[311Sam]

I was doing some reading today and i came across some info that made it sound like that if a woofer has the proper crossover that it will play louder because high frequency reactance is cut out....


im not sure about this. i currently run all my woofers with out inductors because i dont have any mids so i kinda use the woofer for 2 jobs. but ive never heard of adding a crossover that will make it louder.....??


anyone got some info??

 

[Larry Fine]

A low-pass crossover reduces the ability to detect the direction from which the sound originates. This is desirable when the bass is reproduced from a separate speaker than the rest of the sound.

 

[blgentry]

If you're sending a full range signal to a woofer, some of the power is "wasted" producing mids and highs. It's probably not a lot of power though, so it probably won't make a large difference in volume.


As Larry pointed out, a crossover can make it sound better though, as woofers typically should only be producing lows.


Be careful trying to add inductors though as a simple first order crossover. In the vast majority of cases, the inductor actually causes a peaking in the response in the upper bass and a fall off in response as you go lower. In other words, most bass drivers in boxes have their response harmed by a simple inductor. A well designed second order crossover is a different story; these can work extremely well, but they must be custom designed for the particular bass driver and the enclosure it is in.


An electronic crossover is really the way to go as it goes before the amplifier and doesn't require any special design considerations; just dial it to your desired low pass frequency, set the gain to balance with your system, and you're done.


Brian.

 

[311Sam]

thanks for the info!