I recently ugraded speakers (JL Audio components up front, Boston 2-ways in the back), and then Raamatted all four doors in my car. Sounds fantastic. I couldn't believe the difference, honestly. What I've noticed is that now the 6.5" JL speaker is trying to get too low and bottoming out on particular songs. What I'd like to do is add a powered subwoofer under the passenger seat, and then add a passive speaker level crossover between the head unit and the inputs for the JL speakers to filter out the true lows, letting the sub do that... Anyone have any experience with this? Is there is a better way to do it? Part of my limitation is cost. Inline crossovers/resistors from Scosche are cheap, but I can't find anything on the frequency ranges...
Are you trying to use the stock stereo to run those new speakers? if so I would think you are severely underpowering them. Most decent compnent speakers should be ran off of a real amplifer. Deck power just isn't enough. For a quick fix you can simply hit up any decent stereo shop and buy a few capacitors that will start the low frequency cut-off where you feel it is needed. They only cost about $10 at most and will give you a 6db filter for low frequencies. You simply add one in series on the positive wire of each speaker. You could get fancy and add more and make the frequency drop off even steeper (12db or more) but it starts to get complex and may require a circuit board to keep things clean.... IMO, just buy an amplifier or a new deck that has a good crossover built in.
Here is a site that may help you figure out what value capacitors you need once you figure out a cut-off frequency. Lalena.com DIY audio
factory head unit dont put out anough power for a small sub. it will work, but after speeds of 10mph+ the road noise will drown it out. small 4channel amp starts at 200.00
no need for resistors these days, 4 channel amp with hi/low active crossover. along with a good set of component speakers will do wonders in mine i have 4ch kicker amp 350.4 (high/low crossover with 12db) frist 2 channels is for the 6 1/2 system, wired into 2ohm's(crossover at 150hz high pass) second set is bridge for 1 channel at 4 ohm's, runs a little c10 kicker in a 1.0cubic sealed box(crossover at 80hz low pass)
Thanks for all your suggestions. Got a deal on a 4-channel amp with a built-in crossover on Ebay this afternoon. Now to figure out to hook it up...