3-way crossover, connections help

[pseager]

I ordered a 3-way crossover from parts express (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=260-210) to wire my 3-way vented speakers. Like the picture on the site, the crossover has three common 'C' plugs on the left, along with 'm', 'w', and 't' plugs. And an 'in' and another 'C' plug on the right. I don't know which 'c' plugs from the left side correspond to the individual 'm' 'w' and 't' plugs. I sent a letter to tech support, but have yet to hear back. Any help would be great

 

[Johnd]

If you don't know how to wire a crossover before you purchase it, you may be in wayyyy over your head. I am not trying to be cruel....just direct. I would wait for tech supports answer, as it is their puppy. Just out of curiosity, are you building new speakers, or rebuilding existing ones? Cheers.

 

[TLS Guy]

Crossover the heart of the speaker

Good to see you starting out as a novice builder. However you need taking by the hand at this stage.

The crossover is the heart of the speaker. You can not order a crossover off the shelf and have any kind of quality speaker. The crossover has to be custom designed to the chosen drivers. The slopes must carefully combine with the driver slopes to avoid severe response irregularities at crossover. Also the crossover must deal with driver resonances, and keep mid and HF units well out of their free air resonances range. Also the crossover determines whether the front panel needs to be sloped or not, and to some extent optimal driver placement. Since the early 80s computer crossover modeling has made this task a little more certain and a lot less time consuming. It has led to greatly improved results. I have used computer asissted design for crossovers since 1984.

Speaker building is a great hobby, but it is a complex blend of science art skill and experience. It is very challenging, but there in lies the rewards.

 

[Swerd]

Welcome DIY newbie. I want to encourage you in your efforts at building, and at the same time, echo what the others have said about using generic crossovers. They almost never work well. Just the same, go ahead and use this off the shelf crossover. Be ready to listen and observe how poorly (or well) it works with your 3-way. Then you'll be ready to start learning how to do it better the next time around.

... the crossover has three common 'C' plugs on the left, along with 'm', 'w', and 't' plugs. And an 'in' and another 'C' plug on the right. I don't know which 'c' plugs from the left side correspond to the individual 'm' 'w' and 't' plugs. I sent a letter to tech support, but have yet to hear back. Any help would be great

To answer your question, all the common plugs are the same electrically, and all C plugs on your board are essentially interchangeable. The M, W, and T plugs are the + connections for the midrange, woofer, and tweeter, as you have already guessed. Any C plug will work as the – connection for each of these drivers. Use which ever is most convenient for you.