Misconceptions and fairytales in car audio

[The_spacemonkey]

I was thinking about it and there are alot of things people are misinformed about or there is some myth about that simply isnt true. Here are some of the misconceptions that I can think of.... feel free to add!!


1)Clipping hurts speakers

2)Caps are a fix for a insufficient electrical system

3)Gains are a volume knob

4)More speakers necessicarily means louder

5)thd levels below 3% matter for SQ

6)What a company says their amp puts out for power necessarily is true

7)The crossover frequency is where you speaker stops playing anything above that frequency(or below depending on what type)

8)Inverted speakers wount sound good



Im sure ill think of more....

[o0omystiko0o]

Originally posted by The_spacemonkey I was thinking about it and there are alot of things people are misinformed about or there is some myth about that simply isnt true. Here are some of the misconceptions that I can think of.... feel free to add!! 1)Clipping hurts speakers 2)Caps are a fix for a insufficient electrical system 3)Gains are a volume knob 4)More speakers necessicarily means louder 5)thd levels below 3% matter for SQ 6)What a company says their amp puts out for power necessarily is true 7)The crossover frequency is where you speaker stops playing anything above that frequency(or below depending on what type) 8)Inverted speakers wount sound good Im sure ill think of more....

duh


1. a 12 inch will hit harder and louder then a ten because its bigger.

2. Pioneer hu's from Wally World are absolute garbage

3. Buying a 150 dollar wirring kit as apposed to spending 50 dollars on some wire is better.

4. You cant fit 2 shivas in a standard cab 93 s10 (guys it will be happening soon)

5. If you hook everything up the way it should be it will always work.

6. if you pay 350 dollar bills for a hu it wont skip ( damn kenwood......only when its cold though)

7. Bumping your wal mart jensens with a rattling trunk is kool

[Hansnet]

very common around here:

1. Rockford Fosgate is the best brand in car audio because it is expensive, so it must be good

2. 15s are better than 12's or 10's.

3. Stock Speakers sound good.

4. Homemade boxes are ghetto and sound horrible compared to prefabricated boxes. (in some cases yes!)

5. SONY IS THE BEST NEXT TO ROCKFORD FOSGATE!!!!! (my favorite.....70% of the systems at my school are sony)

[Tacito]

Some Good One's i've heard(I dont use local brands, people think my car stereo is shyt.. until they hear it)

1)You Should really sell you Zapco AG350 for a Rockford 350S
2)MB Quart makes BRUTAL components, and Should buy Rockford
3)Dynamat is better than brown bread because it's more expensive
4)I wont get as much SPL if i have a big ported box(This coming from a guy who spent $3500 on his system... All Rockford)

[durbancic]

Originally posted by The_spacemonkey I was thinking about it and there are alot of things people are misinformed about or there is some myth about that simply isnt true. Here are some of the misconceptions that I can think of.... feel free to add!! 1)Clipping hurts speakers 2)Caps are a fix for a insufficient electrical system 3)Gains are a volume knob 4)More speakers necessicarily means louder 5)thd levels below 3% matter for SQ 6)What a company says their amp puts out for power necessarily is true 7)The crossover frequency is where you speaker stops playing anything above that frequency(or below depending on what type) 8)Inverted speakers wount sound good Im sure ill think of more....

can you please tell me exacly how crossovers work, im kinda confused. thanks

-dan

[Derek]

Originally posted by durbancic can you please tell me exacly how crossovers work, im kinda confused. thanks -dan

it cuts them off at certain slopes....with a low pass filter, set at 80 hz...it will cut off frequencies above 80 hz at a rate of *db/octave...so at 160hz....an octave up....it will be down *db's....

[OR-G]

Originally posted by durbancic can you please tell me exacly how crossovers work, im kinda confused. thanks -dan

Crossovers have slopes. So if its set at LP 80hz with a 6db/octave slope. Every octave will be quieter by 6db. So it will still play 80+hz. At 160hz it'll be 6db quieter than at 80hz.

[jm_bdog]

Originally posted by The_spacemonkey 8)Inverted speakers wount sound good

im still not sure on this one, i will be doing some testing after tomorrow.

[hobopenguin]

Originally posted by jm_bdog im still not sure on this one, i will be doing some testing after tomorrow.

2-way Coaxals don't sound that great inverted....

[Civic96]

Iv been looking at electronic crossovers and I see all the +-12db and that kind of stuff. I also see +-18db. I want to know where I should settle because I dont quiet understand this concept.
Thanks

[The_spacemonkey]

The higher the slope the better. say you have a 6 Db per octave crossover set at 40 Hz and you are playing at 120Db. then at 80Hz you are playing at 114Db
160Hz@108Db
320Hz@102 Db
and on.....
now say you have a 24Db per octave crossover, then
40Hz @120Db
80Hz@96Db
160Hz@72Db
Get it? Oh and remember... the crosover point IS NOT the point where the slope starts. It is the 3Db Down point.



I thought of another one

Buy a 10" because they have better SQ than a 15"

[OR-G]

Originally posted by Civic96 Iv been looking at electronic crossovers and I see all the +-12db and that kind of stuff. I also see +-18db. I want to know where I should settle because I dont quiet understand this concept. Thanks

lets say you want your sub to play only around 70hz. Well when you set your crossover at 70, it'll play each octave over 70hz whatever the slope is. Let's take a 12db/octave slope. The next octave is *x2. In this case it would be 70x2 = 140hz. So at 140hz it'll be 12db quieter than at 70hz. So your sub will still play over 70hz, but it won't be as loud. The next octave would then be 140x2=280hz. That will then be 12db quieter than at 140hz and 24db quieter than at 70hz. The steeper the slope the more of a brick wall you get. So if you had 36db/octave, at 140hz it would be 36db quieter which is a substantial amount.

What ends up happening at flatter slopes is that the speakers start blending in with each other. The steeper the slope the less they blend, but you can control what plays what freq more.

[Drkodin]

we can't forget this myth...

an 8" sub will have tighter more acurate bass than a 15" sub.

[KelticSlob]

Originally posted by Drkodin we can't forget this myth... an 8" sub will have tighter more acurate bass than a 15" sub.

Buy a 10" because they have better SQ than a 15"

apparently, you can

[Civic96]

This is one of those things that someone needs to show me when im standing behind their car. So should I settle for a cheaper +=12db crossover or spend more for a +-18db?