Rep Power: 529

1. The deck I'm looking at has 4V preouts. I hear this makes the sound louder by giving the amp more starting power to work with. Only my sub is amped and not my speakers. Right now, I have the sub volume very very low. If I switch to a 4V preout, is it going to be a lot louder with the amp volume control in the same position? I don't want it to be so loud that it sounds bad even at low volumes.

2. Right now I'm on the stock deck which has only 2 preouts I guess (front speakers and rear speakers). My sub is connected to the rear speakers so when I fade it all the way to the front, the sub fades out completely as well. Now, I know that won't happen if you connect the sub to the sub preout that the deck I'm looking at has. But, my amp lets you set the LPF to 350Hz, but every deck I've ever seen only has the sub crossover go as high as 200Hz. If I decide that I want to keep it at 350Hz, with the new deck can I still leave the sub connected to the rear speaker output like it is now? You don't HAVE to use the sub preout for the sub, do you?

 
Rep Power: 306

Use the crossover on the amp. The stereo should have the ability to remove the crossover from the deck, i.e. turn it off.

You need either a deck with 6 preouts front, rear, sub, or a non-fading preout.

4V will be louder, but it has the ability to reduce engine noise and provide a better output when you install a 4 channel for the rest of the speakers. Do this with a 4 channel amp (crossovers to eliminate bass from the satellitte speakers) and you will enjoy a much improved sound from them. It will sound louder and cleaner.

 
Rep Power: 529

I don't think you can do that on a Pioneer DEH-p8600. Anybody?

What's a non-fading preout?

But if only the sub is hooked to a 4V preout it won't like overpower the other speakers, will it?

 
Rep Power: 787

You can probably set the xover on the deck to say 50hz, 80hz, 120hz and thru. If you use thru then the xover will not be used. Yours might be different but I would bet dollars to donuts it is something similar to that.

A non-fading preout is an output that doesn't fade from front to back... if you are totally faded to your back speakers the subs will still play and if it you are totally faded to your front speakers the subs will still play. It in a way operates independently of the rest of the system.

If you have 4v preouts, just set the gain on your amp accordingly. Your gain is a sensitivity control for between say 6v and .2v of input signal. If you had a .2v signal, the gain would be alllll the way up because it would need to be more sensitive to pick up the signal. While you are making it more sensitive to the signal you are also making it more sensitive to noise. If you have 6v of input signal, you can have your gain as low as it can go, and as a result you have less noise. That is why 4v or higher preouts are desirable, allows you to set your gains lower so that you have more signal, less noise and a better sound from your speakers.

That being said, just adjust your gain accordingly so the sensitivity is right for the 4v input.

 
Rep Power: 529

I'm pretty sure it's only 50, 80, 100, 120, 160, and 200Hz. I didn't see a "thru" option when I was playing around with it in the store, and the CC employees didn't really know how to use it. I guess I could download the owners manual or call Pioneer and ask them. A thru option would be awesome.

But all I saw were LPFs at those frequencies, and then HPF at those same frequencies.

I know people here have this deck. Can anyone tell me if it does indeed have a thru option?

Thanks.

 
Rep Power: 787

I would be very very very surprised if you couldn't bypass the crossover somehow. Maybe there is an on/off function for the crossover somewhere else in the menu.

Try going to Pioneer's site and reading the manual (RTFM )

www.pioneerelectronics.com

 
Rep Power: 529

I just did read the manual. I didn't see any sort of bypass. Under the "subwoofer" section (page 50) it just lists the crossover points and makes no mention of bypassing them. Booo. A $500 head unit better have a freaking bypass feature. wtf?

 
Rep Power: 329

Even if you couldent bypass it, why in the name of god are you running your LP filter at 350 hz? It shouldent be above 80.

 
Rep Power: 529

Because it sounds good that way. It's less boomy and plays more midbass. You guys can think whatever you want and I know that almost no one recommends setting your LPF above 100Hz, but mine sounds like crap if I turn it below 200Hz. It's all super boomy and plays no bass notes, only big bass hits that shake my car. That might be good for hip hop but I listen to hip hop like 5% of the time. For my bass I like clean, rich tones that you can HEAR more than you can FEEL. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like to feel the bass when the frequencies are low/loud enough that that happens, but I don't want my car shaking every time a bass drum hits. That's annoying and sounds like crap.

Ok, I'm assuming that it's 350Hz. The frequency control on my amp doesn't have any numbers on it, but in the owners manual it says it goes from 40Hz to 350Hz. I don't know ytf MTX didn't put numbers on the frequency ****, so what are you going to do? You can go check on their website, tho. It's 350Hz. My amp is model 3002.

 
Rep Power: 787

ugh...

 
Rep Power: 529

ugh what?

 
Rep Power: 787

ugh that you would run your xovers so high

 
Rep Power: 787

subs arent really even designed to play that high

 
Rep Power: 529

i dunno mine goes up to 1,000Hz. I'm just telling you what sounds good.

 
Rep Power: 529

Music question:

Wait, every time you double the frequency that's one octave higher, right? So 400Hz is one octave above 200Hz, which is one octave above 100Hz, right?

 
Rep Power: 311

Under slope settings, -6, -12 whatever, select Pass(0) that will bypass the filter.

 
Rep Power: 529

^ so you can bypass it?

Awesome, thanks dude

 
Rep Power: 329

Dude, subs are designed to play notes under 80-100 hz. The range you are talking about is midrange. Buy some good components if you want that range to be louder. I wouldent be surprised if you were getting vocals out of your subs right now.

What the manufacturer rates their eqiupment at isnt always its optimum play range. My components can play down to 50 hz, but they would sound like **** at loud volumes. If you tuned your subs with the LPF around 60 it wouldent be boomy at all. In fact, at 350 its gonna be way more boomy than it is at 60....maybe your ears are broken or something

 
Rep Power: 0

For clarifacation:
Speaker outputs - these are high level outputs that drive a speaker directly, most likely around 50-60 watts
Preouts - these are low level outputs that drive an amp, these can't drive a speaker at all, an amp is mandatory

The stock deck has 4 speaker outputs and NO preouts ......

On mine the non-fading or sub option is in the other set of menus that are only accessable when the HU is off (7400MP).

Non-fading means just that, it doesn't fade. It will not be affected by any of the balance or fader controls while the rest of the speaker outputs are.

 
Rep Power: 529

Wait, so I'll still be able to use this Pioneer HU even if my speakers aren't amped, right?

 
Rep Power: 787

yes, he is just saying that you cannot drive a speaker using a preout. preouts are used as the inputs for amps.

 
Rep Power: 529

Oh so it has regular outputs (whatever they're called) too, right?

 
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Yes, the Pioneer has 4 speaker outputs (FR, FL, RR, RL) and 6 preouts (FR, FL, RR, RL, SL, SR).

FR = front right
FL = front left
RR = rear right
RL = rear left
SL = sub left
SR = sub right

 
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I swear you must be interpeting the amp crossover numbers backwards. Just like Mystic said, 350Hz will be 100x more boomy and overbearing than 80Hz through the sub. Thats why I go w/ the lowest setting on the deck (50Hz). This is the least boomy, which i absolutely hate. I can barely tolerate 80Hz let alone 125Hz.

 
Rep Power: 529

I dunno. When I turn it "down," all my bass notes disappear and all I hear is bass drum thump. Annoying. That makes sense because a bass drum is like at the bottom of the frequency range, so it would make sense that that all you hear is that and no actual bass notes, which are higher in the frequency spectrum. When I turn it "up," I get my bass back and the boomy thump of the bass drum goes away and it sounds good. That also makes sense because allowing for higher frequencies would let the notes from bass guitar and such come through.

The only thing I can think of would be if they mislabled the frequency range in the manual. Maybe it's not really 350Hz, altho I don't see how they could make that mistake.

Here is the manual. If you look on page 5, you can see a small pic of the frequency control **** which IS labled in the pic, altho it's not labled in real life. If you look on page 10, you can read about how the frequency control goes from 40 up to 350Hz. They used to have graphs there showing what to set the frequency at for what you want to hear, but I can't find them anymore. I think maybe they redid their website recently.

My amp also has a high pass filter and a full range option, so maybe that's what the high 350Hz crossover is used for. I dunno.

So if there's sub left preouts and sub right preouts, if you only have one sub does it matter which on you use?

Thanks.

 
Rep Power: 787

What you are looking for is midbass ironfist which can be achieved with the proper selection of speakers. Subs aren't midbass speakers. I keep my xover down to 80hz or even below, and I listen to all kinds of music and everythings sounds great. This goes for rap, rock, hard rock, really hard rock, dvd movies, etc etc..

 
Rep Power: 529

My sub is a midbass speaker

j/k

kinda.

You guys will love this. When I set my amp crossover to "FR" (full range) it sounds pretty freaking good. Hahaha. I'm sure the high parts sound like ****, but you can't hear them because my main speakers are playing the same thing. I just spent 30 minutes in my car playing around with it with various songs with strong and/or isolated bass lines to compare different settings and crossovers.

So those of you who keep your crossovers at 80Hz, does your sub only play bass drum then? I set mine to approximately 80Hz (no numbers on the dial, remember?) and it sounded like crap. The only thing coming from it was bass drum. There was pretty much no bass.

Hmm, my computer speakers, Altec Lansings which I think sound absolutely amazing, have the sub crossover set to 150Hz. I'm just adding this for my personal notes. Then again it's a 6.5" sub, but that shouldn't matter that much.

 
Rep Power: 311

If you are tired of playing around with it, you could probably find a local shop that'll tune for you for like $30 - $50. If you ask, you could probably even hang while they do it and tell them if its right or wrong for you and your preference.

J

 
Rep Power: 812

Ironfist, you have the wrong sub. I had my 10 inch at 125Hz pass, and a few songs were still boomy. Turned down to 100Hz and no problems. Hits the punchy bass and the rap type low bass very well. What is the sub rms power max, and how many rms watts are you sending it with the amp?

 
Rep Power: 787

Yeah shops love it when you hang around and tell them what you think is right or wrong