Crossover Help

[dustruss]

Hello

This is my first crossover I am building and im not sure if i am doing it right.

Im not sure if i am hooking everthing up the right way.

Do i use regular speaker wire, and do i solder the speaker wire with the components.

[Dave Bullet]

Normal AWG16 speaker wire is fine for woofers, 18 gauge or less is fine for tweeters. The larger the wire the better (lower series resistance) but there is a law of diminishing returns. I'm not a member of the big fat wire / silver solder / foil inductor / expensive capacitor club.

Are you building from a kit or a proven design?

David.

[dustruss]

Sorry I am having trouble attaching the pictures. I browse and find the file but then it doesnt let me attach it.

[dustruss]

Sorry about that my post probobly doesnt make any sense without the photos.

I wanted to make sure I was taking my crossover from a schematic to actual parts correctly. Im not sure why it isnt letting me attach any photos.

Does anyone know why

thank you

[LittleSickFish]

Maybe because you are a new member? These rules for new members really sucks

[dustruss]

Originally posted by Dave Bullet


Are you building from a kit or a proven design?

David.

I am building from a design. Its not letting me attach any photos yet but when I can I will attach my schematic and photos of my built crossover.

[BlueWizard]

Is there some place on-line were you could place the photos, then give us links to them?

In general, you want to keep your inductors/coils away from each other. If they are somewhat near then one should be placed on its side and the other at right angles on its end. Think of one as a spare tire laying on the ground, and the other as a tire mounted on a car.

You can just wire the component ends together, but some people like to use terminal strips as seen in this photo (also note that the iron core coils are at right angles to each other) -

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/TJL3W.htm

Scroll way down almost to the end. Notice the two terminal/solder strips near the bottom of the photo, one on each side of 47uf green and the 10uf white capacitors. They are available at Radio Shack for $1.50 for a pack of four, and each connector/solder point will take several wires.

Here is another one from the same source so you can see the general construction -

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/AcapellaNEXT.htm

Again, scroll down near the bottom.

Here is another where you can see air core coil mounted at right angles to each other similar to the 'car tire' example I mentioned above.

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/SP38.htm

Diagrams in the middle and several good photos near the end of the page.


If your crossovers are coming out similar to these, then you are doing good.

steve/bluewizard

[Dave Bullet]

Before soldering anything, I would use strip connectors (you know those plastic blocks of terminals with small screws used for joining wire) or alligator clips, and temporarily wire up the crossover for 2 reasons:
1. You may want to apply tweaks the designer has posted to voice the speakers to your liking
2. If you make a mistake - easy to fix

When happy to make permanent, mount the components on a thin piece of ply / MDF and tie down with cable ties / hot glue gun. Twist ends of components together and apply solder.

Cheers,
David.

[dustruss]

Originally posted by BlueWizard
Is there some place on-line were you could place the photos, then give us links to them?



steve/bluewizard

There isnt anywhere i could put them. I could email them to you.

[BlueWizard]

I think Dave is referring to these -

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=090-842

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=090-844

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=090-850

These could also be used to connect the incoming and outgoing wires; in case you ever need to work on your speakers, you can remove the connections.

The terminal strips I was referring to for interconnects on the crossover board are more like this -

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

Steve/bluewizard