External enclosure for crossover?

[Wyloch]

So I've gathered from much reading that a good practice is to place the crossover board somewhere other than inside the speaker enclosure.

Is this correct?

If so, any recommended enclosures? Or if not, what types of materials should I avoid? I remember making headphone amps back in the day with metal Hammond enclosures....

I'd like to use something that is the standard 17" width so that I can just include them in my stack.

[a.wayne]

Keep the x-over as close to the drivers as possible .................

[weltersys]

If your inductors are not sloppy, mounting inside the cabinet will probably not have an audible effect.

That said, getting a passive crossover correct is the hardest part of speaker design (at least for me!) and having it outside the cabinet makes it much easier to do comparisons.

If you decide to go bi or tri amp later, you can put the wires directly to your amps.

If you are using adequate speaker cable gauge, there will be no difference in locating your crossovers by your amplifier rather than right next to the speaker.

Mounting the crossovers on a piece of plywood or MDF is OK in general. A metal enclosure would require insulating all the components, but would be heat resistant.

The resistors (and the coils to some extent) will be generating heat, so a small closed enclosure would not be advisable, as you would be cooking the capacitors, which will reduce their service life.

[simon dart]

Crossovers in commercial design are mounted in the cabinent for purely economic reasons. If you go external you can benefit from ease of access for tweaking, greatly reduced vibration, and no interference from driver magnetic fields and you can design in proper component spacing and orientation to reduce interaction. It makes a difference.


Don't use any metal, even aluminum can mess with a coil's inductance:

Link

[Wyloch]

Got it.

Use a large enclosure (perhaps with a small fan), not metal, and use "appropriate speaker wire guage."

I use 12 guage right now. Adequate?

[weltersys]

12 gauge wire is fine for 8 ohm speakers running 5 meters or so. It is a good idea to use the same length for both speakers, even if one is closer to the amp.

The link Simon Dart posted shows good reason not to use metal near inductors, and how much orientation to each other affects their values.

If you desire to enclose the crossover, some air holes for passive ventilation should get rid of the heat. If you need a fan, something is probably wrong!