crossovers quality differences

[stopdrpnro 10+ year member]

i have the boston z6s and i bought them without the xovers. so i was using cheap infinity reference crossovers with them until i got the crossovers. the z6 xover weighs about 4 times as much, has a biamp option, tweeter atten , 2 sq settings and of course is designed to work with the z6s. hooking them up though i haven't seen the huge difference i was expecting from these things. is there a big difference in the quality of crossovers?

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[MiniVanMan 10+ year member]

Besides quality of components, which can lead to greater power handling, there's not much difference between one Zobel and another (given the same values).

Crossover components are a bit like speaker wire. Some will swear higher quality produces an audible difference, while others call it snake oil.

This is all given that the values of the components in the network are relatively the same.

As long as your slope, impedance stabilization, and level matching are the same, it's unlikely you'll hear much difference in a car. The biggest benefit you'd see between a cheap crossover and a more expensive one is greater power handling. The size of the inductor is a good indicator.

 

[BrianChia 10+ year member]

Component types and quality do make a difference to an extent, but the actual design of the crossover is far more important.

More expensive components tend to have more consistent component values and handle more power. Inductors that are more conductive produce less distortion and have less inline resistance, keeping the crossover frequencies and slopes as close as possible to the intended design. Poly caps do not experience change in values over time as electrolytics can. Voltage ratings correlate with power handling.

But if it isn't designed properly, then even the best components won't sound good.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

The actual quality of the design can and will affect the sound to great degrees. Differences in slopes and xover points and other features (zobel networks, notch filters, etc) will have a significant impact.

Without being able to see before/after frequency response measurements, it's hard to say how much of a difference there actually is in the system response between the two crossovers you tried. It's possible there is a decently significant frequency response difference, but your expectations were set too high compared to the actual results.

Also keep in mind the automobile is a horrid acoustic environment, and even well designed passive crossovers fair rather poorly in this environment as it's literally impossible for a "generic" (i.e. pre-manufactured) crossover to provide optimal in-car response.....the only way to achieve that is to build one based specifically on your vehicle and installation. So another explanation is that there is a large anechoic difference between the two crossovers, but your car's acoustics/installation are rendering those differences rather insignificant.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Also if there was a Zobel network in the crossover it wouldn't be optimized for drivers other than the ones the crossover was designed for. The whole point of a Zobel is to level out the impedance curve of the tweeter to keep a consistent crossover slope. If the tweeter resonance is different (I can pretty much promise you that it is) then the response of the tweeter and the system as a whole will sound wrong.