Menu
Forum
General Car Audio
Subwoofers
Speakers
Amplifiers
Head Units
Car Audio Build Logs
Wiring, Electrical and Installation
Enclosure Design & Construction
Car Audio Classifieds
Home Audio
Off-topic Discussion
The Lounge
What's new
Search forums
Gallery
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Registered members
Current visitors
Classifieds Member Feedback
SHOP
Shop Head Units
Shop Amplifiers
Shop Speakers
Shop Subwoofers
Shop eBay Car Audio
Log in / Register
Forum
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
Log in / Join
What’s new
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
General Car Audio
Subwoofers
Speakers
Amplifiers
Head Units
Car Audio Build Logs
Wiring, Electrical and Installation
Enclosure Design & Construction
Car Audio Classifieds
Home Audio
Off-topic Discussion
The Lounge
What's new
Search forums
Menu
Reply to thread
Forum
Car Audio Discussion
General Car Audio
Designing a crossover for a DIY speaker project
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Message
<blockquote data-quote="thylantyr" data-source="post: 1242002" data-attributes="member: 560358"><p>A bare bones setup would be;</p><p></p><p>Portable CD player [headphone jack output] -&gt; DCX2496 -&gt; amplifier of your</p><p></p><p>choosing.</p><p></p><p>A better setup would be;</p><p></p><p>Home CD player [or universal DVD player] -&gt; AV receiver [for volume control] -&gt;</p><p></p><p>DCX - amplifier.</p><p></p><p>Put these items on a table and that is your test bench.</p><p></p><p>Buy a driver and connected it directly to the amplifier. If the driver is a tweeter</p><p></p><p>or midrnage, just leave it there sitting on the table. If you want to test bass</p><p></p><p>performance, make a test box for the midwoofer or woofers. If you want to hear</p><p></p><p>the high frequency performance, you don't really need a box. You could make</p><p></p><p>a box too to mimick a more realistic scneario.</p><p></p><p>Verify the DCX setttings for the particular driver [ie, connect the high pass output to the amp for tweeters, connect the midrange output for midrange, or connect the bass output for woofers.</p><p></p><p>Turn on the system and listen to familiar music. Prop up the driver [if it's not</p><p></p><p>in a box] to hear it on axis far away, up close, whatever. Change DCX settings</p><p></p><p>to hear what happens to the sound.</p><p></p><p>/easy</p><p></p><p>For tweeters, determine what might be a good crossover starting point</p><p></p><p>and use a 24dB slope, lets say start at 2khz. Skew the crossover higher,</p><p></p><p>as high as you want to hear what happens. But don't go too low as you</p><p></p><p>might damage the tweeters, it's a judgement call. To protect tweeters from</p><p></p><p>excess power insert an inline AGC 1A fuse. Select different filter types and slopes and sweep the frequency range to understand what sound you</p><p></p><p>are getting from each scenario. Think of it as a blind date.</p><p></p><p>For midranges or midwoofers, the audition is more complex as there are</p><p></p><p>more scenarios to try out. You should do a battery of listening tests to</p><p></p><p>determine what the driver can and can't do for you. Think of it as a second</p><p></p><p>blind date to determine how many holes are accessible //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif</p><p></p><p>For example, a midrange driver in a normal design will have two crossovers,</p><p></p><p>a high pass and a low pass. The high pass cuts out of the bass, the low pass</p><p></p><p>cuts out the treble, it's essentially a band-pass crossover. If it's a midwoofer</p><p></p><p>the bandpass may be 80hz - 2khz. This is a generic region. If you use a pure</p><p></p><p>midrnage the region might be 300hz - 2khz as pure midrange drivers offer no</p><p></p><p>bass so you need to filter out the bass by raising the crossover point otherwise</p><p></p><p>you can damage the driver with over-excursion.</p><p></p><p>So.. you have this midwoofer or midranges on the table with no box, playing</p><p></p><p>in some bandpass frequency range. First thing you notice is there is no bass</p><p></p><p>because the driver is free air. Don't worry about it, ignore it. Focus on midrange</p><p></p><p>sound quality only. Off axis, on axis, different SPL levels, different crossover frequencies/slopes. Ignore the fact that there is no tweeters or woofers playing</p><p></p><p>and thing about how natural the voices sound and instruments.</p><p></p><p>To make the test more interesting, disable the low pass section of the crossover</p><p></p><p>so the midrange plays 'wide open' on the top end, meaning you aren't crossing</p><p></p><p>out the treble. Listen for the nasty breakup modes and how they annoy you</p><p></p><p>OR not. If your crossover is flexible, you can just raise the crossover point from</p><p></p><p>... lets say 2khz to 20khz and this will mimick not using a low pass. The DCX</p><p></p><p>allows this.</p><p></p><p>Later, you want to test the bass performance of your midrange so you make a</p><p></p><p>test box, sealed, ported, whatever. Put the midrange in the box and change</p><p></p><p>the high pass crossover setting. You can set it very low, like 20hz to mimick</p><p></p><p>no high pass crossover to see what the driver does as you raise power. Most likely the bass will cause cone over-excursion which will damage the driver.</p><p></p><p>Raise the 20hz setting higher in increments until you think it sounds good</p><p></p><p>and has less excursion that raises it's power handling.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, try tweaking the low pass crossover to check how the driver</p><p></p><p>sounds in a box vs. free air or open baffle.</p><p></p><p>For woofers, you need a test box and all you do is change the low pass</p><p></p><p>setting.</p><p></p><p>Tweeters are easy,</p><p></p><p>midranges are easy too but will require a test box if you want to listen to it's</p><p></p><p>bass performance.</p><p></p><p>Woofers need a test box otherwise the audition is invalid.</p><p></p><p>Listen to 20 different tweeters, midranges, and woofers, spend a few months</p><p></p><p>everyday doing this and eventually you can mix and match combinations</p><p></p><p>of drivers based on your auditioning memory.</p><p></p><p>The ideal scenario is to find drivers that have less problems 'out of the box' so you DON'T have</p><p></p><p>to EQ them as it makes your job is integrating them easier.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="thylantyr, post: 1242002, member: 560358"] A bare bones setup would be; Portable CD player [headphone jack output] -> DCX2496 -> amplifier of your choosing. A better setup would be; Home CD player [or universal DVD player] -> AV receiver [for volume control] -> DCX - amplifier. Put these items on a table and that is your test bench. Buy a driver and connected it directly to the amplifier. If the driver is a tweeter or midrnage, just leave it there sitting on the table. If you want to test bass performance, make a test box for the midwoofer or woofers. If you want to hear the high frequency performance, you don't really need a box. You could make a box too to mimick a more realistic scneario. Verify the DCX setttings for the particular driver [ie, connect the high pass output to the amp for tweeters, connect the midrange output for midrange, or connect the bass output for woofers. Turn on the system and listen to familiar music. Prop up the driver [if it's not in a box] to hear it on axis far away, up close, whatever. Change DCX settings to hear what happens to the sound. /easy For tweeters, determine what might be a good crossover starting point and use a 24dB slope, lets say start at 2khz. Skew the crossover higher, as high as you want to hear what happens. But don't go too low as you might damage the tweeters, it's a judgement call. To protect tweeters from excess power insert an inline AGC 1A fuse. Select different filter types and slopes and sweep the frequency range to understand what sound you are getting from each scenario. Think of it as a blind date. For midranges or midwoofers, the audition is more complex as there are more scenarios to try out. You should do a battery of listening tests to determine what the driver can and can't do for you. Think of it as a second blind date to determine how many holes are accessible [IMG]//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif[/IMG] For example, a midrange driver in a normal design will have two crossovers, a high pass and a low pass. The high pass cuts out of the bass, the low pass cuts out the treble, it's essentially a band-pass crossover. If it's a midwoofer the bandpass may be 80hz - 2khz. This is a generic region. If you use a pure midrnage the region might be 300hz - 2khz as pure midrange drivers offer no bass so you need to filter out the bass by raising the crossover point otherwise you can damage the driver with over-excursion. So.. you have this midwoofer or midranges on the table with no box, playing in some bandpass frequency range. First thing you notice is there is no bass because the driver is free air. Don't worry about it, ignore it. Focus on midrange sound quality only. Off axis, on axis, different SPL levels, different crossover frequencies/slopes. Ignore the fact that there is no tweeters or woofers playing and thing about how natural the voices sound and instruments. To make the test more interesting, disable the low pass section of the crossover so the midrange plays 'wide open' on the top end, meaning you aren't crossing out the treble. Listen for the nasty breakup modes and how they annoy you OR not. If your crossover is flexible, you can just raise the crossover point from ... lets say 2khz to 20khz and this will mimick not using a low pass. The DCX allows this. Later, you want to test the bass performance of your midrange so you make a test box, sealed, ported, whatever. Put the midrange in the box and change the high pass crossover setting. You can set it very low, like 20hz to mimick no high pass crossover to see what the driver does as you raise power. Most likely the bass will cause cone over-excursion which will damage the driver. Raise the 20hz setting higher in increments until you think it sounds good and has less excursion that raises it's power handling. At the same time, try tweaking the low pass crossover to check how the driver sounds in a box vs. free air or open baffle. For woofers, you need a test box and all you do is change the low pass setting. Tweeters are easy, midranges are easy too but will require a test box if you want to listen to it's bass performance. Woofers need a test box otherwise the audition is invalid. Listen to 20 different tweeters, midranges, and woofers, spend a few months everyday doing this and eventually you can mix and match combinations of drivers based on your auditioning memory. The ideal scenario is to find drivers that have less problems 'out of the box' so you DON'T have to EQ them as it makes your job is integrating them easier. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forum
Car Audio Discussion
General Car Audio
Designing a crossover for a DIY speaker project
Top
Menu
What's new
Forum list
