Since I don't have the resources (at this point) to go all in on obtaining a full loudspeaker testing set-up, I was wondering if anyone tried this approach; purchase something like the Behringer CX3400 active crossover a few small power amps and a pre-amp and attempt to determine an accurate crossover point by experimentation (by ear). Is this a feasible approach? It seems like this approach would not be very expensive and it would also allow you to utilize it as a active system.
Yes, a lot of folks do this. But if you want to do it "really right" you'll use something like the DCX2496 which will allow you to set different slopes/orders and underlap or overlap the points. That can be very important to advanced crossover design.
With the CX3400 I think you can spread the frequencies some, but you'll always be stuck with L/R 4th order. If that's what you want, then no problem. And it's much faster.
With the CX3400 I think you can spread the frequencies some, but you'll always be stuck with L/R 4th order. If that's what you want, then no problem. And it's much faster.
The DCX is indeed very useful for this. If you haven't turfed the analog sections thou, you'll still need measure kit, because it is something only a mic can listen too (at least the 2 i have heard -- no Michael, my trafos still reside on the shelf
)dave
I'd also recommend staying active.
I even think that active with cheap&cheerful (as opposed to cheap&nasty) amps will sound better than passive with an expensive amp.
In an active setup an amp with a damping factor of 70 would have probably more control over the driver than an amp with a DF of 400 or more in a passive one.
I even think that active with cheap&cheerful (as opposed to cheap&nasty) amps will sound better than passive with an expensive amp.
In an active setup an amp with a damping factor of 70 would have probably more control over the driver than an amp with a DF of 400 or more in a passive one.
Sure it can be done (and probably should be tried at least once as an exercise), but there's a real possibility of your excitable and fickle brain leading you very astray and into Bose territory.... (but having a 'reference' loudspeaker to target might help keep things manageable)
Last edited:
there is some software that can manipulate soudcard outputs to act as a simple programmable active crossvoer, and can do lvl adjustment, and different slopes, yadada.
you can use it to find nice crossover point, but afterwards building a passive xover based on it.. will be quite different. as passive crossover elements tend to be more tha what one needs
you can use it to find nice crossover point, but afterwards building a passive xover based on it.. will be quite different. as passive crossover elements tend to be more tha what one needs
I'm on the stay active camp, it did wonders on my old Tannoy D611's.
With the current speakers I set the crossovers at low frequencies for best imaging, but if I want to go really loud (more than the current 107dB/1m) I can just raise them easily on the DCX's to prevent early distortion.
It just provides so much more flexibility.
With the current speakers I set the crossovers at low frequencies for best imaging, but if I want to go really loud (more than the current 107dB/1m) I can just raise them easily on the DCX's to prevent early distortion.
It just provides so much more flexibility.
I don't think it is a feasible approach. Measurement tools/software are cheap/free nowadays, that would be the 1st priority.
Remember that it is the acoustic output (e.g. LR2, LR4. BW, etc.) that matters. Electrical slopes can be anything.
Hence get something that is most flexible (ie. MiniDSP). Good example of the capability is the Linkwitz transform. Very useful especially shaping tweeter's acoustical response.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.