Active Xover recommendations

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  • tboooe
    Senior Member
    • Jun 2005
    • 657

    Active Xover recommendations

    Hi, as a follow on to my post about preamps and xover, I was wondering if anyone can recommend some good active xovers? I am building a 2ch only setup based around b&w speakers and probably a Velodyne DD 12 sub. I do not have any experience with active xovers so if anyone and provide some direction I would greatly appreciate it.

    What do good active xovers cost?
    What brands should I consider?
    What brands should I not consider?
    What features should I be looking for?

    Thank you in advance.
  • ThomasW
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Aug 2000
    • 10934

    #2

    IB subwoofer FAQ page


    "Complicated equipment and light reflectors and various other items of hardware are enough, to my mind, to prevent the birdie from coming out." ...... Henri Cartier-Bresson

    Comment

    • Phil Rose
      Senior Member
      • Aug 2000
      • 142

      #3


      Comment

      • Wayne A. Pflughaupt
        Member
        • Jun 2002
        • 69

        #4
        Tboooe,

        Since it appears you’re going to be connecting this behind the pre amp, choose your crossover carefully. I had a bad experience using a pro-audio crossover several years ago, and it wasn’t a cheap one. It audibly degraded the sound – gritty highs, emphasized upper bass. So be safe and make sure you have a generous return policy before you bring home any pro crossover.

        And carefully audition it with the crossover in and out of the loop before deciding on the one you’ll be using. If it has a true bypass switch, one simple test you can do is play broadband pink noise and switch the crossover in and out. If there is any tonal shift in the way the pink noise sounds, ditch it – it doesn’t have linear frequency response. Of course, you’ll have to listen to some program material to hear stuff like gritty highs or sibilants.

        What brands should I not consider?
        For sure the DJ brands – Pyle, Gemini, Ross, DOD, etc. Personally I’d avoid any low-end brand. For that reason I’m suspicious of the Behringers, but a lot of people seem to be happy with them.

        What brands should I consider?
        If the Behringers don’t do it for you, Ashly has a reputation of building clean pro gear. Other respected pro brands are Symetrix, dbx, Presonus, TDM, Klark Teknik, etc. But be prepared, some of the pro brands are pretty pricey – with the better brands you’re paying for ruggedness, which you really don’t need for a home application.

        Stand-alone crossovers are pretty scarce among consumer brands. The Marchand has a good reputation among audiophiles; can’t go wrong there. Paradigm has offered a crossover in the past – perhaps they still do. Same with Bryston – really pricey, though. Personally I replaced the pro unit with an AudioControl Phase Coupled Activator Series III (using only the crossover section, not the bass processor). Top notch specs, sounds neutral.

        What features should I be looking for?
        I’d personally avoid a digital model, as it will add another AD/DA conversion stage to your signal chain. I’m not fond of extraneous processing, but you may feel otherwise.

        I’d choose one with at least 24 dB/octave slopes; seems to be pretty standard fare these days, so that shouldn’t be a problem. The steep slope helps keep voices out of the sub.

        Most analog crossovers are pretty simple devices with a frequency selector and level controls for the outputs. The AudioControl unit is a bit unusual in that it has uses plug in chips for the frequency. A little inconvenient on the initial set-up, but once you get past that point it eliminates the possibility of someone accidentally changing the knob setting. The PCA also only has a bass output control, which is all you really need for a two-way system.

        Regards,
        Wayne A. Pflughaupt

        Comment

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