Crossovers

In simple terms, first order is the simplest and things become more complex as you the order number increases.

You can say roughly that the order number relates to the number of major components in line (series) with each driver. A first order has one part in line with each driver - a cap with the tweeter, and an inductor with the woofer.

Not to get too technical, but a second order crossover adds an inductor in parallel to the tweeter, and a cap in parallel to the woofer. Third order adds another cap in series with the tweeter, and inductor in series with the woofer. Fourth order does the same thing the second order did to the first order on a third order network.

Despite most trying to make this stuff rocket science, it's nowhere near as complicated as we are led to believe. But, watch how many disagree with me here in this thread...

Another thing I like to relay in layman's terms is that the order of the crossover more or less correlates to how much power one will need to drive the speaker.

Think of them as hurdles on a runner's track. The more obstacles one has to hurdle, the more difficult it is to get to the finish line. All things being equal, first order crossovers are the easiest to drive, and things become progressively more difficult as one moves upward.

The fly in the ointment are brands like Theil (first order) and Dynaudio (second order) who throw all sorts of networks in the crossover to flatten this or that, and end up with first order crossovers with 71 parts and loads that are just as difficult for an amplifier to drive as a higher order crossover.

If you want a definitive opinion from me as to crossovers, I will tell you that first order are my favorite. Like most things in life, simple things, using the best ingredients often produce the best result.

Further, series, as opposed to parralel networks, are also more to my liking. You didn't want us to get technical, and so I will try not to...

First order networks are the easiest to drive, and sound the most natural to me. They are phase, and presuming the speaker allows, time coherent. Of course, the tradeoff is that the slow rolloff means that a superior driver (the finest ingredients) become more critical, as does the crossover components themselves. Otherwise, you get hit in the face with components operating out of their areas of comfort, and some drivers sound worse than others when this happens.

I don't want to get into dogma here, as just as many people exist who can tout the benefits or second, third, and fourth order networks.

I also feel series networks(99.999+% speakers use parallel networks) sound better to me, as I don't get a sense that I am listening to individual drivers. They also present a resistive, as opposed to reactive load to the amplifier - ooh sorry, don't get technical (but let me sneak in that the rolloff can be tailored via Zeta - balanced by the ratio of the cap to the coil, making even sharp rolloffs with a first order network easy). Let's just say they are a more friendly load to an amp!