Question about Audiophile System

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Jan 23, 2011 | 05:31 PM

RI-Matt

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Question about Audiophile System

Just wondering if anybody knows on the Audiophile systems if the factory sub amp controls the crossover point or if the head unit does it.
I thought I read somewhere that it was in the sub amp and when installing a new aftermarket sub/amp combo that you would be able to adjust it yourself. If it is controlled from the head unit, what is the approximate low pass cut off set at? 100hz ?? Would you set the aftermarket amp to full pass if the head unit already controls it??

Also the same question in regards to the door speakers - head unit or the little crossover thing attached to the front door speakers and tweeters??

If it matters this is for the factory Audiophile/NAV system.

Thanks
Matt

Jan 25, 2011 | 06:04 PM

ReAX

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From: Central Florida

I can only answer some questions.
I prefer a crossover "thingy" because they are usually sharper than whats available in radios. The higher the order in the cross over the sharper the cut off between the speakers it controls which is why 3rd and 4th order cross over systems are so expensive but sought out. I recall an order being 6dB/octave, so 18-24 is high end and I think sounds better than 6dB/octave. Since your dealing with factory audiophile maybe 2nd or possibly 3rd order. So keep that in mind as you replace parts, cheap stuff from big box stores may not sound as good as what you're taking out.

If your sub amp is full pass, you should regulate it down either with the HU or a Crossover. Your sub will not be happy trying to reproduce all the music from the HU.

Jan 26, 2011 | 06:11 PM

RI-Matt

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ReAX,
Thanks for the reply.
Although I think I may have worded the question incorrectly. On my F150 with the factory Audiophile/Nav the front door speakers have tweeters connected to them. On the back of these door speakers are what appears to be a crossover ( I assume for the tweeters) but what I was wondering was if the factory head unit uses an internal crossover to cut low frequency to these speakers or if the piece on the back of the speaker does it not only for the tweeter but the door speaker too.
Also is the signal from the factory head unit to the factory subwoofer full range and then the factory subwoofer amp has an internal crossover to allow the sub to only play low frequencies? Or does the head unit do it all?
I dont plan on swapping out speakers just yet just trying to understand the inner workings of the factory audiophile system.

Thanks,
Matt

Jan 26, 2011 | 07:26 PM

ReAX

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From: Central Florida

High pass filters are made of capacitors, so if you have a series of capacitors on the back of the tweeter that's your filter. Then the back of the mids should have inductors and caps to filter out the very high and very low. Without looking at it I can't say, but I suspect adding a couple of cheap electronics to the speakers would be cheaper for ford than engineering a network in the radio.
I would assume the same thing with the sub. That the sub amp has the filter. Since the components only run individual speakers, they would be filters, where as if they took the input and spit out correct signal to multiple speaker then it would be a cross over network.

All assumption though, but if ford filtered the sub separate, they should also the mids and highs.