Passive crossover power usage


The last thread about crossovers (good and bad or as is and rebuilt with better components) got me thinking about the power required in watts to run it. Actually heat dissipated by the crossover itself.  Seems to me it must be minimal if some of you guys a running systems with crossovers and are using 2-5 watt flea power amps on efficient speakers.  Any ideas?  Thanks.

128x128barts

Showing 1 response by carlsbad2

There is some power dissipated in the crossover and it depends on what level you are running your amp.  I'm a flea watt guy and there i almost no heat generated. But I built my new crossovers with 10 to 30 watt resistors so they won't blow if someone hooks a zillion watt amp up to them.  Remember for 10dB increase in volume, you need 10x the power.  So if a teenager has a party you could blow the crossover...there are actually stories on the internet about this.

I don't like electronic crossovers.  I hate processing the signal any more than I have to.  Many readers have no such feelings. They use equalizers, ss preamp, ss amps, etc and the signal goes throught a million components before it gets to the speaker....so to each his own.

Jerry