I've had a good search but only managed to find pre-printed circuitboards for good crossovers.
I have made up my mind to use a Butterworth 18db/octave filter
but my soldering skills (not to mention my electronics knowledge) sucks.
Does anyone know if you can buy pre-made crossovers using the above filter?
I did read threads on here where people don't recommend pre-made crossovers - but I was thinking more of 'non-commercial'
circuit-board with resistors and capacitors all done for you...sort of thing.
Cheers,
P
If there is nothing out there then I will give it a go myself...
I have made up my mind to use a Butterworth 18db/octave filter
but my soldering skills (not to mention my electronics knowledge) sucks.
Does anyone know if you can buy pre-made crossovers using the above filter?
I did read threads on here where people don't recommend pre-made crossovers - but I was thinking more of 'non-commercial'
circuit-board with resistors and capacitors all done for you...sort of thing.
Cheers,
P
If there is nothing out there then I will give it a go myself...
There's a big difference between pre-made active and passive crossovers. Active crossovers don't care about the speaker impedance, or the presence of other crossovers. They don't react to speaker impedance, and they combine with other active crossovers very predictably.
Did you check out Marchand electronics? Alternatively, there are many active crossovers available for pro audio, made by Behringer, Rane, and others.
Another reason why people are against using pre-made crossovers is baffle step and diffraction effects. These are dependent on the geometry of the final speaker, including driver location and baffle size/shape. In a custom crossover of high quality, these things are accounted for. Unless this is just a sub crossover, your active crossover will need to handle this as well.
Did you check out Marchand electronics? Alternatively, there are many active crossovers available for pro audio, made by Behringer, Rane, and others.
Another reason why people are against using pre-made crossovers is baffle step and diffraction effects. These are dependent on the geometry of the final speaker, including driver location and baffle size/shape. In a custom crossover of high quality, these things are accounted for. Unless this is just a sub crossover, your active crossover will need to handle this as well.
Bigfootpete said:I've had a good search but only managed to find pre-printed circuitboards for good crossovers.
I have made up my mind to use a Butterworth 18db/octave filter
but my soldering skills (not to mention my electronics knowledge) sucks.
Does anyone know if you can buy pre-made crossovers using the above filter?
I did read threads on here where people don't recommend pre-made crossovers - but I was thinking more of 'non-commercial'
circuit-board with resistors and capacitors all done for you...sort of thing.
Cheers,
P
If there is nothing out there then I will give it a go myself...
Off-the-shelf pre-made passive crossovers are a definite no-go, passive circuits need to be tailored for the environment they will operate in. You can however have a DIY/OEM supplier design and build a crossover for your speakers. I don't know who offers that service in the UK but here in North America Solen is reknown for this kind of work. Pricey though, it will cost you at least three times as much as building it yourself, expertise doesn't come cheap.
Hi Pete
Falcon Acoustics, or Wilmslow Audio will probably make up a custom crossover to order for you if you don't get on with a soldering iron.
Good luck
Mike
Falcon Acoustics, or Wilmslow Audio will probably make up a custom crossover to order for you if you don't get on with a soldering iron.
Good luck
Mike
Excellent! Thanks for the replys.
I will need to tailer the crossover for the baffle step and certainly for diffraction...
Cheers,
P
I will need to tailer the crossover for the baffle step and certainly for diffraction...
Cheers,
P
Well, funny you should ask that.
Being rather ambitious I was going to go for some rather expensive tweeters and equally expensive mid-woofers. But having read a few of the posts on here, I will firstly try my cabinet design (floorstanding with four baffles to direct the sound out a port at the front - zigzag style, kindof a horizontal transmission line), with some cheap drivers (yet to be determined)...
If that sounds sweet, then I will replace the drivers with better ones... 🙂
But any recommendations are welcome...
I'll start off with a passive crossover first, then look into active crossovers, I just don't know enough about how the powering of active x-overs fits in yet...
Being rather ambitious I was going to go for some rather expensive tweeters and equally expensive mid-woofers. But having read a few of the posts on here, I will firstly try my cabinet design (floorstanding with four baffles to direct the sound out a port at the front - zigzag style, kindof a horizontal transmission line), with some cheap drivers (yet to be determined)...
If that sounds sweet, then I will replace the drivers with better ones... 🙂
But any recommendations are welcome...
I'll start off with a passive crossover first, then look into active crossovers, I just don't know enough about how the powering of active x-overs fits in yet...
To be honest as a newbie I think you will find an active crossover easier, as it eliminates the complex driver impedance from the design. If you have enough power amps at your disposal then it's rude not to go active.
By far your best bet is to build a speaker kit. These come with premade crossovers designed specifically for the drivers used.
Pre-made passive crossovers simply don't work and tend to give a far too bright sound.
Pre-made passive crossovers simply don't work and tend to give a far too bright sound.
The crossovers is important, and should IMO be designed for the system that it is to be used in. The crossover is THE place to make corrections for eg the baffle step and shortcomings in the other parts of the system.
The best way to go about is to build the box, measure the responses of the drivers in the box separately, and then simulate a crossover in the computer with those responses. The second best is to simulate response the drivers in the box and design the filter based on the simulation.
Using a pre-made standard filter is far worse, particularly if the filter is steep.
The best way to go about is to build the box, measure the responses of the drivers in the box separately, and then simulate a crossover in the computer with those responses. The second best is to simulate response the drivers in the box and design the filter based on the simulation.
Using a pre-made standard filter is far worse, particularly if the filter is steep.
Hi Pete,
Welcome aboard, another computer techy, aye.
You seem to have the horse before the cart. It's usual to choose a set of drivers based on specs, recommendations or observation, then design the enclosure to suit.
There are exceptions. At present I am looking at what drivers will work well in transmission lines. But not a driver for an already designed transmission line. The enclosure is closely related to the driver, ie both are paper weights without the other.
As a newcomer, I suggest you learn to use a soldering iron, you will need that skill terminating wires on the drivers and enclosure regardless of your choice of first project.
There are plenty of others building projects. Have a look at what they are doing, follow the links, and dont forget to ask questions.
Keeping it simple doesn't mean forgoing quality either. There are some fine WR drivers out there that work well in transmission lines, open baffle, bass reflex and sealed enclosures.
Welcome aboard, another computer techy, aye.
You seem to have the horse before the cart. It's usual to choose a set of drivers based on specs, recommendations or observation, then design the enclosure to suit.
There are exceptions. At present I am looking at what drivers will work well in transmission lines. But not a driver for an already designed transmission line. The enclosure is closely related to the driver, ie both are paper weights without the other.
As a newcomer, I suggest you learn to use a soldering iron, you will need that skill terminating wires on the drivers and enclosure regardless of your choice of first project.
There are plenty of others building projects. Have a look at what they are doing, follow the links, and dont forget to ask questions.
Keeping it simple doesn't mean forgoing quality either. There are some fine WR drivers out there that work well in transmission lines, open baffle, bass reflex and sealed enclosures.
Svante said:
Thanks, that sounds like good advice to me, although I have heard differently, that sounds like the most logical way to go about it!
Is that because it makes it harder to get the fine tuning right?
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So how do manufacturers (or anybody really) come up with new designs?
I will do some of my own soldering - my first crossover was a bit of a mess though...So need lots of practice, just thinking if I could get a decent one made up for not too much money (Thinking of the Falcon LS3/5A (23T) - £30) then it would look (and hopefully sound much better than anything I could do).
"So how do manufacturers (or anybody really) come up with new designs?"
By combining well proven techniques with a creative ability, and venturing beyound the sphere. Learning from mistakes (mistakes can be good things) as you go.
I suggest before you purchase anything, have a good listen to as many systems as you can. Listen for things you don't like - no speaker system is perfect- and factor that into your goal.
By combining well proven techniques with a creative ability, and venturing beyound the sphere. Learning from mistakes (mistakes can be good things) as you go.
I suggest before you purchase anything, have a good listen to as many systems as you can. Listen for things you don't like - no speaker system is perfect- and factor that into your goal.
This is good advice in general, but still the drivers need to be perfect in order for it to work out of the box. There still is the baffle step to compensate, though this could be done actively.richie00boy said:
This is the reality if you choose not to learn the intricacies of crossovers. It is the only way to guarantee a design that will work (well, some of the time 🙂)Dave said:
There are four aspects to a driver from this perspective. Frequency response - phase, impedance magnitude - phase. The two impedance plots per driver show whats seen by the crossover (what it needs to work on), the two frequency response plots per driver show what the crossover needs to be achieving, and how the drivers will blend.Bigfootpete said:
Take it slowly. Get some background in a simulator like speaker workshop or something. After a setting up learning curve, to a point speaker workshop will lead you in the right direction.
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