Crossover - where to spend the money

[stretchneck]

Cheers - why steel laminate to woofer?

 

[ScottG]

Hi,

For the attached crossover where would it be best to focus spend?

I plan to use air core inductors throughout, but would it be best to focus spend on the capacitor to the woofer?

I can't hear much above 11kHz, so therefore I should perhaps use cheaper caps to the tweeter?

The 2 ohm resistor in the signal-path of the tweeter is the most important. (..duelund.)

2nd (and close 3rd) are the signal-path cap's for the tweeter.

4th is the inductor in the signal-path for the woofer.


Think of the resistor as an upper limit on clarity - if you don't get that right then everything else is necessarily limited in that signal-path, where throwing more money at the problem of cap's results in little difference.

The cap's (and particularly the lead cap) is character (with some loss in clarity) -and that character is dependent on the partnering tweeter.

Likewise the type of inductor is dependent on the partnering woofer AND the amplifier (..and the type of current handling it has). So again, choose for character.

With character there is no set "right component", it's a matter of synergy.

ex. if you got a noisy hashy (linear response) tweeter that usually provides a bright subjective result then look to something that damp's the signal a bit more (..usually an "oil" cap). If you have a mid-woofer that needs better detail in the midrange then look to a fine-strand "litz" inductor. If you need better "drive" (higher current capability) then make sure the resulting gauge is low, but also make sure the "litz"-strands aren't decreasing in gauge to achieve that. (..and at some point you'll start into winding your own if you keep with the hobby.)

 

[bentoronto]

Building passive crossovers is just a crap-shoot*. They can't be designed on paper for idealized drivers and expect them to work well with real-world drivers. And then you are just plain stuck.

But if you must, buy spare caps (for matching best-two-out-of-three) and alternate sizes so you can adjust later on because:

you really have to learn how to use REW and your laptop mic so you can assess your performance.

B.
* electronic crossovers are cheap and work correctly and amps likewise

 

[karoly7603]

Did somebody try Clarity Cap CSA at a high pass filter or compared with Jantzen Cross-Cap, Jantzen Superior Z-Cap?

Currently I have Cross-Cap and sounds smooth and natural. Before was Superior Z-Cap but ephasizing for me the upper treble a bit more that sometimes I don't like.
How is the Clarity Cap CSA? Or can you recommend something in value 2,7uF?
Thank you.

 

[PeteMcK]

Karoly, Schematic attached for you:

 

[audioarchitech]

I'm on the fence between a few caps. Been thinking 4 x ClarityCap CSA (6.8 uf 250V) .

Other considerations:
- Combo 2 x PA680 and 2 x Solen AGM680 Silver Sound (6.8 mfd Metallized Silver Fast Capacitor 700v) and 2 x PA680
- Combo Jantzen Silver Z-Caps and Dayton Audio PMPC-6.8 6.8uF 250V
- 4 x Solen PA680 6.8mfd Fast Capacitors 250v PA Series Metallized Polypropylene (cheapest option)

Any thoughts or preferences? Speakers are D'Appolito with good Seas drivers

 

[Dave Bullet]

Since I'm not aware of any objective study or measurements qualifying the audible effect.... you might need to buy all 3 combos - as what sounds best (with that driver combo) to other peoples ears to, might not sound best to yours.

 

[bentoronto]

How can anybody compare having an endlessly adjustable Behringer DCX2496 DSP XO plus EQ (and an old amp you prolly have sitting around) for $140 to the cost of all those parts and then the odds are good your friends* will be too polite to tell you your passive crossover sound is awful and there's nothing you can do about it except rebuild the thing.

B.
*stuff always sounds great to the guy who built it, at least after a few days of getting used to it

 

[audioarchitech]

ordered ClarityCap CSR 630V and PX 250V combo. In stock and what seemed to be the best bang for buck from Partsconnexion. Hopefully works out, likely better than stock caps.

 

[bradleypnw]

How can anybody compare having an endlessly adjustable Behringer DCX2496 DSP XO plus EQ (and an old amp you prolly have sitting around) for $140

Yes. A thousand times yes. It looks like the project is using ~$2,000 in drivers. Of course I'd add a tiny bit extra for DSP and individual amplification.