Q.Can I use an active crossover instead of the supplied Boston
crossovers?
Q.What are the crossover frequency and slope of my Boston car
speakers?
Q.When I turn my system up really loud the tweeters sometimes
shut off. Why?
Q.Which Boston speakers will fit into my vehicle?
Q.Can't find what I'm looking for. What should I do now?
Q. Can I use an active crossover instead of the supplied Boston
crossovers?
A. Replacing the Boston passive network with an active crossover can be problematic.
Each component in the supplied Boston crossover is factored into the total acoustic
output of the system. When you remove it from the signal chain and directly couple
the woofers and tweeters to an amplifier, you will be unable to exactly replicate
the properties of a Boston system specific passive network.
Why?
The first point is that the typical active crossover does not allow nearly the flexibility
of a passive design. The second point is that we often stagger or overlap the crossover
points to achieve a flat response. The actual electrical crossover points for the
woofer and tweeter however are generally asymmetric and different on all of the
Boston components. Finding an active crossover that will allow you to adjust each
of these points independently and tuning it correctly is going to be difficult but
not impossible. Just as a note: designing a passive network takes our team of experienced
engineers several months to complete.
You will get better performance from your system by paying more attention to the
installation techniques and driver placement rather than pursuing the use of active
crossovers. There is no substitute for proper speaker placement and solid installation.
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Q. What are the crossover frequency and slope of my Boston car
speakers?
A. We do not publish this information, as it doesn't tell you anything useful
about the crossover. Even if you know the crossover point and slope, you still do
not know the type of network (Butterworth, L&R etc) as there are hundreds of ways
to develop a crossover. We could build 10 different networks all with 18dB per octave
slopes and each at 3000hz and have each one sound very different. And that's not
even taking into account for the fact that often our low pass and high pass sections
of the network are at different slopes and don't share the same crossover point.
Someone asking us for a crossover point and slope is like someone asking Honda "How
do I build and V-Tech and what is the best color?” It's not that we don't want to
answer these questions; it's simply a case of there not being a simple answer. If
you using an electronic crossover the passive number will not translate to active
values (active crossovers to do not have to account for impedance curves). Experimentation
is going to lead you to the proper set up for your system.
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Q. When I turn my system up really loud the tweeters sometimes
shut off. Why?
A. The Boston crossovers feature a poly switch that will temporally shut
the tweeter off if the amplifier is clipping (saving the tweeters from failure).
To reduce the possibility of this happening, adjust the amplifiers gains to prevent
clipping or upgrade to a larger amplifier. Boosting the treble on the head unit
or equalizer can also exasperate this problem. If you are not excited about upgrading
the amplifier try moving the tweeters to a more efficient location.
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Q. Which Boston speakers will fit into my vehicle?
A. This is a difficult question to answer with 100% certainty, due to the
fact that automotive manufacturers have been known to change speaker sizes in a
vehicle model year without notice. Also, typically there is more than one audio
system available for most vehicles, each possibly using different size speakers.
Both of the above variables make it extremely complicated to find a reliable source
for this information.
Our best advice is to visit your local Boston Acoustics car audio dealer. Their
trained installers will be the best source for this information. Their trained professionals
can take a look at your vehicle to determine which speaker size will be the best
fit.
To find the local dealer simply click here.
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