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Old     (neilspen)      Join Date: Sep 2008       03-14-2009, 10:10 PM Reply   
I have just bought a Kenwood Excelon X1200M and a Kicker CVX 12. I was wondering what I need to set the low pass frequency to for this sub? Thanks for the help.
Old     (philwsailz)      Join Date: Feb 2009       03-16-2009, 6:42 AM Reply   
Hey Neil-

Sub low pass crossover settings are generally between 70 and 100 Hz for a boat system. There is no hard rule, and a lot of it ends up being up to your personal taste.

You will probably find that low pass settings lower than 50 or 60 or so basically kill most if not all of your bass. You will probably find that above 120 Hz or so, the sub starts fighting with your full-range in-boat speakers. Sometimes it makes it muddy, sometimes thin. The result varies.

We could give you some technical mumbo-jumbo technical whys and hows to argue a certain frequency, but in the end, it comes up to what sounds good. Play with it a little in between the "70-or-so" Hz and "100-or-so" Hz and see what your ears say and get back to us with what you think. Then purposely set it outside those just to see what happens if it is set way wrong!

You cannot hurt the woofer only by playing with the crossover so have fun!

There is one other thing to verify for the best performance. The CVX woofer is a dual voice coil woofer. We need to configure the voice coil wiring for the best performance with that amp, so let us kow what impedance, (ohms) the voice coils are.

Good luck and have fun!

Phil
Kicker
Old     (david_e_m)      Join Date: Jul 2008       03-16-2009, 10:31 AM Reply   
Neil,

The crossover process used in setting a car does not work in a boat. There are multiple factors that will dictate the best crossover frequency in a boat.

1.) Too often we see the crossover used as equalization to correct for a bad sub box design. So it begins with the right box correctly loaded into the boat.

2.) Factor in how low your midbass drivers will go. This will be determined by the model of coaxial (6 1/2" or 7.7", etc.) and their mounting. For example, is the speaker well isolated or on the edge of an open coaming pocket. The high-pass crossover point will definitely influence the low-pass point.

3.) How much subwoofer leverage do you have. Are you running the norm with a single 10 or 12, or do you have something excessive that tends to obscure the normal limitations. In most open field applications the bass output falls off rapidly below 50 Hz, the opposite of an automotive cabin. Its hard to get anything resembling tonal construction with a woofer that is peaking within and limited to a half octave.

4.) Is the objective more towards sound quality or maximum bass emphasis. As you increase the sub gain you're effectively raising the minus 3dB point in respect to the midbass drivers. The actual numeric setting on your amplifier is generally not the true indication of where you're intersecting with the mids. Crossover frequency and gain are very interdependent.

Provided you're not having to compensate for a midbass driver problem, start out with the highest conceivable and symmetrical crossover point of 125 Hz. Raise and lower the subwoofer gain until the woofer best blends in with the coaxials. The bass should not sound remote or detached. From here you can lower the sub frequency, without altering the midbass coaxials, and simultaneously increase the gain slightly with each frequency adjustment. Eventually you'll hear the introduction of a tonal abberation that you don't like, especially at higher volumes. At that point, raise the crossover back up a tad and lower the gain a tad. This will represent the lowest low-pass crossover point and the highest gain while maintaining good sound quality with a fairly seamless transition between the sub and coaxials. Also, use a variety of two or three different music sources.

David
Earmark Marine

(Message edited by david_e_m on March 16, 2009)
Old     (neilspen)      Join Date: Sep 2008       03-16-2009, 12:18 PM Reply   
Thanks for the replies. I have a 2 ohm sub, sorry forgot to include that in the first post. I will try those settings Phil and get back with yall.

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