How to know when to use crossovers?

[skittlesRgood]

your correct in how it would work but i dont see why you are using an example where you play 80-400hz to mids and 3k and up for tweeters. why would you set up your xover like that? you even said that doesnt make sense so why is it your example?

all i was saying is you can set your active crossover's LPF then use your amp's HPF to achieve the desired bandpass effect. i dont understand why you're making it so complicated lol.

[BEEMDUB]

your correct in how it would work but i dont see why you are using an example where you play 80-400hz to mids and 3k and up for tweeters. why would you set up your xover like that? you even said that doesnt make sense so why is it your example?

all i was saying is you can set your active crossover's LPF then use your amp's HPF to achieve the desired bandpass effect. i dont understand why you're making it so complicated lol.

haha I'm gettin one hell of a learning lesson right now lmao keep it goin!

[412 CVX]

i feel like this would be better explained with a pic

[412 CVX]

voila!

i think this is what skittles was trying to explain.

the amp will cut off anything below 80 hz, therefore the only thing that gets sent out is 80 hz or higher, therefore the lowest possible frequency the LPF can see is 80hz. that's where the bandpass effect comes from -- the LPF will pass anything that is between 80 and 3khz, AKA the definition of bandpass.

[skittlesRgood]

lmao, im sorry guys. i didnt know its was going to be that confusing. ill try to make a pic with the keyboard here lol.

signal from HU:

20hz------------------------------------ 20k hz(flat)

signal after electronic crossover:

20hz------------------\ 3k hz (low pass)

signal after amplifier's crossover:

80hz /---------------\ 3k hz (high pass applied. bandpass achieved)

[412 CVX]

I think that just confused me even more... tell me if the pic i posted was what you're trying to explain...

[skittlesRgood]

I think that just confused me even more... tell me if the pic i posted was what you're trying to explain...

but your picture confused me

lol so it depends on what crossover we are looking at. lets use this as an example.

you see with this xover, the high pass, in this example, is set at 3000hz and would go to your tweeters (ignore the fact that this xover might not go high enough for tweeters. i dont have time to look up a better example) and the low pass, set at 3000hz goes to your mids. but after this filtering is done your mids are still in danger of damaging themselves with 20-60hz tones. so at the amp you set the HPF going to the mids to 80hz. the same effect will happen with a passive crossover, just in a different order.

a little more detail here. you would actually set high pass and low pass at the electronic crossover with a gap between them. example: low pass = 2900hz. high pass = 3100hz. you do this because there is a slow (slope) roll off. if your slope is at -24db then its cuts 24db per octave. so it'll look like this:

[SQMonte]

your correct in how it would work but i dont see why you are using an example where you play 80-400hz to mids and 3k and up for tweeters. why would you set up your xover like that? you even said that doesnt make sense so why is it your example?

all i was saying is you can set your active crossover's LPF then use your amp's HPF to achieve the desired bandpass effect. i dont understand why you're making it so complicated lol.

Dude, i'm HELLA good at making things more complicated than they really are or need to be. But in this case there is a method to my madness.....follow me

The LPF on most electronic xovers goes up to about 400Hz....you'd need a xover with a LPF that goes up to like 3k but you said it like it's just a super common thing. I just pulled up 5 xovers on Sonic right quick and not a single one has a LPF that goes past 500Hz (but one of them can do bandpass ), you made it sound like it's no thing to set your LP to 3k. So I was giving a very common example if we were to try what you said to try since most LPF on xovers stops around 400Hz. Not to mention the bootleg way of running bandpass like you said is made even more difficult when you consider the slope of the two different xovers you'd have to use. Just another consideration in the mix when you could just simplify the whole thing by just buying a xover than can run bandpass.

And for the record, no way I'd ever setup my xover like that, nor would I run my setup like that....I'd do it right and buy a xover capable of running bandpass. But I am interested in seeing a 2 way electronic xover than can run LP at 3k.

i feel like this would be better explained with a pic

Why? I understood it perfectly, like he said. It just doesn't make sense to me since finding a xover that can run LP at 3k isn't exactly a walk in the park since most 2 way xovers are high/high or high/low with the low ranging from say 20Hz to 400Hz.

lol so it depends on what crossover we are looking at. lets use this as an example.

you see with this xover, the high pass, in this example, is set at 3000hz and would go to your tweeters (ignore the fact that this xover might not go high enough for tweeters. i dont have time to look up a better example) and the low pass, set at 3000hz goes to your mids. but after this filtering is done your mids are still in danger of damaging themselves with 20-60hz tones. so at the amp you set the HPF going to the mids to 80hz. the same effect will happen with a passive crossover, just in a different order.

That xover is the PERFECT example of what I was saying above. Even if you got it's bigger brother, the KX3, you still couldn't do what you said to do since the only LPF it has only goes up to 250Hz. The one above barely goes up to 300Hz. So how is it better to do it your way instead of just getting one that can run bandpass.....you made it sound like it's so not necessary.

[la negra]

Am I over my head looking to band pass my mids 80-5,000hz and tweeters 5,000-20,000hz

[SQMonte]

Am I over my head looking to band pass my mids 80-5,000hz and tweeters 5,000-20,000hz

Over your head? As long as you understand how xovers work you arent over your head. But thats a really high cross point for mids, might have a little cone breakup there.