dan4510

I figure the costs for the boards, power supply, and upgraded op amps is about $270. The box was about $50. If you figure my time at a measly $25 an hour for wiring, box building, etc...that was about $500-$750. So, i could have bought one from marchand for that price. However, my feeling of ownership after doing the work is much more than just handing over money. Plus, I have a one of a kind box for the crossover to reside in. Also, since I have it up and running a while, its even better than I thought after giving the system some serious listening. The 24db/oct slopes seem to have given the system a much more focused sound stage. Listening to any type of music I can spot where each instrument is, movement of hands along guitars, and where each drum is as the drummer goes from one to another. Vocals are stunning. Real is the only word I can use. I have some really good recordings and its spooky, the music seems to be recreated in my room. The speakers recede and all that is left is music. The crossover points are 450 and 4500 and since I have extensive hearing damage, I thought I might not hear any highs. Not true, they seem to have reappeared and are real. In the last iteration of the setup I let the mid just poop out on its own and just used a capacitor to protect the tweeter which gave a 6db/oct slope. The highs were not there as much as now. So, Al K is correct in stating that extreme slope gives a much better integration between drivers. I would urge everyone to try higher slope orders, I bet you will be surprised. I am extremely pleased with how this crossover turned out and how much better it made my system sound. And I have to give cudos to Phil Marchand, I had a few problems getting everything up and running and he was kind enough to lend support to get me going. Dan

Have the crossover finished and installed. All I can say, its amazing what this has done for my system. The detail is superb, bass is superb and better controlled than before. Voices both male and female seem real. On a good recording the music seems to be live in the room. I got goose bumps listening to music I thought I was very familiar with. I have owned several very expensive sets of speakers and with the marchand crossover my belle clones beat them all! Dan

I keep coming back to this forum for one reason: all the good ideas being bandied about. It seems like this year may be the time to jump on some new technology or do the ultimate build I want. However, you guys keep inventing and tweaking and my ultimate keeps changing. Keep it up. Dan

I use gorilla glue. I have built two subwoofers and a belle clone. On each build I also screw and clamp all pieces. It takes extra time to drill pilot holes and get the screws right, but when i am done and the glue is dry,,,it seems the unit becomes one solid piece. If you use gorilla glue, wear gloves because it discolors skin. And make sure joined pieces are clean and damp. Dont use much or it squeezed out everywhere. But it is good stuff. Dan

Very beautiful build. If it sounds as good as it looks, you have a winner. Dan

Bill, I honestly don't know about any of your questions. I ran across the source forge crossover when doing another search. Right now am finishing up a marchand crossover and want to play with that before I go a software route. But looks very interesting. I would have to build another computer, buy a soundcard, and figure out amp and control. Dan

http://xover.sourceforge.net/ Text from the webpage describing this free software. It looks interesting, I am thinking of trying this. foo_dsp_xover is a software digital crossover implementation that I have been working on for a while in my spare time as a hobby. It is a foobar2000 audio player plugin that implements this digital crossover to achieve active multi-amplification. This software needs to run on a WinXP PC equipped with a multi-channel sound card (e.g. 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound card) feeding the various voices of a multi-amplifier and loudspeaker active configuration set-up. Opinions? Dan

Its a variation on the classic jensen/onken design. Dan

Front of box after stain.

Box Completed with four sides and stained.

More pics. Wiring done except for 110 supply to power up with. I am not the most organized with the wiring, but it goes where its supposed to and is soldered llike it should be. Now I just gotta finish the box. Gonna have a hinged lid so I either have it closed or open to look at. Dan

another picture Dan

more pics

More Progress. Wired the power supply side. Put rca ins and out on back board of box and pots on front part of box. Next step is wire up all the ins and outs to the crossover boards. Dan

Latest update on my crossover build. Mocked up how I am gonna place the boards in the box. Box is made of 1/4" thick red oak. Will finish building box, stain it, and put electronics back in wire it up. Hopefully in the next two weeks. Can't wait to complete it and hook it up. Dan