Test crossovers?

[mattmcl]

Is there a way to test crossovers with a multimeter? I would expect I could hook up the xovers to my amp, play a certain frequency, and be able to tell if the xover is sending that frequency through to a specific driver or blocking it. Thanks.

[Cousin Billy]

I am also new to building crossovers. The crossover does not stop frequencies outside of their range, they simply attenuate them, I think.

[Inductor]

Originally Posted by mattmcl

Is there a way to test crossovers with a multimeter? I would expect I could hook up the xovers to my amp, play a certain frequency, and be able to tell if the xover is sending that frequency through to a specific driver or blocking it. Thanks.

The speaker drivers are an integral part of the xover. So that's not possible unless you consider the complete electrical circuit in simulations or in real measurements.

[vincent.mester]

whats attenuate mean please

[wintermute]

Originally Posted by vincent.mester

whats attenuate mean please

basically means to reduce in level. ie make sound softer.. the higher the attenuation the less loud the sound will be. The filter order will determine the slope of the attenuation, with first order attenuating at a rate of 6db / octave.

Say your crossover freqency is 500 Hz... this means that at 1000Hz the signal level will be 6db lower than at 500Hz

higher order crossovers attenuate more rapidly, basically second order at the rate of 12db/octave 3rd order at the rate of 18db/octave etc.

depending on who you listen to, either -6db or -10db corresponds to a halving of the volume level.

Hope that clears things up a bit

Tony.

[wintermute]

Originally Posted by mattmcl

Is there a way to test crossovers with a multimeter? I would expect I could hook up the xovers to my amp, play a certain frequency, and be able to tell if the xover is sending that frequency through to a specific driver or blocking it. Thanks.

If you have a cheap full range speaker you can easily connect it to each point in the crossover, and play your specified freq to see how much that is attenuated for the different points... it will only be points a *long* way past the crossover freq that you should get no sound at all.

You could use a multimeter with a freq function I guess. The AC of most cheap multimeters doesn't work well with high frequencies.

Tony.

[gedlee]

These days with uber-cheap software and soundcards there is simply no reason to use a "multimeter" for this kind of thing.

[chris661]

winISD has it's own frequency generator.

[skeptic43]

You can use your VOM for electrical tests but you'll need a tone generator that you hook up to your amp or, get a CD that plays discreet test tones. Set your VOM on AC voltage and hook up the leads to whichever driver xover output termimals you want to test and record the voltages as the tones change. You should get a steady peak voltage in the pass band range and a drop off in voltage outside of the pass band range.

Another way to do this is hook up the crossover to a speaker as others have suggested and acquire a sound level meter. These are relatively inexpensive. Set the meter in front of the speaker and go thru the test tones and record the dB levels. You can plot the results M'Soft excel or other type of spreadsheet software.