I have a pretty good sound set up in my car....but my 6X9's seem to "splatter" a little when I turn it up. Here is my sound system:

Two 10 JL Audo Subs, Audiobahn Amp, JBL 6X9's, & Pioneer 4X6's

I've heard that bass blockers are pretty useful when you have a complete sound system...and need to get rid of the bass in 6X9's or 4X6's. What kind of bass blockers do I need??? I've seen alllllll kinds...and I have no clue what to get...I'm not good with all the measurements and stuff. I just want to add a set to my 6x9's to keep them from distorting. Please help, thanks

 

A 265uF non polarized capacitor will provide a 6dB/octave high pass filter at approximately 150hz. This should be sufficient for the 4x6s.

A 400uf non-polarized cap will provide 6dB/octave high pass at 100hz for the 6x9s.

I assume you're running the 4x6s and 6x9s off the head unit? If so, I would read your owner's manual to see if the head unit offers a high pass filter for the speakers it powers. A lot of the newer ones offer that, and it's far better than using capacitors on the speakers.

The capacitors work reasonably well, but don't offer any filtering at the speaker's resonant frequency because at that frequency the impedance goes way up. The capacitors only filter at 6dB/octave, and most active filters are at least 12dB/octave. That means that a lot more of the low bass is filtered out. Active filters also work the same regardless of the speaker impedance.

 

Sounds like you definently know your stuff Jim85IROC.....And yes, I'm running my 4x6's and 6X9's directly from my head unit...and yes...it has all of the stuff your talking about. It's just that I ahve the bass....my EQ...everthing completely bass free...and if it's loud enough (about 16 on the volume)...they will still distort just a bit....just thought I'd try something different....is there a solution to this?

 

Run the speakers off a small external amp with a crossover and then low-pass them.

 

You need to determine the source of your problem. It sounds to me like you might be asking too much of the internal head unit's amplifier capabilities. If that head unit is clipping, adding a cap to the speaker isn't going to fix that. The head unit has a 12dB/octave filter, so using the cap isn't doing you much good.

Like FyreLance said, it may be time for an amp. It also may be time to upgrade from 4x6s to something that can actually handle real power. Unfortunately, that means bigger speakers, which isn't real easy in a thirdgen unless you build/buy kickpanels.

 

I'm not to worried about it right now...just thought I'd ask if bass blockers would help out any...and I would hate to buy somehting that I didn't need and wouldn't do jack shi*t. Thanks for the heads up guys. I'll figure something out....

 

If you really like your sound, get an amp.

get a four channel with about 75 watts rms or more per channel

be sure to get one with separater front and rear crossover adjustments.

75 watts is my preference...but there are some nice amps out there that do 50 or whatever....even some 25 watt rms amps will work. Most people ask "why get that if my HU puts out 50 watts per channel?" in that case, I say, don't ask, get an amp which puts out 75 watts rms/ch and there is no argument what so ever that you have improved over youtr HU

Enjoy your music!

 

i bought a set from best buy a few weeks ago. they were supposed to kill everything under 200hz. and now ever since i put them on my 6x9's the things clip with the volume on 25 or more unless i turn the treble to -4.

it never did it before, when i didnt have subs or when i got subs.

anyone else use the best buy type?

im hating it.

i think im going to go old school with amps and crossovers.