you can buy things called bass blockers. i think theyre quite cheap, but ive never looked into them. if you havethe premium sound, i know that the amp has crossovers, but as far as the regular sound package, im not sure.

 

Obviously, the factory setup has to attenuate the signal, either passivley or actively. Your factory tweeters wouldn't last five minutes with a full range signal.

What is needed is figuring out whether the factory tweeter has a crossover attached to the speaker itself, or if its downstream in the signal path. You can determine this by looking at the factory tweeter - if it has resistors and capacitors mounted to it, then the crossover is built into the tweeter - and you would have the create some form of high-pass to avoid damage to the new tweeters - either transferring the parts from the factory units to the new tweeters, or adding a high-pass crossover of some sort inline before the tweeter. Howevever, if there is nothing attached to the factory tweeter, the filtration is done earlier in the signal path - meaning its as simple as swapping the tweets and connecting them to the factory wires.

I personally haven't looked at the factory tweets in our cars to know one way or the other. Pull one out and if you aren't sure what you are looking for, take some pics.


Hans

 

if youre on a factory PREMIUM unit (EX Coupe and all Si) then I know for a fact that the signal is crossed at the factory amp, they have their own channel on the amplifier stage, so wiring in an aftermarket tweeter to the stock wiring in one would be easy and safe, may not sound the best, but it will have protection. . . neither of my factory tweeters had any sort of capacitor on them either

 

if youre on a factory PREMIUM unit (EX Coupe and all Si) then I know for a fact that the signal is crossed at the factory amp, they have their own channel on the amplifier stage

Good info here... that covers the Premium setup. OP, If you have an EX Coupe or any version Si, your question is answered. If not, you may still want to pull out a factory tweeter.


Hans

 

My car is a 06 Civic LX Coupe, so I think I have a capacitor built into my tweeter? The thing is, it is glued to the tweeter mount and I can't take them out. Is there anyway to make a new crossover or can I get away with the bass-blocker thing?

I presume this is a capacitor?

 

There has to be a crossover in the tweeter without the stock amp (non premium). They are wired parallel from the front speakers.

 

yup thats the sign that its crossed at the speaker, it is indeed a capacitor, and a bass-blocker is essentially the same thing except wired in-line with the signal wire, easy install, cheap part

 

Thanks for the replies guys, I think I'm going with the bass blockers.
I will probably go with a custom passive crossover once I know how to built one.

 

Yup, you need to wire in a passive crossover. You want to cut signal from at least 2000 Hz (2Khz) and down. Generally, in a component set, the tweeter passives cut frequencies from around 4000 Hz (4Khz) and down (for 1" or smaller tweeters). If the new tweets are 4 ohm, The PAC P/N BB-5 bass blockers should work for you. If the new tweets are 8 ohm, go with the BB-6 instead.

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I'm not sure what impedance those factory tweets are versus the swapped in units, but alternately, you could just source a capacitor of that rating (50V 1.5 uF), and wire it inline of the new tweets. You'd have to make sure the new tweets are the same impedance as the factory units, with a multimeter - otherwise the crossover point will be different.

Either way, Kudos to you sir for being smart enough to find out before you wired up your new fancy tweets - if only everyone was so astute :thumb:

Hans

 

Yes, thank you!
I went with BB-5 because my tweeters are rated 4 ohm.

Hans,
I find it interesting that they put a 1.5uF capacitor. I mean, using a passive crossover calculator, I didn't find a crossover point that needs a 1.5 uF cap. I have to go to unrealistic number for the calculator to come up with a 1.5 uF capacitor for 1st order Butterworth/Solen x-over.

 

Edit - at first glance, I read the side of the cap incorrectly as 150 uf instead of 1.5 uf - sorry for the mixup.

In a 1st order butterworth setup at 4 ohms, a single 1.5 uf cap would yield a 6 Db/octave rolloff at approx. 25,000 hz (which is completely useless, and above the range of both normal human hearing and the CD recording process). At 8 ohms, the same cap would yield a 6 Db/octave rolloff at approx. 12,500 hz. Which isn't very practical either, but in theory would allow for some audible sound out of the tweeters.

The only thing I could perceive them doing is using a voice coil (or resistor) to create a 16 ohm load - in which case the 1.5 uf cap would yield a more reasonable 6 Db/octave rolloff at approx. 6,250 Hz. This would lower tweeter output relative to the door speakers, which would make sense considering the factory location firing into the windshield glass... a band-aid to reduce harshness.

I'm curious as to the static impedance of the factory tweeter. You may find yourself needing to use a lot of cut up top if the above is indeed the case.


Hans

 

New to the game.... couple things..
The '08 Civic EX Coupe with Premium Sound... I ordered new Tweets (part 39120-SJC-A01) based on the part numbers found on several Honda Parts sites, none have an option for a car with Premium Sound but do show the Amplifier which is part of the Premium Sound package.
The Tweeter I received has a Capacitor inline with the positive side wire and as far as I can see without tearing it apart it is a 50v 1.5uf Cap. Part Number stamped on the back TS-07564ZH
When I removed the old one it does not have a Capacitor and has a different part number stamped on it. TS-07553ZH

All wire connector pinouts I find for the Amp do not show outputs for Tweeters,, so there must be a crossover somewhere between the factory amplifier and the Door/Tweeters