You might prefer the Behringer Ultra-Drive Pro DCX2496 digital EQ and speaker crossover, no computer required 🙂 .
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/manuals/248-669-behringer-dcx2496-manual-41812.pdf
The design is old (no FIR) and there are a fair amount that have gone bad (frying egg noise..) but others are still working OK after 20 years of use.
Since you already have the Rane AC23 as a backup, there's less chance of the DCX2496 failing 😉
Art
Thank you for the info about the MA6. I will talk to my tech guy.
Also, thanks for the info on the DCX. I have one I got at an auction. Have never tried it.
Also, thanks for the info on the DCX. I have one I got at an auction. Have never tried it.
It’s actually a competently designed unit based on calculations from Filter Designer on the Texas Instruments website. The chips have been selected for use in Sallen Key filters because they are resistant to common mode distortion with this type of topography.
Douglas Self discusses this in detail in his book The Design of Active Crossovers.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315187891/design-active-crossovers-douglas-self
The resources are there and it’s not difficult to correctly design an active crossover in the analogue domain. A bit like going to your local library.
The design guide in the link below explains the process clearly.
There is no reason why a diy loudspeaker builder can’t figure it out with some foundation knowledge. It’s not that difficult if they make the effort to read up on it and do the work instead of picking peoples brains here.
Before the www you had no choice but to buy books and learn it. Unfortunately the www is used as a short cut without actually any understanding of what they are doing.
https://www.ti.com/video/6165744706001
https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/tidu035/tidu035.pdf?ts=1721625152131&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ti.com%2Ftool%2FTIPD134
I thought it had merit or I would not have spent $250. I could not get any music out of it. I spoke by email with the support person but from his comments I got discouraged and sent it back.
Madisonears - I am definitely interested. I have a question/ information. On my current setup my Rane AC23 has all RCA fittings. When I go to my Rane MA6 I use RCA wiring until I go into the amplifier. There I use a RCA to TRS adapter. The support person from Sublime hinted that this could be a complication. They had balanced or unbalanced. Souns like my set-up sort of went down the middle. Any thoughts about this?
You don’t need balanced outputs for short cable runs. Just be careful of the grounding.
Your options
You can go on eBay and score an adjustable Accuphase, Pioneer or Yamaha vintage analogue active crossover that is adjustable. They are HiFi quality but they aren’t cheap.
Some of these have plug in cards.
The older pro audio adjustable active crossovers are not hifi like the Rane or the old BSS.
This is the thing. If you want to play around with small hifi drivers from seas, scanspeak or sb audio and to get a “nice “ hifi sound it’s quite a challenge messing around to get it just right.
There is frankly no comparison. It’s horses for courses like anything. I personally haven’t used any hifi drivers for over 20 years. My reference is the JBL4345 (modified) bi amped when at home or the DD67000 when in Hong Kong.
Hence there are the older devotees of hi efficiency systems, big Rudy Bozaks, the larger Jbl monitors and the Altec A7 which reviewer use as a reference today.
Is this your thing?
But if you’re dealing with large drivers, horns ect it’s a diff ball game. It’s about a big realistic sound in your room. The crossover is as a rule has much broader brush strokes because it’s the realism of the drivers that is a massive difference over smaller hifi drivers. Kent English at Pass Labs once used a modified A7 with Tad 2001’s. It was very impressive.
Crossover characteristics.
Download the Passlabs xvr1 manual. It’s an excellent guide to setting up on active crossover.
To start with typically a 12 or 18 db filter slope depending on the driver and the crossover point like 300, 500 or 800 hertz for a two way system or perhaps 5000 hertz or 8000 hertz if it’s a three way set up.
These days I tend to use LR 12 db filters because the sum flat and blend better than BW 12 db filter. Originally only BW filters were used because LR filters came later.
24 db filters are better for high crossover frequencies. But to work correctly the low pass filter can require an all pass group delay circuit. It’s deeper than l think you should be looking at right now.
The Custom designed analogue active crossover:
All you need is the original schematic if it exists of one of your favourite systems. The schematic can easily be used to replicate what’s needed for an active crossover.I can easily engineer an active crossover from a passive network schematic in Leap 5.
You then or your builder fits specific parts values to the Pass diy 6/ 24 db kit.
If you have information or specs on the drivers that you plan to use this can be useful if you want a custom designed analogue active crossover.
User adjustable crossovers
One thing Nelson and l looked at was adjustable trim pots which allowed a good half octave of adjustment for the crossover frequency when we were evaluating the prototypes.
Nelson went with dip switches in his FirstWattB4. But that can get confusing when you have a rows of dip switches like in the attachment.
Below is one of the large format Jfet crossovers we worked on. It’s not a kit or in production so don’t ask. But you can expand the Kit Pass 6/24 kit to scale up your system.
My advice is start off with a simple set up and grow with it.
You need a certain amount of knowledge. It’s not like a preamp. You have to configure it to your specific needs. It can get fiddly.
So there’s some food for thought.
Have a think about where you want to start. There needs to be a starting point to define your needs. Then it can be designed and the implementation specified.
Your options
You can go on eBay and score an adjustable Accuphase, Pioneer or Yamaha vintage analogue active crossover that is adjustable. They are HiFi quality but they aren’t cheap.
Some of these have plug in cards.
The older pro audio adjustable active crossovers are not hifi like the Rane or the old BSS.
This is the thing. If you want to play around with small hifi drivers from seas, scanspeak or sb audio and to get a “nice “ hifi sound it’s quite a challenge messing around to get it just right.
There is frankly no comparison. It’s horses for courses like anything. I personally haven’t used any hifi drivers for over 20 years. My reference is the JBL4345 (modified) bi amped when at home or the DD67000 when in Hong Kong.
Hence there are the older devotees of hi efficiency systems, big Rudy Bozaks, the larger Jbl monitors and the Altec A7 which reviewer use as a reference today.
Is this your thing?
But if you’re dealing with large drivers, horns ect it’s a diff ball game. It’s about a big realistic sound in your room. The crossover is as a rule has much broader brush strokes because it’s the realism of the drivers that is a massive difference over smaller hifi drivers. Kent English at Pass Labs once used a modified A7 with Tad 2001’s. It was very impressive.
Crossover characteristics.
Download the Passlabs xvr1 manual. It’s an excellent guide to setting up on active crossover.
To start with typically a 12 or 18 db filter slope depending on the driver and the crossover point like 300, 500 or 800 hertz for a two way system or perhaps 5000 hertz or 8000 hertz if it’s a three way set up.
These days I tend to use LR 12 db filters because the sum flat and blend better than BW 12 db filter. Originally only BW filters were used because LR filters came later.
24 db filters are better for high crossover frequencies. But to work correctly the low pass filter can require an all pass group delay circuit. It’s deeper than l think you should be looking at right now.
The Custom designed analogue active crossover:
All you need is the original schematic if it exists of one of your favourite systems. The schematic can easily be used to replicate what’s needed for an active crossover.I can easily engineer an active crossover from a passive network schematic in Leap 5.
You then or your builder fits specific parts values to the Pass diy 6/ 24 db kit.
If you have information or specs on the drivers that you plan to use this can be useful if you want a custom designed analogue active crossover.
User adjustable crossovers
One thing Nelson and l looked at was adjustable trim pots which allowed a good half octave of adjustment for the crossover frequency when we were evaluating the prototypes.
Nelson went with dip switches in his FirstWattB4. But that can get confusing when you have a rows of dip switches like in the attachment.
Below is one of the large format Jfet crossovers we worked on. It’s not a kit or in production so don’t ask. But you can expand the Kit Pass 6/24 kit to scale up your system.
My advice is start off with a simple set up and grow with it.
You need a certain amount of knowledge. It’s not like a preamp. You have to configure it to your specific needs. It can get fiddly.
So there’s some food for thought.
Have a think about where you want to start. There needs to be a starting point to define your needs. Then it can be designed and the implementation specified.
Attachments
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If you can provide more information about the 2-3 way speakers you are using then we can start to answer why this might be and also look more closely at your active crossover requirements.
That way we can get to the point of your post.
I have many pairs of speakers and several amplifiers. I can only listen to one set up at a time..Right now my wife is on vacation so I have 3 systems set up. I have the JBL 308 mk2s, a 3 way system with the 10" Usher woofer and Parts Express mid dome and RST28 tweeter and a 2 way system with a Peerless tweeter and a 6.5" Usher woofer.
My next move will be to replace the PE drivers with Morel 1308 and MDT29.
One of my favorite pair of speakers are 12" B&C driver with a 6x12" horn and a BMS 4550 horn driver.
The B&C go from 60 to 2000 hz. I not even began to play with my ribbons yet.
My next move will be to replace the PE drivers with Morel 1308 and MDT29.
One of my favorite pair of speakers are 12" B&C driver with a 6x12" horn and a BMS 4550 horn driver.
The B&C go from 60 to 2000 hz. I not even began to play with my ribbons yet.
Post 25 was too much information But thank you for your thoughts.
I think that if I am lucky enough to get one of the Nelson Pass crossovers I will have to learn what it can do to feed my imagination for speakers.
I worked on a speaker project with XRK971 using an 8" PE woofer and a Scan 4" full Range.
I think that if I am lucky enough to get one of the Nelson Pass crossovers I will have to learn what it can do to feed my imagination for speakers.
I worked on a speaker project with XRK971 using an 8" PE woofer and a Scan 4" full Range.
While I have my 2 way crossover out I am going to play with my 3.5 " woofer and 1/2" twerter like Scott Sehlin. I always had trouble trying to get the xo inside the 0.4 cf box.
I think you meant post 26.
In the kindest possible way the lesson here is that unless you or someone like you fleshes out exactly what they are trying to do snd what you specifically need to know how an earth can we offer you any meaningful assistance?
It’s like talking about a star in the universe. But which one?
It shouldn’t take 10-15 post to understand you.
With my current set up, I am using a 10 inch Usher woofer crossing at 1000 hz to Parts Express Dome mid to a PE RST28 tweeter at 3000hz.
This is what I want to do. Next I would like to swap out Morel drivers in the mid and tweeter position.
Madisonears = I got my refund from Sublime so I am ready to proceed when you are. I do not understand enough to pick C or C/2. Can you help based on what I have told you?
This is what I want to do. Next I would like to swap out Morel drivers in the mid and tweeter position.
Madisonears = I got my refund from Sublime so I am ready to proceed when you are. I do not understand enough to pick C or C/2. Can you help based on what I have told you?