The cure is to reduce you gain controls until there is no more hiss. You will notice that your system does not play as loud as before, but this is much safer for your components. If you want the system to play louder, the only solution is to buy more amplifiers and speakers.
Q I was wondering if you could help me out with a problem I have. I am looking for a good x-over for my subs. I had a Lanzar opti 4xb which was ok; I only got it because my amps and woofers are Lanzar. My x-over stopped working, and I need a new one. I was wondering what you guys suggest or recommend? Brand and price don't really matter. Every shop I go to out here in Sacramento tries to push whatever brand they sell, which I understand.But I would like your opinion on a good x-over.Thank You Very Much.Name withheld
A You have a lot of x-overs to pick from; different brands as well as styles and features. To be honest with you I can write a two-page article just on what to look for in a x-over. So I really need to know what your system consists of and what you need this x-over to do. An x-over can help you do several things other than just breaking up the frequency bandwidth. The major differences in x-overs are how steep of an x-over slope it has, how many x-over points it will have, whether or not the x-over points are variable, and if it has a built-in line driver. Other x-overs will also have muting switches or bypass switches to make tuning easier. All of these things are very important things to look for when buying a x-over. Generally you would want the steepest x-over slope possible, somewhere between 18 to 24 dB per octave. You can even get x-overs that that will have x-over slopes as high as 48 dB per octave. As far as how many x-over points a specific unit has is very important. Your audio system or speaker system will determine how many x-over points the unit should have. From what it sounds like, if you were using all the channels on the 4xb, you would need a four way x-over. So the x-over you would need should have three x-over points, otherwise known as a four-way x-over. If not, that's one of the easier decisions to make when buying a x-over. Basically depending on how many channels of amplification you have, that will determine how many outputs or channels the x-over should have. For instance, If you have an amp to run your tweeters, an amp to run your mids, and a subwoofer amp then you would need a three way x-over which will have two x-over points. And there are numerous configurations as far as how you can set up your x-over system. I myself prefer, most definitely, variable x-over points; this gives me a little more flexibility with my stereo system. A lot of the better x-overs will also have a built-in line driver, and that would normally go right after the radio. This is a very important feature to have on any electronic device in the audio chain. The benefit of having a line-driver on your x-over unit is that you have the ability to amplify the audio signal before it gets to the amplifiers. And this will allow you to keep the amplifier gains turned down, which will give you a much cleaner signal to the amps. In turn, you will be listening to a much nicer sounding system. So as you can see, you have a lot of things to consider. Good luck finding that perfect x-over. Thanks.
Q Hi my name is Joe, and I am a proud subscription holder of your magazine. I want to know a few things on the Orion HCCA. I first heard about these on your 15-inch buyer's guide. And I wanted to know if they hit extremely hard or not. And if one 15 would be good in my 2000 Honda Civic Coupe or not. And where can I get more information about them and even buy them? And if there is any other subwoofer that you know that would be good for my Civic, please tell me. I really want a system that will bang and hit extremely hard.Please Help!Joe