There’s no doubt that an active crossover is better than a passive one. But why then do so few active crossovers exist? And why do so few speaker companies even offer them? I have an old ARC crossover that I had set at 100hz and it made a huge difference with some electrostatic speakers I have.
How good is the crossover in your loudspeakers?
I just watched a Danny Richie YouTube video from three weeks ago (linked below). Danny is the owner/designer of GR Research, a company that caters to the DIY loudspeaker community. He designs and sells kits that contain the drivers and crossover schematics to his loudspeakers, to hi-fi enthusiasts who are willing and able to build their own enclosures (though he also has a few cabinet makers who will do it for you if you are willing to pay them to do so).
Danny has also designed crossovers for loudspeaker companies who lack his crossover design knowledge. In addition, he offers a service to consumers who, while liking some aspects of the sound of their loudspeakers, find some degree of fault in those loudspeakers, faults Danny offers to try to eliminate. Send Danny one of your loudspeakers, and he will free of charge do a complete evaluation of it's design. If his evaluation reveals design faults (almost always crossover related) he is able to cure, he offers a crossover upgrade kit as a product.
Some make the case that Danny will of course find fault in the designs of others, in an attempt to sell you one of his loudspeaker kits. A reasonable accusation, were it not for the fact that---for instance---in this particular video (an examination of an Eggleston model) Danny makes Eggleston an offer to drop into the company headquarters and help them correct the glaring faults he found in the crossover design of the Eggleston loudspeaker a customer sent him.
Even if you are skeptical---ESPECIALLY if you are---why not give the video a viewing? Like the loudspeaker evaluation, it's free.
https://youtu.be/1wF-DEEXv64?si=tmd6JI3DFBq8GAjK&t=1
And for owners of other loudspeakers, there are a number of other GR Research videos in which other models are evaluated.
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My crossovers (which I rebuilt and modestly modded) include a 600 uF and a 1600 uF in the bass circuit, both electrolytics. About the largest film cap I can find that would pass your audiophile muster is a 35 uF Audience Auricap. It is of course possible to parallel enough of them to reach the desired value. In the case of the 1,600 uF cap, it would take 46 Auricaps - a large bundle, you will agree, that would surely necessitate you outboard your crossovers. The Auricaps cost $62.49 each, so the 1,600 uF film cap bundle would cost you $2,874.54, in parts only. Per channel.
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I like them both in their own way.
The Thiels sound clear and detailed, but bigger richer and thicker with more focused, dense imaging. Also a bit more authority in the sound and bass The choice of audio perspectives sound particularly pristine, clean and pure. They are more refined sounding than the Thiels, while still providing plenty of punch and kick and fun. So I like them both. I think at the moment I consider the Joseph audio used to be my default two channel speaker speakers, with trips back to Thiel-land sometimes. |
@devinplombier solen makes bigger value capacitors at affordable prices. I can't figure out why any crossover would need a capacitor of 1600uf. |
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