What's the difference between mid bass and mid range, what should I buy?

[mikeyt]

I know this sounds like a silly question, however I'm confused about it because in several posts and threads I've read I've seen these terms almost be interchangeable. If I'm running a pair of components with a coax, crossover, and tweeter, that is a purchased set, or at least in my case instead of buying them individually. Since I have a 6.5" hole and 1" tweeter, The more I think about it I'm wondering if I should look into a midbass or midrange with a 1" tweeter and crossover. If I were to go that route I don't have any idea of what to purchase so advice that way would help. My budget would be $300 for both sides for everything. I can't do a three way so that's out. Not sure what I need to go this route, so please feel free to give me input. My musical tastes are rock of several genres, modern, pop, and hard rock if you need to know that.

[mikeyt]

I did find several passive crossovers on www.woofersetc.com but I have no idea which ones to buy. There seem to be several from $70-$100 from Focal but I have no idea of which one to choose if I went that way, another conundrum, which one do I choose? UGH!!!!!

[dgage]

The main difference is in usage. In general you need 3 or 4 speakers to handle the entire audio range in a vehicle.

3 speakers (known as a 2-way)
Tweeter roughly covers approximately 3,000 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
Midrange roughly covers 80 Hz to 3,000 Hz
Subwoofer roughly covers below 80 Hz

4 speakers (known as a 3-way)
Tweeter roughly covers approximately 3,500 Hz to 20,000 Hz
Midrange roughly covers 80 Hz to 3,500 Hz
Midbass roughly covers 350 Hz to 80 Hz
Subwoofer roughly covers below 80 Hz

A 3-way usually consists of a 1” tweeter, ~3” midrange, and 6-8” midbass. These speakers cover their audio ranges very well with no real compromises. But putting 3 speakers up front is more difficult and more expensive than a more straight forward 2-way.

The challenge with 2-way is that it works the speakers closer to their limits. A 1” tweeter will usually struggle playing low enough to mate well with a 6.5” which may struggle to play high enough to mate with a 1” tweeter, cleanly at least. It can be done but a 2-way is a little harder to do correctly. Even speakers sold as a 2-way may not cover the frequency range completely as I’ve seen many sold where the overlap between the 2 speakers left a gap, at least regarding flat frequency response. One way to mitigate this is to go with a 1.5” tweeter. This is most easily communicated using Audiofrog as an example. For their high-end 3-way, they recommend the GB10 tweeter, GB25 midrange, and GB60 midbass. For 2-way, they recommend going with the slightly larger 1.5” GB15 tweeter to better mate up with their GB60 midrange/midbass.

And to further answer your question, some 6.5” speakers are better at handling the midrange while others are a little better midbasses which means they are a little stronger below 150 Hz. Not as many 6.5” speakers are good handling both duties but they are out there.

Really you just need to ask for a 6.5” that will work well in a 2-way setup with a 1” tweeter. I wouldn’t worry about the labels for midranges and midbasses that we’ve placed in them.

[mikeyt]

Thanks dgage I appreciate that. So that being said then what's a good 6.5" and 1" tweeter pair that cover a spectrum of overlap and a passive crossover that for the set (two sides) will keep me in my $300 budget. Also as I stated before I found several Focal crossovers in a good price range, which one should I choose? Or if there are others out there that perform well please let me know. I've gone on Focal's website and I didn't get any help on this.

[Cathul]

I can recommend the Gladen Zero Pro as its tweeter has a fs of 860Hz and can be crossed as low as 2kHz easily with a 24db slope on the crossover. Probably a bit lower even if high volume application is not the main focus.
As dgage said... in a 2-way setup having a tweeter that can be crossed low is of higher importance than in a 3-way setup as this puts most midbasses in a region where they beam only lightly. Having a tweeter that has to be crossed at around 3k or higher puts the midbasses in strong beaming territory which makes tuning the setup a lot more demanding.

Unfortunately this set is about 470,-- € over here, which will put it way above your budget unfortunately.
But in general, look for a set with a Tweeter that has a resonace frequency around 1000Hz or lower as this allowes for a crossover with a lower crossover point between midbass and tweeter.

[Holmz]

A coaxial may be easier?

[LBaudio]

Use passive x-overs that came with speakers, dont use some random corssovers since you dont know where is the x-over point set, you dont know what slopes are used, you dont know if there is somekind of corecture applyed to the passives for use with specific drivers (zobel/compensation circuit,...,....Passives are usually 12 db/oct, but it is not to generalize, also x-over points are usual in 2,5-3,5kHz range. Some passives are bi-amping capable and some offer option to change slope and/or x-over points and of course attenuation for tweeters…. something like Morel 3-way passive, older Brax, JBL GTI, Audison,....

[Fernpatch]

I would suggest using these as they fit in your budget and they sound better than they have any right to for the price https://www.crutchfield.com/p_107MM6...02.html?tp=106

[mikeyt]

My plan was to go with a complete set until I started reading all this cool stuff and it got my mind wandering, that's where I came up with the idea. One thing I was thinking was truly that, having a "matched" pair of 6.5's and tweeters, but having a different brand crossover, how would that effect the sound if it wasn't designed for them. I need to actually play with them I suppose to see what would work best, don't know?

[Holmz]

What can be improved upon what you are currently using?
or how is the current system lacking?

(There is a lot of "cool stuff"... not sure if you need any of it??)