Factory front 'speaker crossover?

[empty_inside]

I have (I believe optional) component front speakers, i.e. separate woofers and tweeters. I'd like to upgrade them so I took a door card off to have a look. They must have their own high-power (i.e. post-headunit) crossover somewhere because there's just two cables for them from the headunit. However, I can't find this crossover - the signals for the individual components just come from a wiring loom in the door.

Do people know where this factory crossover is, and more importantly how much power can it cope with? Any idea what the quality of it is like or what its crossover frequency is?

Should I just throw away the crossovers that come with the new 'speakers and wire them into the loom that's already there, or do I need to find the crossover and replace it? That might not be that easy...

 

[meddler]

I would replace the crossover. It could be as simple as a capacitor on the back of the tweeter. What are the new speakers you are going to install? Are you going to run them off an amp? If so, I would also take the opportunity to upgrade the speaker cabling too.

 

[empty_inside]

You make a good point about the "crossover". I was expecting a little box like you get with replacement 'speakers, but now you mention it there's a sizable cap next to the tweeter. Even if that's all there is I would have to follow both sets of speaker wire back to their common origin and wire in the crossover there. It's a mess of wire bundles in electrical tape and ducting under the door card. I don't fancy the risk of disturbing the windows/mirrors/central locking/alarm/switch gear.

I was going to install a set of Focal 165 VB or VRs, as I have 165CVXs at the back and am impressed. Tbh I'm not going to bother amping them as I've got a decent head unit and won't be entering any competitions.

 

[meddler]

Focal are nice. I have 2 sets in my car

Running new wiring can be a bit of a pain, but IMO it's worth it. The chance of disturbing the other wiring is low. I have done it on mine and it wasn't too bad.