Active XO for Altec 604's

[Cal Weldon]

604-8H's to be exact. Can't make my own so I would like to buy. What is your choice and why.

Thank you for your time.

[planet10]

What does a good passive look like?

dave

[Cal Weldon]

Couple of knobs, a few coil thingees, some round tubes, square tubes and a bunch of wires connecting them all.

DCX2496 good enough or is there something else I should look at? Rane maybe?

I would like it to have RCA plugs if possible.

[planet10]

Originally Posted by Cal Weldon

DCX2496 good enough or is there something else I should look at? Rane maybe?

The DCX is certainly versatile enuff. Sonically some people are fine with them. The 2 i have heard, only the microphone could enjoy. I have a full set of Bud's tansformers to replace the analog sections as a start to make the keeper listenable.

A cheap, used pro XO would be OK to start, you can always flip for close to what you paid. Long term we may need to build you one (as in Daniel will actually build it). Maybe a B1 based creature.

dave

[Pano]

I came up with a good 604-8K crossover on the DCX. Don't know if I still have it. Will check. Was 3rd order at ~1.6KHz, IIRC. Some spread on the frequencies and delay shift.
Most pro crossovers lock you into set curves, the DCX does not.

With the transformers the the DCX is pretty good. Easy mod to do.

For passive crossover, look to Jeff Markwart's work.

[zeonrider]

Originally Posted by Cal Weldon

604-8H's to be exact. Can't make my own so I would like to buy. What is your choice and why.

Somethig from :

dbx Professional Products

dbx® Crossovers

Regards zeoN_Rider

[Pano]

What are you going to do with these? What's your end use?
Will they be party speakers, or for music in the living room?

For party speakers just get a nice pro crossover and forget it. It will work fine and protect the drivers. If you want to wring all you can out of them for home use, that's a different matter.

[Cal Weldon]

I'm not sure what the end use will be as I'm not sure where I'll be living in a couple years. They won't be party speakers.

I am concerned about the 1.6k though. The stock is 1.5 at 12dB on the low and 18dB on the high and it's sounds too high to me. I would like to make it lower and steeper and be careful with the volume.

[d to the g]

My 604C horn pretty much stop loading at 1.6k. Pushing it beyond that isn't going to get you anything except lots of diaphragm excursion. I've been speaking with Jacek (jzagaga) about a replacement horn, and there's at least one example of a wooden horn on the web.

[Pano]

Agree with d to the g. That Mantaray horn is no good below 1600Hz. Stay there. It's one of the problems of the Mantaray, it will not play down low enough to meet the 15" woofer (well). The older sectional horns are smaller and actually benefit from some "side spill" (my term) that means the 15" cone loads the tweeter a bit.

You can go 2nd or 3rd order on the woofer, both work. 3rd is a good idea on the horn. You'll also need a shelf filter on the horn to bring up the top end.

Bottom line: Don't do what you think will sound best, do what really sounds best. BTDT