crossover between sub and mains

[YourDhass]

I read a few bits on crossover but most the wording on these articles is a little too technically over my head still. could you guys help me out with understanding? the db/octave terminology, what it means and how it works?

some speaker company was using an advertising point, saying that their speaker was better because it was able to integrate their crossovers better with the subwoofer, like creating a smoother frequency distribution throughout lows through to the mids. they said that a lot of speakers have a "dead spot" between the mids and the lows, like where the sub ties in to the speaker. is this a real issue?

 

[j_garcia]

Your receiver or pre/pro handles the x-over between the mains and the sub, not the speakers themselves. Unless you run full range, it is not an issue.

 

[zhimbo]

There are some weird situations where it *might* be an issue. They may have been referring to very small speakers that do not play very low at all. Some subwoofers don't play very high very well, and the combination of the two could make a "hole" in the frequency distribution. Generally speaking, with the vast majority of sub/speaker combinations, this isn't an issue.

 

[j_garcia]

There are some weird situations where it *might* be an issue. They may have been referring to very small speakers that do not play very low at all. Some subwoofers don't play very high very well, and the combination of the two could make a "hole" in the frequency distribution. Generally speaking, with the vast majority of sub/speaker combinations, this isn't an issue.

If you buy speakers that don't cover low enough to blend with the sub, then that's "operator error" not a crossover issue IMO You are correct though, this is the situation where it would be likely to occur.

 

[YourDhass]

would the Ascend CBM170's and Hsu VTF2 MK4 have this issue? im still trying to figure out what to buy..

eventually i'll be getting towers to replace the cbms up front, but for now i can only afford bookshelves.

 

[j_garcia]

The CBM170SEs were designed with a 80Hz x-over in mind, so they should not have an issue for either of those. I've heard the 340SEs with 170SEs and a VTF-3 Mk3 and it was a very nice setup.

 

[YourDhass]

Excellenttt