doing the OP's suggested route.

    This is the first time I've heard of such a sub set-up. What make/model?

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    The way I'm understanding the op, the stereo (left and right channels) would be delivered as front (right) and rear ) left. As our hearing is not as sensitive for sounds coming behind, I'd not try this.

    With the set-up the op described, I'm thinking you'd either give up the balance (L/R) feature, or the fade (F/B). I'd give up the fade and retain the front sound stage. With the sub likely being in the hatch (or at least behind the driver) strong imaging up-front would be needed to retain any type of stereo separation.

    P.S. I don't know what wiring harnesses are used on the Mirages, but if you use a wiring harness specific to the vehicle, plus a reverse wiring harness, you can add amplification to all your speakers without cutting or tapping into any factory wiring. Saves problems with any warranty questions later on down the road as it makes the whole system plug and play through the harnesses.
    Last edited by aydu; 04-24-2014 at 02:29 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by aydu View Post
    The way I'm understanding the op, the stereo (left and right channels) would be delivered as front (right) and rear ) left. As our hearing is not as sensitive for sounds coming behind, I'd not try this.

    With the set-up the op described, I'm thinking you'd either give up the balance (L/R) feature, or the fade (F/B). I'd give up the fade and retain the front sound stage. With the sub likely being in the hatch (or at least behind the driver) strong imaging up-front would be needed to retain any type of stereo separation.

    P.S. I don't know what wiring harnesses are used on the Mirages, but if you use a wiring harness specific to the vehicle, plus a reverse wiring harness, you can add amplification to all your speakers without cutting or tapping into any factory wiring. Saves problems with any warranty questions later on down the road as it makes the whole system plug and play through the harnesses.
    I dont mind wiring the system where i utilize the rears to power the sub then back out output throught the crossover. I was just wondering if moving all four in would issue more rms which honestly it does NOT seem to do in the least.
    I have used the sub with rear channels going in and through and it does in fact work perfectly. However once i added the front as left input and left output on the crossover the lows on the front door were no longer cut out but went to the sub and the door resulting in the ever so unwanted static punch.

    I do know though that using the rears and increasing their gain vs front resulted in much quiter listening even when adjusted by level 2 of 11 and it made it HIGHLY undesireable. I will tinker with it more over the weekend and find out the best method to get punch in this car without wiring in an amp.

    As for the wiring harnesses the speakers use a proprietary connector and MUST be spliced at one point or another. I just plugged the sub input into the connector on the cord and tape and velcroed it into place then ran the crossover line to the prongs on the speaker and liquid electrical taped them into place taking meticulous care when reinserting the speakers since they have to rotate to lock into place.

    As for the wiring that took place through small holes in the bottom of the door (existing) then along the door jam and into and under the trim then under the front seat and to the back seat where the sub sits (behind me.)

    While its not an amplified system if you are i terested in adding some boom this is DEFINITELY a viable (yet time consuming) method to do so without EVER touching your warranty (at least that they will ever know about if you are careful.)

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 36.2 mpg (US) ... 15.4 km/L ... 6.5 L/100 km ... 43.5 mpg (Imp)


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    Sounds like you got things worked out nicely.

    Glad the sound quality is good and you added some bottom end.



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