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How are the stock tweeters wired in a '94 10 speaker system?
I'm in the process of upgrading my door speakers and have a question that even Crutchfield tech support couldn't answer. The stock speaker and tweeter are wired separately but there is only one pair of wires going into the head unit for each speaker. Does this mean there is one signal leaving the head unit and then the wires split somewhere down the line? So the speaker and tweeter are receiving the same exact signal? How are the frequencies physically split between the speaker and tweeter?
I'm installing a set of JL C1-650's and the tweeters are fed off the speaker with a crossover in between. Here's a picture of the stock components:
I don't have schematics for the early 4th generation Firebirds but I would assume that the tweeter wiring is similar to the way the Monsoon systems in later models are done. The tweeters are fed directly from the head unit (no amplification) with the separate wiring splitting off from the front channel wiring somewhere between the head unit and the amp - or in this case between the HU and the door mid speakers. There are inline high pass filters in the tweeter wiring while the door mids get unfiltered full range signal.
So, to connect your component set with its own crossover, just connect the door mids wiring to the crossover input and then connect the crossover outputs to the appropriate speaker elements, leaving the factory tweeter wiring unconnected. Alternatively, you can connect the speaker elements to the two factory wiring pairs and leave out the crossover that came with the speakers.
I went ahead and ran the tweeters off the mids with the included crossover and it sounds great. I'd be interested to know where the stock crossovers are hiding. Any guesses on what those stock caps are in the photo?
The Monsoon system uses inline high pass filters but I would say that the capacitors in the photo (along with a corresponding resistor) comprise the high pass filter in this system.
I did a little more research and found that the capacitor on the tweeter is a filter capacitor or "1st order crossover". It's a very rudimentary way to block frequency. So you were right that the electronics connected to the speakers in the picture comprise the frequency filtration.