CobraEatr

I don't know much about car stereo stuff. I spend most of my time under the hood. I just installed a system in my car and I'm wondering what frequency should I set my amp to for my high-pass-filter running my 6.5" Infinity Component set (4 speakers). I don't want to set it too low and possibly damage my speakers.

Also, what frequency should I set my low-pass-filter to for my 10" JL sub (1 sub).

Right now I've got my HPF set around 110Hz (for the mids/highs), and my LPF set at 60 (for the sub). Does this sound right. Like I mentioned earlier, I want a safe frequency so that nothing gets damaged. Thanks in advance.

LS1 RULZ

Your current settings are no good. Try setting them both at 80Hz or so. 110Hz for the mids and highs is not only too high it's almost an entire octave apart from your low-pass setting.

CobraEatr

Ok, I'll change them. Thanks.

It just seemed to me that anything lower than 100hz for the HPF was making the mids hit pretty hard. I just didn't want to damage anything.

LS1 RULZ

As long as you have your amp's gain set properly and you aren't cranking the volume all the way up and clipping the signal you won't have any problems.

CobraEatr

What should I set the gain to? Should I just tune it by ear? I'm getting a slight high-pitched 'whine' when I start the car. It didn't do that until I started messing with the gain. Does that mean that my gain is too high? Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

LS1 RULZ

If you don't have an O-scope to set your gain you'll have to do it by ear. If your HU only has say 2V pre-outs you should only need to turn up your amp's gain to about 1/3 You also shouldn't turn your HU's volume control all the way up. On HU's that have volume controls that go to 35 the highest I've found that most of them can be turned to is 30 without clipping the output from the HU.

The high pitched whine you hear is engine noise. Are you using the factory ground for the HU? If so don't. Ground the HU to the chassis instead.

limige

as for crossover settings, this is what i recommend.

find a cd with heavy bass, disconnect your sub, turn the radio to the highest listening volume, but not all the way up, your radio will clip the signal. one of my radio goes to 35, i do my settings at 30 and don't ever go past that.

ok, turn the HP crossover up and turn the radio on the highest intended volume. now start turning the crossover down until you here the speakers start to distort from the bass, turn it back up a hair.

ok now the sub,
start at 60hz and turn on some music with alot of low vocals, now start turning your crossover up until you here vocals, then go down some.

with all speakers going run some sweeps and make sure you have a good sweep and you can hear all freqencies.

this is how you tune a daily. equilizers are used to compensate for excessive peaks, which you will have.

sorry LS1 RULES but your correct in theory but wrong in the real world.

you may have your LP set a 60hz and HP set at 110 and have no dead spots. crossovers will "bleed" over past your settings, how much they bleed depends on the brand of crossover and type of crossover used. electronic crossovers provide the best results but still can't chop off a signal at a desired freq.

and as for gain settings there are ways to do it without an "O" scope. but the scope is the preferred method.

for instance termlab will show your sine wave and can be used much like an o scope.

the most popular method is using a multimeter.
if i remember right, you disconnect one speaker lead and put the meter inline with the pulled lead and the amp. using volts you turn the gain up while playing a test tone and wait for the voltage to stop going up. when you reach clipping the amp no longer puts any more voltage into the speaker. turn it down slightly.

final adjustments are always made by ear, these are ways to start, tuning is an art.

LS1 RULZ

I totally disagree. A full octave gap of under lap in your crossover frequencies is too large. The brand of the crossover has nothing to do with the amount of "bleed over". It's the rate of attenuation and the accuracy of it's frequency settings.

CobraEatr

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll try both ways and see which one sounds better.