3-ways vs. 4-ways

[monterey1962]

In the '88 I have 4-way Pioneers. In the '89 I have 3-way Pioneers. I seem to be able to get the 3-ways louder while staying clearer than the 4-ways. Is there any real difference between 3-way and 4-way speakers? What about sound quality? The decks are both Pioneers with pretty much the same specs.

[83tc]

3 ways proably have a larger tweeter and mid, while the 4 ways have a smaller mid and 2 smaller tweets, therefore the slightly larger speakers can handle more power/volume and stay clearer sounding?, thats the only thing i can think of, slightly different crossover setup mabye, i dunno whatelse would cause the difference

[jasonh]

Sensitivity rating maybe but I think they have the same rating?? I think the dome mids are the same in both, they just add a "super" tweeter to the 4-ways. LOL the 5-ways have 2 "super" tweeters.

[83tc]

super useless, get something less fuckin complicated, 3 ways are all you need, 4 and 5 ways just add more crap to blow up

[Lincolnmania]

best is to do seperate subs, mids, and tweeters

[85crownHPP]

yep - your speaker sound different just becuase they are different. Plus Im guessing they are being driven by different head units.

Any speaker more than a 2-way is just gimmick. there is no need for anything more, unless the quality is so poor that the 'tweeters' cant reproduce all the frequencies it should. A good solo single cone midrange speaker and a good tweeter with a good response range is all thats needed.
There should be plenty of overlap in the response plots (Hz vs dB) so that everything is covered with the same intensity.

[Blaze86Vic]

Check it, but I believe the factory head unit is only good to 16khz, which is usually inside the range of the high mid. But is too low for the "super tweeters", so the result is that they will never even be used, but will be wasting power just picking up static. Most aftermarket units are only good to 20-25khz either. Check speaker rang compared to head unit's output range.

[Southern_Pride]

Ive never heard 3 ways that can touch my 2 ways. I still say my kawasakis sound better than my alpine but they wont handle much power.

[jasonh]

Check it, but I believe the factory head unit is only good to 16khz, which is usually inside the range of the high mid. But is too low for the "super tweeters", so the result is that they will never even be used, but will be wasting power just picking up static. Most aftermarket units are only good to 20-25khz either. Check speaker rang compared to head unit's output range.

The factory HU is only good to 16kHz because cassettes are only good to that, he has Pioneer HU's anyway. Human hearing is in the range of 20Hz to 20kHz, I guess I should say "normal" because as you get older you're ears lose sensitivity in the higher ranges...14kHz+. 16k is well in the tweeter range, my tweeters play from 4kHz up.

I agree that anything above 3way for a 6x9 is a gimmick though...