Speaker Crossover; "Active Speakers, Passive Speakers, and Using the HTPC for a Crossover"

~ sending those drive (speaker cones) units the signal that they are able to safely handle. Without a crossover, you likely will burn up voice coils in the speakers.

Keep in mind the crossover must be designed for the specific speaker drivers in use.

What are the different types of crossover?

1. The passive speaker crossover splits the signal at amplified level where there are high voltages and loads- after the amplifier.

Usually, this occurs from within the speaker itself.

This is the way most commercial speaker systems are built and it is not the most efficient use of available technology.

Passive speakers are thought to be the most economical crossovers.

Want to skip the hassle and just buy a set of high quality complete surround sound speakers? -see this page.

If you have your mind set on building a passive speaker system the Sound Easy Speaker Crossover Software is a very good passive crossover program to help you build the crossover networks.

A Crossover for Speakers with Higher Performance:

This method is accepted as superior to passive crossover components used in typical speaker systems.

To see the active crossovers available go to Parts Express – Free Shipping Every Day on most orders over $98 (Restrictions apply).

Enter "active crossover" in the search field at the top right of the Parts Express page.

The Digital audio Speakers Crossover:

This unit takes an analog signal and converts to digital or takes a digital signal and then implements digital filters for crossover slopes.

Amazon link shows digital crossovers that can be used with an active speaker system. Filter slopes, time delay, and any imaginable speaker function can be adjusted digitally with the use of a computer program. Once set up, these speaker controllers need not be attached to the PC. They function as a standalone unit.

To see some of the digital crossovers available go to Parts Express – Free Shipping Every Day on most orders over $98 (Restrictions apply). Enter "digital crossover" in the search field at the top right of the Parts Express page.

Digital Software Loud Speaker Crossover:

Any filter is easily introduced here.

Room correction, and loudspeaker crossover slopes also.

Uses IIR filter (Foobar 2000) and (FIR= Thuneau-Allocator Lite) or

A system such as Acourate Software uses FIR filters .

See video for basic setup info using Allocator Lite...

All of the speaker crossover slopes are achieved in the digital domain.

None of the distortions and losses associated with passive crossover components exist. See photo of a software crossover solution.

We are running a Sale on our Speaker Plans! Go to our Digital Audio Speakers and Speaker Plans page.

For more information about digital software crossovers and the HTPC read this article. To help you to get a better grasp of how FIR digital filter technology works together to create the ultimate playback system.

Things You May Need to Build Speakers:

1. Speaker Design Plans To see our custom speaker plans go to our digital audio speaker page.

2. Speaker box wood panels and materials for speaker construction such as birch ply, MDF, and HDF.

To see our custom speaker plans go to our digital audio speaker page.

3. Speaker drivers (bass, tweeters, mid drivers)

4. Speaker Finishing veneer or paint for speaker cabinet exterior. If you plan to paint yourself additional hardware is necessary. Paint gun, compressor, hoses, filters, etc.

Or an auto body shop could usually paint them for you also.

5. Speaker cabinet hardware, damping material, stuffing, front baffle felt (wool is the best material, then fiberglass, etc.)

6. Cabling Wire & Cable - Parts Express a large selection of bulk reels to completed cables in every style and length.

7. Speaker Binding posts (one pair for each speaker driver)

8. Speaker Internal wiring (from binding posts to driver leads)Wire & Cable - A large selection of bulk reels to completed cables in every style and length.

Digital Software Crossover Parts for a HTPC style Speaker Crossover:

2. External Digital to Analog Converter: Quality among these devices has really come up in the last few years. Pro quality firewire interfaces or sound-cards

3. Multichannel preamplifier (one output channel for each speaker drivers type within the individual loudspeaker)

4. Amplifiers (one channel for each speaker driver or way- same as multi-channel preamplifier)

5. Blu-ray player for HD video (this can be routed into the computer and uses the crossover program to split the signal for each tweeter, mid driver, bass etc.

6. Digital switch (allows you to use multiple digital devices such as a Blu-ray player, DVD player, CD player etc.

When looking for parts there are a number of vendors that will provide a good service as low prices. Personally, I use Parts Express for many of my purchases. I have always found them to be reliable. Find speaker components and parts at Parts Express – Free Shipping Every Day on most orders over $98 (Restrictions apply). Enter "digital crossover" in the search field at the top right of the Parts Express page.

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Why DIY your HTPC or Home Theater Computer?

Why DIY or 'build your own' Home Speaker System?

Return to Home Speaker from: Speaker Crossover

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