DSP vs. active analog crossover vs. passive analog crossover. What is your take?


What is you take on the sound quality?  Any personal experience and knowledge on the subject will be greatly appreciated. 

tannoy56

Showing 1 response by barrysandy

Yes, active crossovers are theoretically better than passive ones as russbutton points out.  You can read Nelson Pass's take on them in the Pass Labs XVR-1 manual on the PL site which includes many of the same observations and more.

There are downsides to active crossovers. Every commercially available analog one that I've owned (3 of them) has it's own sound. The Pro sound ones noted in the thread don't use very quality parts and probably sound like  sh@!. Heaven knows what the digital ones are built with.  I have a fairly nice DSP unit, and it too was far from neutral.  It did sound a little better when I upgraded it's power supply.

There are a few challenges to implementing an active XO in place of a passive one.  It's not "plug and play" . The results may be worse if you don't know what you're doing.  Read the chapter in Jim Smith's "Get Better Sound" if you want to know more.

My experience is based on 30+ years of using and modifying both active and passive crossovers in various systems including my current one.