Depends on the drivers and if you use HQ drivers that can cover the intended bandpass then the 2-way is possible but the 3-way is certainly much easier.

 

No.

 

Why do people do this? Which question are you saying "no" to?

 

I love running 2-way front stages, but there is some extra challenge in some ways. To make it excellent you need to really plan the speaker purchase, getting a nice tweeter that comfortably plays low is important. Tuning also has some challenges since you’re asking more bandwidth out of each speaker. Done well though, and you can have a very, very good stereo.

 

I went with widebands for this application. As much as I wanted to run a 3 way stage, I just don't feel like paying for fab work to have locations made for tweeters. I think it still came out pretty damn well. I'm running unity 8.0s from 500hz up.

 

I think 2ways are really do-able. Audio in general is “purer” with the least drivers used. There are compromises in every type of configuration

 

No a three way is not necessary by any means. Many of the sq award winning cars since the 80s have use a 2 way. Some use a theeeway and others have used more.
Its about tuning even more than equipment name/brand. You do not have to buy high price components to have an amazing sq system. Some will tell you different but the truth is, price does not determine quality. Quality determines quality.
A 2 way can give a sound stage that is just as deep, defined, centered and wide as a three way. It’s about the set up and the tune.
Don’t get sucked into the hype about needing expensive and tons of equipment. That is smoke and mirrors and advertising.
Solid equipment choice(price isn’t necessarily the biggest part) install and tune.
Also, don’t forget about sound deadening.

point is, 2 and 3ways can sound amazing and they can sound like crap as well. There is much more to the story than how many speakers and what brand.

 

Having recently gone from a solid 2-way set up, (Audiofrog GB15/60's) to a solid 3-way set up (GB10/25/60's) while I'm very happy with the new set up and happy I did it I'll honestly say it wasn't a "blow me away" difference.

Just my personal experience, both set ups tuned by an excellent DSP tuning person.

So in my opinion if space/speaker locations is an issue or $$ the right 2-way can be very capable.

 

Exactly. I started with a 2way and got the most out of it with tuning. It sounded great, going to a 3way was a big step up in terms of cost. The main difference when i got a 3way was a cleaner midrange (well duhh) but the difference was small. Small enough that you couldn’t notice it on songs that didn’t utilise that particular frequency bandwidth . Some songs started to shine with the 3way setup when they werent before.There were some other welcomed benefits when listening from positions besides the driver seat as well though.

 

The difference when I went from 2 way in factory spots with tweeters in a pillars to 3 way with a bi amp pointsource in the pillars was night and day even before doing any tuning.

 

Probably not a fair comparison, but I went from the Focal 165W-Xp 2-way (which I really liked) to the 3-way Thesis set-up costing over twice as much and I am super happy with it..!

One has to consider that the majority of the main frequencies in (most) music is in the MIDRANGE, so having a high quality midrange is key...!

 

2 way can sound pretty good if done right. I really wanted to try the new FOCAL FRAK tweeter, these things have AMAZING specs. They honestly look like bigger versions of the Focal FLAX tweeters. and those sound pretty amazing imho. Ive only had limited listening time with the FRAK's but so far i was very impressed.

 

Most cars out there still only run 2 way and I bet the vast majority of the population can be super happy with the results of a 2way set up. Enthusiast groups such as this one make you think things like 3 way setups and aftermarket dsps in cars are far more common than they actually are. Im not saying they aren't beneficial, they very much are but they are far from needed

 

I let a JBL MS8 do it’s magic on a base ‘13 CX9 stereo (Mylar dash tweeters, 6x8 paper cone mids. The sound stage was impressive, I almost stopped there with upgrades….almost.

I won’t hack up a car to go 3-way, but if it can be done with relative ease…don’t hesitate.

if you just don’t want the effort, go with the largest tweeter you can fit. Entry level 3/4” tweets that can’t play below 3.5KHz probably won’t cut it.

 

In my experience, a 2-way setup is easier to get the system sounding good compared to 3-way setup - for as long as the cabin response is cooperative. The lesser the amount of speakers, the lesser the issue with phase. A 3-way is becomes necessary when the cabin has a null which cannot be fixed in an efficient manner with just 2-way. And this varies from car to car.

 

Focal PS165V30 (30th year mids) midbass
Dynaudio MD102 tweeters

mate together very well and was very easy to tune tbh.

 

I run a 2 way and have no regrets. The sound and imaging are excellent.

 

to have an excellent sound quality

Just going back to the original post. I think most of us will agree it isn’t “necessary” to go 3 way but everyone’s definition of excellent is different and how much they are willing to spend to achieve it is different as well. When it comes to tonal accuracy it will be cheaper and easier to arrive at your definition of excellent tone with a 2 way, but in an automotive environment we are dealing with staging issues and to get all aspects of the music to appear to come from above the dash, it actually has to come from above the dash. Once you start spending big coin on tweeters to play low enough to achieve this, you are going to want them installed and angled correctly too. Now you’re looking at fabricating something…and at that point slipping in a 3” midrange into your custom work, which will play lower than any tweeter, starts to make sense. And of course you circle back to cost again, more drivers cost more, but actually when you don’t need the drivers to play far into their range, you can get by with more affordable drivers, except now you need more amplifier channels to power them.

 

How common is it to use a wideband for a mid in a three way? I know blam sells their three way sets with a WB mid, but I haven't seen it much from other manufacturers.

Is that tactic to give you a ton of wiggle room on the mid frequency and you wind up with a similar range to a standard mid range when it's said and done? Or would you actually use as much as possible with the WB mid and have narrower ranges on the MB and Tweets?

 

How common is it to use a wideband for a mid in a three way? I know blam sells their three way sets with a WB mid, but I haven't seen it much from other manufacturers.

Is that tactic to give you a ton of wiggle room on the mid frequency and you wind up with a similar range to a standard mid range when it's said and done? Or would you actually use as much as possible with the WB mid and have narrower ranges on the MB and Tweets?

I use widebander in my system,.... I ended up playing that mid a bit higher as I would run classic mid - at 4k@24dB/Oct

 

Use whatever you can make use of. A smaller widebander might require a higher HP crossover point (500-600hz) but could maybe play higher without beaming(5-6k) than a normal slightly larger mid range driver which maybe starts to beam sooner(3-4k) but lets you choose a lower crossover point (250-400hz) ,these are just imaginary examples.
In general you would want to avoid crossing over in the midrange so a driver that gives you more bandwidth is preferable, but you have imo plenty of room to work with in any case if you’re skilled enough. Dont pay too much attention to categorisations rather than look at what individual drivers offer you in terms of specs and value for money

 

Use whatever you can make use of. A smaller widebander might require a higher HP crossover point (500-600hz) but could maybe play higher without beaming(5-6k) than a normal slightly larger mid range driver which maybe starts to beam sooner(3-4k) but lets you choose a lower crossover point (250-400hz) ,these are just imaginary examples.
In general you would want to avoid crossing over in the midrange so a driver that gives you more bandwidth is preferable, but you have imo plenty of room to work with in any case if you’re skilled enough. Dont pay too much attention to categorisations rather than look at what individual drivers offer you in terms of specs and value for money

Thank you, makes perfect sense! Im too dum and lazy to do it, so there is a pro on it. But I really do want to understand as much as possible without driving him nuts with questions.

I do aspire to do it myself like all of you badasses at some point. Already planning on some easy stuff in my daughters X1 soon. Goals!

 

For about 4 years i ran CDT Neo 2Way components and the tweeters have inputs for Image Tweeters and bought the image tweeters. I powered these with a US Acoustics USX-4085 amp thru a Kenwood Excelon ddx9903s head unit and this sounded amazing. Excellent soundstage, detailed fidelity and clarity and not ear piercing. I could hear virtually every instruments notes and sounds that were missing with my previous set up. Unfortunately that headunit started giving me static noise issues and bought the newer Kenwood ddx9907XR and my older headunit sounds cleaner and better than the new one.
i do have a set of Boston Acoustics RC620 components with the optional Ambient Teeters that i plan to install this summer. These Boston's sound incredible and planning to power with a Soundstream Rubicon 805 instead of my Alpine PDX-F4.