G05
BMW X5
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04-20-2026LAST POST
08-25-2023
Hi,

So I bought a set of Focals for my X5, but I'm lost at the crossover wiring. See the picture, the three cables on the left are form the crossover, which read Ground, 0dB and -3dB. Ground cable has a blue line. The tweeter cables are on the right. No label except the one with the blue line is a male other is female.

So; since crossover has 3 cables and tweeter has two, :confused2

Tweeters blue lines cable won't fit crossovers blue line cable (labeled ground) since they're both male.

PS. Focal install videos on youtube are useless. Does not show any detail whatsoever. The user manual that came with it is also useless, just has specs and no info on whats what.
An image attached to this post, provided by the poster
08-25-2023
Ground attaches to the female connection on the tweeter. You only use one of the other connections from the crossover. The -3db will reduce the tweeter output by 3 decibels. You can use this to reduce the high frequency output if you find it to be too loud relative to mid and bass tones.
08-26-2023
Go FasTA wrote
Ground attaches to the female connection on the tweeter. You only use one of the other connections from the crossover. The -3db will reduce the tweeter output by 3 decibels. You can use this to reduce the high frequency output if you find it to be too loud relative to mid and bass tones.
Got it thank you. I didn't expect to have to output levels on a crossover but hey never too late to learn
08-26-2023
TheACN wrote
Got it thank you. I didn't expect to have to output levels on a crossover but hey never too late to learn
If you position the cables correctly when reinstalling your trim pieces you should be able to just pop the tweeter housing off and swap between 0db and -3db if you want to do an A/B comparison to choose your preference.
08-28-2023
TheACN wrote
Hi,

So I bought a set of Focals for my X5, but I'm lost at the crossover wiring. See the picture, the three cables on the left are form the crossover, which read Ground, 0dB and -3dB. Ground cable has a blue line. The tweeter cables are on the right. No label except the one with the blue line is a male other is female.

So; since crossover has 3 cables and tweeter has two, :confused2

Tweeters blue lines cable won't fit crossovers blue line cable (labeled ground) since they're both male.

PS. Focal install videos on youtube are useless. Does not show any detail whatsoever. The user manual that came with it is also useless, just has specs and no info on whats what.
I personally use -3dB with my Match UP8DSP, looks ok for me.
04-18-2026
Your post was so helpful! I was frustrated trying to figure that out all afternoon. Makes total sense now:)
04-19-2026
Do you have a DSP in the system?

Focal tweeters are often refered to as "too bright". Which they are if you are just connecting them to a system without DSP. The 0/-3dB wiring is there to help the situation a but. But even with the -3dB they will probably be too bright.

If you are using a DSP, and EQing the speakers, then this becomes a non-issue.
And in which case you can use the 0dB wiring, and then fix the sound with the EQ.
04-20-2026
I went with -3dB as well, definitely sounded better to my ears.