OK.. here is where I illustrate my abysmal lack of tweeter knowledge .. I have just installed 4 way speakers in the doors of my 355. These have a woofer, mid-range, tweeter and super tweeter ..... ! The previous speaker configuration was 1 speaker & 1 tweeter with 4 wires .... 1 pair going to the big speaker, and the other pair going to the separate tweeter. Silly question: Can I just take the pair of wires going to my old tweeters and wire them into my new 4 way speakers. i.e. put all the signal into the new speakers and let them sort it all out? Regards, Pete
It's a little confusing from your description, so let me explain how the system works and then you can apply it to your pieces. Tweeters play the higher frequencies in music. Woofers play the lower frequencies in music. The signal coming out of your stereo deck is full range (all frequencies). In order to make tweeters and woofers work efficiently, you have to remove whichever set of frequencies they weren't designed to play. IE you take the bass out of the tweeter signal and the highs out of a woofer signal. To do this you need what is called a crossover (which is actually just an assembly of different filters). There are two kinds of crossovers - passive (which goes between the amplifier and the speakers) and electronic (which goes between the music source and the amplifier). The 355 would have a passive system. Somewhere between the head deck in your car and the speakers is this network of filters called a crossover. It could be anywhere - even attached to one or both of the speakers. I can't tell from your description whether you found four wires in the door of the car (two of which go up to the tweeter) or whether the four wires were elsewhere. If all four wires were in the door, then the crossover is likely in the door or attached to the old speaker. In this case, you can take the two wires coming into the door, make sure you remove the crossover if it wasn't attached to the old speaker, and hook those two wires up to your new speakers. They will then play as they are supposed to and your stock tweeters would be disabled (the other two wires left hanging). If this is not the case, tell me what you found and I'll see what you should do. Also, for the record, it is not a great idea to hook up both the stock tweeters and your new full range speakers. To do this changes the impedance seen at the amplifier for higher frequencies and can cause problems depending on the quality of the amp in your radio.
Thanks very much for the feedback. My situation is that I had 1 main speaker, and 1 tweeter in each side of the car. Two wires went to the main speaker in the door, and two others to the tweeter that is behind one of the AC vents in the dash.... where the wires originated from I have not one clue ... both sets vanished under the dash. My new speakers say they are '4-way' speakers .. but still only have 2 connections. My simple mind told me to simply wire all 4 wires from my old main speaker and old tweeter .... into the new 4 - way speaker. Rough diagram is attached. Regards, Pete Image Unavailable, Please Login
