variable active crossover

bottleneck

bottleneck

talks a load of rubbish
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
Messages
6,766
Reaction score
1
Location
bucks
Hi

One for the DIY speaker builders..

Which companies have the reputation for the best variable, active crossovers?

Would be nice to know the best makes....

sub £500
£500-£1000
£1000+

Thinking of a 3 way active crossover, with variable slopes, variable crossover points.

Essentially I need the flexibility of experimentation.

Looking for high quality - age, appearance, audiophile credentials all not important to me..

in fact, if there's a really good one that's 4 years old looks like shit and is all the cheaper for it, that's the doggie!!
 
You are unlikely to find an analog active xover with variable slopes, only over points. If you want it fully adjustable you will have to go for a digital xover.

A digital xover is not necessarily a bad thing. With 24-bit 96KHz sampling and provided they have quality analog input and output stages they can be very very good, with the benefits far outweighing any negatives.

Behringer DCX
BSS minidrive / omnidrive etc..
DEQX

If you want to simply play around the Behringer is by far the most functional for the dosh. Plus you already know how to get it upgraded to beat the others on sound quality ;)

Marchand make some apparently very good analog xovers to order. But to be honest I'd stick with good quality digital kit since it has some pretty clever tricks.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions!

I'll dig up some prices and keep my eyes on ebay..

Cheers
 
Did a chav design this, by any chance?!
lake_processor_3.jpg
 
this looks like a de-featured version of the 4800 hippy.

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/3585

Quite a bit cheaper though (yowch on the 4800!!!)


Must admit I'm blowing hot and cold on digital crossover.

The + is the flexibility, especially in making sure the settings are right, the -ve, well.. what about putting my expensive vinyl through binary code?.. I dont listen to it that much, but it sounds like a harsh thing to do to it...

Have you/Tenson tried running vinyl through a digital crossover? does it murder it, or sound exactly the same?

Ideally, I think something cheap with mega-loads of flexibility would be good, I can then perhaps replace with something more simple (perhaps a marchand or something), when I know all the right settings.

Just 'thinking out loud' here - running through some options.

The purchase is a good couple of months away, but I like to do my homework..

NB
Hippy, how's lowestoft working out, enjoying the coast? (nb I think you're near there (?)
 
bottleneck said:
Have you/Tenson tried running vinyl through a digital crossover? does it murder it, or sound exactly the same?
Click to expand...

I tried putting a Rega P9 through 24-bit 44.1KHz AD DA and it sounds exactly the same. Through 24-bit 96KHz and with quality analog stages at either end I would bet its 100% transparent. Something like the DCX you can even use as a DAC, taking the digital input from your SB or transport, bypassing the AD stage for everything but vinyl.

I could lend you a modified DEQ if you want to see how transparent quality AD-DA is? Just stick it in the signal path with everyhting set to bypass.

From when I was looking, the problem with with things like the DBX DriveRack is that while it may have better sound quality than the stock Behringer, it doesn't have the features, some of them quite useful (like digital input!).
 
Haven't had any personal experience with the smaller dbx units(only used 480 and 4800) ,but know one or 2 people who've blown tweeters due a design flaw with the smaller units.
Did a chav design this, by any chance?
Click to expand...
sod what it looks like,it sounds pretty good
how's lowestoft working out, enjoying the coast? (nb I think you're near there (?)
Click to expand...
Not been there for nearly 3 years,location was great, job (manager) wasn't.Went walk about for 6 months,then landed a job in Banbury.
 
I'm using the DEQX PDC 2.6:
http://www.deqx.com/PDC26P-Preamp.html

I'm using DIY build Wilmslow Audio standmounts, without their crossover. Blows the passive crossover into dust! Vinyl still sounds like vinyl, SACD sounds like SACD. The onboard 24/96 a-d and d-a conversion is as good as any high end DAC I've heard.

The benefits of going active are pretty big IMO.
 
XTA or Lake pretty much as good as it gets-they also cost an absolute fortune-funny that;-)
The dbx and BSS digital units get pretty bad press over on the JBL forum in terms of either sound or reliabilty.
Whatever unit you may choose it's very important from a sound quality pov to get your gain settings right to fully exploit the digital processors.
 
Anyone else tried the TC Electronic XO24? I have one (well actually, a Tannoy TDX1 - but it's the same thing) and it sounds very good simply used as a DAC - I haven't actually used it as a crossover yet.

Ian
 
not only a digital Xover would mess with your vinyl, i'm also afraid that any upsampling unit would deterior a bit perfect streaming if you go pc playback once.... DEQ2496 for example.
 
"The FA001 is a 2-way active filter, operating by cascading 6 dB filter stages. " Jfet gain stages without feedback, it says.

You'd probably be better off with the kit version:

http://www.borsaudio.com/Borsaudio/FAK001.html

You need to provide a power supply (-> pfm) and a case, the borsaudio site gives you a calculator for the capacitors etc. that you need to put in for your chosen filter frequencies.

I have no idea about pricing.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top