X-over advice.....

[Tristanc1]

Hi,

So I just sold my speakers in the hopes that I could fold that money into a superior DIY project, however i'm stuck on how i'm going to do the crossover. There seem to be so many options available and I have a really bad tendency when it comes to audio to buy things that I don't need, or buy something then 2 months later re-do it and lose a whole whack of money, so my hopes are to avoid that with my upcoming diy project(s). I know that there will be tweaking, adjusting, possibly adding a few things here and there, but what I want to avoid is making the wrong decision and then scrapping the whole thing....

The equipment that I have now is a Mcintosh Pre and a set of Rogue audio M-120 mono's, both of which i'd rather not part with....But if I go with an active/PC crossover will those amps go to waste with just driving 1 driver? Also, would 2 stereo gainclones work for powering the mids/tweeters in a three way design? Thinking of going with 1 8", a 4" mid, and tweeter per side.

I have about $1500 to part with, thinking that 600-700 of that will go towards drivers, the rest on the x-over.

Any suggestions?
Tristan

[nunayafb]

Im not very knowledgable on amps but I've heard the gainclones are good to excellent for low power duties, and for the mid and tweet I would consider it.
$800 on xovers!!!!!!!!! Might I recommend you look at getting one of these.
A 3-way xover for $129, Also check out some of the other crossovers.

For drivers, if you want a really good speaker set I would recommend a larger woofer. I like 15's and up, but these are not always practical, so I would suggest at least one 12, or at least two 10's. If you use a small woofer, the system will be rather close in comparison to a two way. The mid can then be a 3 or 4" dome or anything really. With a good high extending mid, you can go with a small tweeter(3/4") and obtain a very uniform power response all the way up.

This is of course not the only way to approach the job however, and many very successful designs have been completed that follow none of my suggestions. My suggestions are based on lowering distortion and providing a uniform power response. Yet you can also lower distortion by lowering the volume a trade-off, if you have very reflective walls you might not want strong off-axis performance, and dipole will suit you better. That is what im currently building.

[Willitwork]

Originally posted by Tristanc1
I have about $1500 to part with, thinking that 600-700 of that will go towards drivers, the rest on the x-over.

Any suggestions?

On that kind of a budget I would put more money on quality drivers that in turn will require simpler cossovers.

[Tristanc1]

A 3-way xover for $129, Also check out some of the other crossovers

I was initially looking at some of the behringer stuff, and it looks good on paper but all behringer stuff looks good on paper but generally falls flat when put into use, that's been my experience with their gear anyways in the pro-audio realm a few bad experiences to say the least..... But even with the something like the DCX2496 add a few gainclones to that and your almost at $800...$800 Canadian anyways

For drivers, if you want a really good speaker set I would recommend a larger woofer

I might take your advice there...I could fit 2 10's in the enclosure that I have in mind. I have to take the aesthetics into account a little though, i'm hoping to use these speakers as an 'end of term' project( i'm in industrial design). But two tens should work...mmmm woofers....Not saying that a 15" doesn't look good, but I don't think I could get that to work with what I have in mind.

On that kind of a budget I would put more money on quality drivers that in turn will require simpler cossovers.

So maybe go with drivers that have smoother rolloffs, more extended response negating the need for steep filters? Maybe use a 1st order on the woofer-mid and a 2nd order on the mid-tweeter kind of thing?

I've been slowly working my way through the 50+ page thread dedicated to PC x-over's, and I must say that appeals to me quite a bit. I'm used to using plugins and generally doing audio related things on a computer so that wouldn't be all that steep of a learning curve. The only thing i'm worried about is connectivity/latency/delay and the like.... I'm not sure if I could get my Xbox 360, dvdplayer, etc succesfully running with a minimum of hassle. Has anyone had any luck or experience with connecting multiple sources through such an arrangement??

Thanks for the input so far!
Tristan

[lndm]

Originally posted by Tristanc1
some of the behringer stuff, and it looks good on paper but all behringer stuff looks good on paper but generally falls flat when put into use, that's been my experience

Some people seem to feel (present company excluded ) that an active crossover relieves you from the complications of crossover design. Of course, to ignore the real needs of the drivers and of the combination of the drivers, will give you a result worse than a good passive crossover.

FWIW, I am happy with passive crossovers, but then, I typically don't use overly complicated crossovers.

So maybe go with drivers that have smoother rolloffs, more extended response negating the need for steep filters? Maybe use a 1st order on the woofer-mid and a 2nd order on the mid-tweeter kind of thing?

A ragged response doesn't necessarily need a steep filter. In fact, be careful not to use a steep filter to sweep a problem under the mat

I use a first order low pass filter with a small peak filter an octave below the crossover frequency, and a cone breakup, filtered just an octave above the crossover frequency. Finesse