Is it bad to.....?

Question

I have a Power Acoustik LX2-1000 amplifier and there is a switch on the amplifier that says LPF, Full, or HPF. Now the instructions for the amplifier say that the switch should be on LPF if your running one subwoofer for low pass filter, and HPF for high pass filter. It doesnt say what Full is for but I'm guessing its a little of both. I was switching them around and when the switch is in the Full position I believe my sub is performing/sounding better than when its in the LPF position. Is this damaging my sub or amplifier by having it in the Full position rather then the LPF position?

Answer 1

WOW! The guy above is totally off!

LPF= Low Pass Filter
HPF= High Pass Filter

It can be damaging to the subs as a sub isn't meant to handle high frequencies let alone mid frequencies.

In the specs of the sub it will state the frequency responce of the sub, something like 20-200 Hz. In this example, you would set the LPF to about 180 Hz as that's just below the highest frequency in the specs.

The reason subs don't like high frequency is due to the lack of movement to cool the coils. This will cause heat to build up and burn up the coil.

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Answer 2

The switch is for a crossover filter. It removes selected frequency ranges from the output going to the subwoofer.

LPF means "low-pass filter". Low frequencies pass, and high frequencies are filtered out. Usually there's a dial nearby that allows you to set the crossover frequency. For subwoofers, you'd typically want to set the filter to cut out anything above 80 to 100 Hz or so.

As an aside: I have to disagree with Sparky's "180 Hz" example: ideally, subwoofers should blend in with the rest of the audio and not call attention to themselves. Bass frequencies below around 100 Hz are hard to localize; in other words, you can't really tell where deep bass is coming from, which is a very useful fact when the subwoofer is in your trunk. If you set the crossover point too high, you'll get the impression that all the bass is coming from behind and the high frequencies are coming from the front. This is extremely distracting when listening to music.

HPF means "high-pass filter". High frequencies pass, and low frequencies are filtered. You would use this if the amp was connected to front or rear speakers and you wanted to remove the deep bass from them so they'd sound cleaner.

FULL means no filter. The full range of audio is sent to the subwoofer. I don't completely agree with Sparky: running a subwoofer on full range won't usually damage it, but it will often damage your sound quality. Subwoofers usually sound horrible when they're playing full range.

If your amplifier is connected to a "subwoofer" output on your head unit, then it's likely that there's a low-pass filter built into the head unit. In this case, there would be no problem setting the amplifier to "full" because only low frequencies are being sent to the amplifier in the first place.

Listen closely to the subwoofers. If they're trying to play voices, or sound distorted, you should switch on the LPF setting again. If they're only playing bass in the "full" setting, and it sounds better to you, go ahead and leave it there.

Answer 3

It won't harm your sub-woofers.
Keep in mind... Car amps doesn't give the output what they say... like 1000 watts amp might not give more than 250-300 watts!
And sub-woofers usually need more than that to kick ***!
So don't worry and keep on HPF.
LPF= Low Power Frequency
HPF= High Power Frequency

I know you'r smart enough to figure out things... don't confuse your self with HPF or LPF.
Basically it's just giving you power of two channels.
I hope you know about bridge connection!
If it sounds good... your sub would be hard enough to carry out the load of output watts.
I hope you find it helping.

Answer 4

All I can really add to this is listen to sparky and I can't wait to see sunny's fried subs...lol

Answer 5

I dont think so, i ran full on my old system for about 4 months and it never failed.