I'm planning on bypassing the factory amp in my 2001 Dakota Quad Cab and I've been told that I can't leave the factory tweeters connected if I do this. Is this true? There's only one pair of wires that run from the amp to the front door speaker and tweeter, and I've read that the tweeter has an in-line high-pass filter, so what would be the problem with leaving it connected? I have an aftermarket head unit and aftermarket speakers already installed. Thanks for any help!

 

didnt know that a 2001 dakota had a factory amp?!?!?!?!?

 

cut the wires, wire the tweets to your new amp. tweeters need a high-pass, if they dont have their own output from the amp they have an in-line

 

There is a capacitor in line for a crossover for the OEM tweeters. The tweeter is wired in parallell to the midrange/woofer in the door. If you bypass the OE amplifier, the tweeters will produce sound but itmay not be as loud or have the same imaging effectas the original amplified system. Tweeters (especially the Infinity ones used in the OE sound system) typically require more power than can be provided by a head unit. The chance of blowing the tweeter increases if the power input in watts is reduced.

Jimmy

 

Thanks for the info! I bypassed the amp yesterday and everything sounds a lot better, especially the bass. So, would you recommend I unhook the tweeters? Would it make the door speakers sound any better? Since they are wired in parallel, that means they are probably running at a lower impedance than 4 ohms, which wouldn't be good for my head unit.....right?

 

Disconnecting the tweeters will not improve the sound. In fact it would likely be detrimental to the sound. If the tweeters are working and it sounds good, I would say leave it as is.The OEM amplifier was only rated atabout 20 watts per channel, and depending on the brand and power output of your newradio, it may already have sufficient power to drive the tweeters nearlyas well as the OEM amplifier did.When tweetersor any other speaker are connected in parallellwith capacitors, inductors or any other type of passive crossover device, the impedance will change, but it would not go low enough to damage the outputs of the radio in a wiring configuration like this.

Jimmy

 

man jimmy you're one smart cookie

 

Thanks. I am not that smart but I do know about car audio and alarms. I was an installler for 15 years. Glad I was able to help out.