Hello,
I want to biamp my speakers (Wharfedale Diamond 10.1) and I need a crossover.
My amp is a Marantz 4230 (quadradial) and it has 4 separate amplifiers inside, as well as 4 inputs for each.
So I was thinking of either diy-ing a Linkwitz-Riley 4th order active crossover that I can set the crossover frequency like my speakers passive crossover did, or buying a commercial one like a Behringer CX2300 (not cx2310!).
I don't have a lot of cash and I can get the CX2300 for 50$. It's upgradeable as well, all through hole components. Has more features than the diy route, and also a case. That's what bothers me the most at diy, cases. Expensive to buy separate.
Diy route I can try and get the pcb done locally for 5$ or so, or order from FusionPCB 10 pieces for 20$ and have a double sided pcb. Then there's the cost of the capacitors. Can't get away with less than 10-12$ only for them. Then power supply / transformer etc.
Even if I replace some parts in the cx2300 I still have a case/knobs/leds 🙂
Behringer CX2310 is a joke inside, lunchbox:
http://dcx2496.caraudiotechnique.com/files/includes/images/cx2300-cx2310.jpg
Behringer CX2300 is something else:
http://84.255.203.119/cx2300/IMG_0001.JPG
I can also upgrade it with output transformers from a Behringer DI4000 if I find a cheap one (has 4 Behringer OT-1 transformers inside that fit on the crossover board). If that would make any improvement to the crossover. Can experiment though.
Also the CX2300 is claimed to have a Linkwitz-Riley 24 dB/octave inside.
I also found the complete schematics for it.
I already diy-ied a Linkwitz-Riley crossover pcb about one year ago but for 2.1 output. That is not useful in this situation as I need 2x2 channels output.
I would also get the nice XLR connectors with the CX2300 (not that they are useful at the moment, maybe later when I have a balanced source).
Being knob adjusted I'd have at first to check the crossover point on oscilloscope but then it's fixed.
Also with the CX2300 I can adjust each channel gain as there's a 5db difference between the SPL of tweeter/midbass drivers. At least that's what the passive speaker crossover tells me.
Crossover frequency with level offset for the tweeter works out at about 1.85KHz.
I attached the difference between speaker passive/low level active crossover. There's no contest, and phase is great with active.
I want to biamp my speakers (Wharfedale Diamond 10.1) and I need a crossover.
My amp is a Marantz 4230 (quadradial) and it has 4 separate amplifiers inside, as well as 4 inputs for each.
So I was thinking of either diy-ing a Linkwitz-Riley 4th order active crossover that I can set the crossover frequency like my speakers passive crossover did, or buying a commercial one like a Behringer CX2300 (not cx2310!).
I don't have a lot of cash and I can get the CX2300 for 50$. It's upgradeable as well, all through hole components. Has more features than the diy route, and also a case. That's what bothers me the most at diy, cases. Expensive to buy separate.
Diy route I can try and get the pcb done locally for 5$ or so, or order from FusionPCB 10 pieces for 20$ and have a double sided pcb. Then there's the cost of the capacitors. Can't get away with less than 10-12$ only for them. Then power supply / transformer etc.
Even if I replace some parts in the cx2300 I still have a case/knobs/leds 🙂
Behringer CX2310 is a joke inside, lunchbox:
http://dcx2496.caraudiotechnique.com/files/includes/images/cx2300-cx2310.jpg
Behringer CX2300 is something else:
http://84.255.203.119/cx2300/IMG_0001.JPG
I can also upgrade it with output transformers from a Behringer DI4000 if I find a cheap one (has 4 Behringer OT-1 transformers inside that fit on the crossover board). If that would make any improvement to the crossover. Can experiment though.
Also the CX2300 is claimed to have a Linkwitz-Riley 24 dB/octave inside.
I also found the complete schematics for it.
I already diy-ied a Linkwitz-Riley crossover pcb about one year ago but for 2.1 output. That is not useful in this situation as I need 2x2 channels output.
I would also get the nice XLR connectors with the CX2300 (not that they are useful at the moment, maybe later when I have a balanced source).
Being knob adjusted I'd have at first to check the crossover point on oscilloscope but then it's fixed.
Also with the CX2300 I can adjust each channel gain as there's a 5db difference between the SPL of tweeter/midbass drivers. At least that's what the passive speaker crossover tells me.
Crossover frequency with level offset for the tweeter works out at about 1.85KHz.
I attached the difference between speaker passive/low level active crossover. There's no contest, and phase is great with active.
Attachments
Well, the Behringer design is actually a State Variable Crossover that is also presented on Rod Elliott's site. Project 148 to be more exact. What I wanted to build is Project 09.
I see that Rod Elliott himself said he used the state variable design until he upgraded it to the project 9 design.
Also weirdly enough I see that he presents the state variable crossover as 12db/octave while Behringer says it's 24db/octave. I had a look at the datasheet and it looks very close to the Rod Elliot's design.
I'm not sure if the overall result would be better (sq wise) by building myself project 9 or upgrading the cx2300. I would have all the extra features (like a case for starters 🙂 )
I see that Rod Elliott himself said he used the state variable design until he upgraded it to the project 9 design.
Also weirdly enough I see that he presents the state variable crossover as 12db/octave while Behringer says it's 24db/octave. I had a look at the datasheet and it looks very close to the Rod Elliot's design.
I'm not sure if the overall result would be better (sq wise) by building myself project 9 or upgrading the cx2300. I would have all the extra features (like a case for starters 🙂 )
You may want to consider a mini-dsp. There you get crossover AND BSC you can program. I've gone digital simply for the accuracy over my DIY 2.1 LR 4 I did 20 years ago.
I didn't think of that actually 😱
I presume this would be a good start?
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Indeed but it's only 48kHz at my price point.
I would prefer to get a DCX2496 if I had the cash...
Hi,
Could be built into the active x/o, but like RE's site electrical
L/R 4th order is nearly always wrong due to the drivers.
Proper acoustic 4th order x/o's are nothing like electrical.
Look at Zaphs site : zaphaudio.com
rgds, sreten.
Thanks Sreten,
I see that this speaker's drivers are a bit buried inside the enclosure at least 5mm deep.
Will check out Zaphs site.
So you say to research 4th order passive?
I see that this speaker's drivers are a bit buried inside the enclosure at least 5mm deep.
Will check out Zaphs site.
So you say to research 4th order passive?
Hi,
You can't accurately model drivers with resistors.
This is 4th order L/R acoustic : Zaph|Audio - ZA-SR71
Work out why.
rgds, sreten.
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