External Crossover question???

[jayswizz]

I wanted to know what an external crossover controller is. I do have a powered subwoofer which does have its own dial on it to set the crossover where I want it set. Can I still use one of these external crossovers and if so, why would I use it? Is it a better way to set the crossover point? Thank

 

[ggunnell]

Jay, an external crossover is just what it sounds like. You can get passive ones using inductors and capacitors just like the ones in your speakers, active ones using op amps, and digital ones.

The crossover in your sub and/or the one in your home theater receiver or pre/pro is all you need for most home use until you get into some pretty sophisticated and/or professional set-ups.

 

[jayswizz]

Jay, an external crossover is just what it sounds like. You can get passive ones using inductors and capacitors just like the ones in your speakers, active ones using op amps, and digital ones.

The crossover in your sub and/or the one in your home theater receiver or pre/pro is all you need for most home use until you get into some pretty sophisticated and/or professional set-ups.

Thank you ggunnell for clearing this up for me. I actually do use the crossover in my pre/pro and the one in the sub. I just did not know when an external crossover would be used. Thanks again.

 

[JennAir]

While there are passive external crossovers, digital crossovers are more often what you would see as an external device. They can come in a rack mount chassis as well. Examples are, Behringer Ultra-Drive
http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHDCX2496
Marchand Electronics
http://www.marchandelec.com/xovers.html
and DEQX
http://www.deqx.com/pdc26.html
These are used for active loudspeaker systems where the speaker itself doesn't contain a crossover and each driver receives a signal from a separate amplifier as shown here.
http://www.deqx.com/DEQX-Linear-Phase-Digital-Crossovers.html

 

[Johnd]

Thank you ggunnell for clearing this up for me. I actually do use the crossover in my pre/pro and the one in the sub. I just did not know when an external crossover would be used. Thanks again.

Let us not forget the Paradigm X-30, which combines a variable crossover (from about 35Hz to 150Hz) to control rolloff on the sub, but also includes phase control (0-180), and volume control. The convenience here is to make adjustments on-the-fly, directly from the seating posiition. Cheers.

 

[ggunnell]

Jay, one place external crossovers are commonly used is in car stereo systems where the woofers and tweeters may be purchased and mounted separately. Another place they are commonly used is professional sound reinforcement, say between your bass cabinets and horns.

Modern crossovers inside speakers do many jobs, not just sending the treble to the tweeter and the bass to the woofer; they often even out the impedance of each driver, adjust relative outputs, and compensate for the spacing between the drivers and between the drivers and the edge of the cabinet. For these reasons, bi-amping or tri-amping speakers using external crossovers that are not optimized for the drivers in question is rarely done.

The one place external crossovers are still used in home audio is between stereo subs and mains. In such a system, one sets the mains to "large" and then sends the full range left and right stereo to an external stereo crossover which splits the signal into left and right mains and left and right sub. This allows the use of a very high quality crossover (Phil Marchand the JennAir mentioned, for example) to exactly blend subs and mains in expensive systems. This can be carried even further for home theater use (credit card handy? ) by having a dedicated sub for each channel (using an external crossover for each channel) and an additional sub or two for the LFE track alone. If you get to this point please let us know so we can come over and listen