I have some Infinity Kappa series speakers that I am going to put into my car. The Kappa series speakers come with crossovers. I have never dealt with a crossover. How am I supposed to wire this thing? All I have for amplification is just my headunits 22x4 watts rms. The crossover has two outputs and one input. The speakers also have two sets of contacts. Which do I plug into?
The two sets of contacts on the speakers are probably for the Woofer and Tweeter seperatly. The one input on the crossover is for the wire from the head unit, then the two outputs should be labelled Low and High. High goes to the tweeters, and low goes to the woofer. The contacts on the speakers should be labelled in the same manner. All this assuming that the tweeter is installed with the woofer as one unit, and not a separatly mounted unit. If the tweets are separate then I don't know what the second set of connections would be for.
A crossover is simply a method of directing the frequencies used in music the the drivers (speakers) best designed to handle them. There can be as many as six connections on this set up, depenmding on the number of drivers used. Each driver requires two connections, and the input to the crossover will require two as well. The crossover should have a similar number of connections; two for the input from the amplifier, and four for the individual drivers. They are typically clearly marked, or set up to be intuitive. The separate inputs on the crossover come from the amplifier, or radio. The other four are intended for the drivers themselves. They will likely be labeled, so the correct wiring will go to the correct drivers. labelling will be similar to either hi or low with these wires going to the tweeter or small driver, and the others going to the woofer, or large spaeker respectively. Other labelling may include sub, tweeter, mid, etc. Remember this. Phasing is as important with these speakers as they are with subs. They will affect the sound. If they are properly phased, the sound will appear as a three dimensional "stage." Vocalists will seem to be in the middle, which will be the easiest to determine. This explanation can get extensive. Please advise if you have any questions. Ray
Ok, I made a diagram. The crossover has two sets with a large + and a small -. The other side of the crossover has wire ready for splicing. The speaker looks like that with two sets of plugs on each side. It doesn't say which is for which.
It seems completly odd they they wouldn't indicate which wire was for what on the speaker itself. You might be able to see which set of terminals on the speaker run to the Tweeters by following the wire from the terminal into the speaker (the silver braided wire soldered onto the speaker terminal can usually be followed). Does the crossover have the outputs labelled for High & Low??? Otherwise you'll have to hook up the system up until the crossover..... play some music at a moderate level, then touch one set of outputs to a terminal to see which part of the speaker plays.... If the tweet plays low tones, then move that set of wires to the other terminals, and you'll know the other set will be for the highs (exact opposite if the woofer plays high tones). As long as you don't have it up way loud, and don't leave it connected for a long period of time... the speakers will not be hurt. Still can't believe they don't have them labelled :spank: :spank: Weird :error:
If you take a look at the speaker, 2 of the leads will go to the woofer, and 2 of the leads will go to the inner tweeter. The positive lead will often have a bigger spade connector, or be marked in some way(+, red dot) Take a closer look.
As Larry said - you should be able to see where the leads go. Or you can use a 9v battery and test the leads. The speaker connected to those leads will move. - Bill
By the way, how do those kappa's sound? I have a set, but I've yet to finish fabricating the kickpanels for them, and am kinda anxious to hear them, or at least a realistic review. -Romy
I'll let you be the final judge but I am not as pleased as I had hoped. Keep in mind that the speakers have less than 10 minutes playing time since I bought them brand new and haven't broken in yet. They sound different in every car, but in the package tray of the 78 Lincoln Continental I put them into, they haven't really done the trick for me yet, but I think they will start to sound better once I give them an adequate break in period. I can tell the sound difference between the Panasonic speakers it used to have. They can't be compared to the 3 way 6x9 reference series infinitys I put into the package tray of my Electra. If you want power and sound get those. The Kappa 5x7 is nice but it isn't a 3 way speaker and so it is lacking where the bigger 6x9 isnt. You will probably be impressed once they break in so don't lose hope.
