How to Set a Two-Way Electronic Crossover for Car Audio

An electronic crossover routes frequencies from your stereo to the proper speakers. Commonly, the speakers in the front and the rear of the car play highpass, where subwoofers play lowpass and midrange speakers play bandpass. There are many different types of electronic crossovers, including two-way (lowpass and highpass) and three-way (lowpass, bandpass and highpass). These instructions are for a two-way crossover.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Car Stereo Speakers
• Car Stereo Subwoofers

1. Disconnect the rear speakers and subwoofers from the sound system.

2. Set the highpass crossover for the front speakers at 120 Hz and up.

3. Play some music you are familiar with. Choose something that has a decent bass response. Listen to the speakers at the volume you would normally listen to them.

4. Adjust the crossover point a little higher if you hear distortion. If it does not distort, adjust the crossover point a little lower to get more midbass. Push the speakers right to their limits - just where it starts to distort - then readjust the crossover point a little higher to get it off the distortion.

5. Disconnect the front speakers and connect the rear speakers.

6. Follow steps 2 through 4.

7. Connect all the speakers.

8. Listen to the music playing through your system and set the amplifier gains to achieve either front stage, front and rear balance, or rear fill.

9. Keep the front and rear speakers on. Connect the subwoofers.

10. Set the lowpass crossover point for the subwoofers at 150 Hz and down to start.

11. Play music and listen to the subwoofers.

12. Adjust the crossover point down until you hear the sound you like. You can leave the crossover point at 150 Hz, adjust it down to 100 Hz and listen again. If it doesn't sound the way you want, adjust the crossover point down to 80 Hz, then down to 50 Hz.