Digital crossovers


Are crossovers "tone killers" as Zu Audio says?

Are digital crossovers a solution?

Much of our source material is digital already: e.g., CDs, ripped CDs, downloads and internet listening.  I wonder if a digital pre-amplifier separating the music by frequency and sending the result via the analogue amplifier direct to the appropriate driver would/could produce awesome results?

(I wonder what the crossover slope would be? Would it be absolutely discrete, with absolutely no overlap between drivers? Or is a small amount of overlap necessary even in the digital world?)
jimspov

Showing 1 response by jimspov

An additional AD/DA step shouldn't be necessary if the entire system is properly designed. The digital crossover would accept the digital out from a CD player, media player, and computer.

Of course, a digital crossover would require a dedicated amp for each output range, be they built-in to the speaker or stand-alone.

And if one wants the option to use a specific DAC, then the digital crossover would need to have a number of digital outputs (no biggie), each requiring its' own DAC (biggie).

.Hmmm maybe a digital crossover is too much bother for the benefit.

From what I've read, Avante Gard Zero 1 is a very intriguing implementation of a self-contained self-powered digital speaker. But then one speaker communicates to the other wirelessly ... at 16/44.1 ... all that effort then dumbed down unnecessarily at the last moment!!!!