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Bass management--high/low pass filtering

A few days ago I posted to this forum seeking recommendations for a new subwoofer, and that discussion has turned out to be very enlightening, offering advice about subs and integrating them into my system. One reply mentioned the advantages of bass management for my main speakers (Ryan R-610 bookshelf speakers), but rather than sidetrack that discussion I thought I'd ask this separately:

It was suggested that I try cutting off the frequency response of the Ryans at 60 or 80Hz and letting the sub take over from there, thus relieving the mid/bass woofers of that substantial burden. On paper, this seems like a promising avenue to pursue, so I'm wondering if anybody has tried this and if there is a hardware device that can accomplish it. I'm certainly not an electrical engineer--far from it--so trying to design and build one is way beyond me. 

My integrated amp is a Modwright KWI200 and my previous sub (which is now dead and not repairable) was connected via speakon (speaker level) cable, though the Modwright does have a pre-out that can also be used to connect to a sub.

While pretty much all active subwoofers have adjustable low-pass filters, it appears that this would entail a high-pass filter somewhere in the chain. Is this something I can buy as an add-on? Couldn't find anything online, so I'm hoping that somebody may have some suggestions. Thanks.

cooper52

Showing 1 response by macguy

macguy's avatar
macguy
36 posts
 

Dear Sir;

I use a subwoofer with a hi pass filter on 12 pairs of speakers.  I own 1 way, 2 way, and 3 way speakers.  1 way and 2 way the high pass filter is set at 80hz. with 6 or 12db slope.  On small 1 or 2 ways I use 12db high pass slope for 5 inch and under drivers.  3 ways are set at 60 to 80hz with 6 db slope.  The low pass filter is permanently set at 24 db per octave and the crossover frequency is 70hz.

In my experience, 1 or 2 way speakers benefit the most. Sending the bottom two octaves, 20-40 and 40 to 80hz. to the sub makes things much easier for the little driver.  You should hear my Markaudio Alpair 10p's play Blue Man Group.  The reproduction quality is startling!

Hope this helps

Macguy  

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