[jmichaelf]

In hifisponge's imperfect speaker thread I got to thinking about active speakers, and more importantly, active adjustable crossovers. And beyond that, room correction. I have this pie in the sky vision of the perfect room coupled to an active speaker with an adjustable crossover and a correction system.


I know of very few speakers without crossovers (Reference 3a & Fostex) and only one multi-way with the option of substituting the passive crossovers for active (Linn).

This thread references several active crossovers/processors that I haven't heard of. Is there anyone that can provide insight on how they work? What speakers can you throw at them, especially since most multi-way speakers are built with passive crossovers?


I heard an active Linn Komri system at RMAF and thought it was best of show.

The Linn crossover provides five outputs for Super Tweeter, Tweeter, Midrange, Upperbass & Bass. The frequencies for each crossover point are a mystery. Manual room correction is available in the form of fine tune gain adjustments for each crossover output from -2 to +1.5dB and two coarse Bass and Treble Shelf knobs from -4 to +4dB for a greater measure of modification with less work. Affected frequencies remain mysterious.


Is there something like this from TacT or DEQX, where their automated correction can be involved in setting the crossover frequency and slope for each driver? Wouldn't it be awesome to put this together with the JBL LSR 6328 driving both amps independently?

 

[penngray]

here is a short list of options....there are more but these are popular.


Cheap under $500


Berhinger DCX2496 ( I own 2 of them)

Berhinger CX3400 ( I own 1)

DBX DriveRack PA


Under $1000

DBX DriveRack 260

Rane AC24


Under $2K

BSS Omnidrive F366


Over $2K

Dolby Lake (Tops out there)

DEQX


Amp/DSP crossover choices

Hypex AS2.100 DSP (Im about to buy 2 of these to replace my DCX solution)


PC based solutions also exist...there is a thread on DIYAudio that explains how to do it.


Active crossover designs give you the greatest flexbility because one set of speakers can sound like many different speakers...you can set them to sound bright, you can set them to sound warm, you can change your bass and give yourself more boom at the low end, whatever you want, its up to you and they allow for in room tweaking too......does the DCX2496 replace something Audyssey? On a lessor scale yes but Audyssey is much more advanced in what it does for your room so I would use both.

 

[jmichaelf]

What about crossoverless multi-way speakers?

 

[penngray]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jmichaelf /forum/post/16836178


What about crossoverless multi-way speakers?

Im not sure what you are asking.


All those above choices handle each driver individually. They are not room EQs they are digital crossover devices.


I have 3-way speakers with drivers in them and no crossovers. The DCX2496 takes input from my AVR processes it, sets all the crossovers (based on what I configured) and sends out a signal to an amp channell that is connected to each driver in my speaker. The DCX2496 can handle up to 6 drivers independantly (for me thats 2 3-way speakers).

 

[penngray]

btw, if you are looking for active commercial designs then I can think of two great choices.


Jim Salk sells active speakers. (HT4s)

Mark Seaton sells active speakers (Catalysts)


There are others but they are not that common and they tend to be very expensive, I believe both above are over $6000 for a pair. I also think they are pre-set and Im not sure what you can configure in house.


I do not think anyone sells speakers with no crossovers and without a digital crossover. That does not happen, you have to DIY. DIY offers an easy route to an active solution but its not cheap either since more amps are needed and the entry cost is around $400 for digital crossover device alone.

 

[gooki]



Quote:
What about crossoverless multi-way speakers?

You won't generally find this, as its far to easy to blow a high frequency driver by an inexperienced user when no passive protection (read crossover) is in place.


If you find a speaker that is bi, tri, quad ampable etc you can easily remove the passives crossovers and direct wire the drivers to the terminals.


I'm personally not aware of any active xovers that will analyse the system and automatically set the values. Mostly because their built for the pro industries, and it is expected the end user knows what they're doing, thus this automation isn't required.

 

[penngray]



Quote:
You won't generally find this, as its far to easy to blow a high frequency driver by an inexperienced user when no passive protection (read crossover) is in place.

They would atleast put a good size cap to protect it below 1K, I know I did this when my ribbon tweeters.


In the end he should get a box built find some suiteable drivers for it and then do all his own setup.

 

[bioforce]

FYI;


All the VMPS speaker models are available with what is called a D-OXO option. This stands for "Digital OutBoard Cross-Over".


Disclosure: I am a VMPS dealer (as well as other things)

 

[Soundood]



Quote:
What about crossoverless multi-way speakers?

You can order the Danley Sound Labs speakers as full active (bi or tri-amp with active DSP crossovers), but I don't think they make them available full passive without crossovers. I don't know any manufacturer who does this.


If there was, you'd need to consult closely with the speaker designer for crossover points, slopes, power limiting, etc. Getting too far outside the design parameters can seriously alter the sound, output levels and coverage the designer had in mind (and made driver choices to suit). At the worst, you can do driver damage. I'd bet anybody willing to sell you the speakers like that will probably have to sell them to you without a driver warranty.

 

[jmichaelf]



Quote:
Originally Posted by penngray /forum/post/16836293

Im not sure what you are asking.


All those above choices handle each driver individually. They are not room EQs they are digital crossover devices.


I have 3-way speakers with drivers in them and no crossovers. The DCX2496 takes input from my AVR processes it, sets all the crossovers (based on what I configured) and sends out a signal to an amp channell that is connected to each driver in my speaker. The DCX2496 can handle up to 6 drivers independantly (for me thats 2 3-way speakers).

What are your speakers?

 

[penngray]

Fountek Neopro5i ribbon tweeter

PHL 1120 6.5" driver

Lambda TD12S woofer


DCX 2496 active crossover.


Current looks....that could change again though, this one was my first attempt at curving MDF

Note: I recently converted the ribbon/mid range to passive by having Curt over on HTGuide do some for me...he build exact same speakers for another member here exojam.