m00n Posted April 15, 2002 Share Posted April 15, 2002 Ok, I admit it. I won't hide it. I am very audio challenged. I don't speak the speak, talk that talk, because, I simply don't know it. . But I am trying to learn it. . As a matter of fact, in a computer gaming forum I hang out in a lot, they nicknamed me the Askinator 2000 cause I ask so many questions. . Anyway, I was hoping that someone could tell me what crossovers are for, what they do. I have read here in the forum people talking about them and the various subjects that refer to them. I was hoping someone could help me understand this subject better. Thanks ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen This message has been edited by m00n on 04-15-2002 at 11:50 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 You're in the right place my friend, because people here love answering as much as you love asking! I'll try: a crossover is basically a filter that separates the frequencies destined to go to two different drivers or transducers. For example, if you have a big woofer and a small tweeter, the crossover will separate the frequencies so that the highs go to the tweeter, and the lows to the woofer. crossovers are progressive, they have a "slope". an xover that is set at 80Hz, for example, won't neatly send everything under 80Hz to the sub and everything above 80Hz to the speakers; as the frequencies go up, it will progressively send more and more sound to the speaker and less and less sound to the sub. that slope, or rate, is not the same for all xovers, and different slopes are better suited to different applications. in a two way speaker, you will have one crossover. in a three way speaker, you will have two (one between the woofer and midrange driver, and one between the midrange driver and the tweeter), and so on. there is also a crossover in a receiver, which lets it send sub bass to the sub and the rest to the speakers when you set the latter to small. hope it serves as a good simple intro! ------------------ http://members.fortunecity.com/sebdavid - go laugh at my crappy website/equipment http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mc.asp?alias=Sebdavid - go laugh at my puny little DVD collection This message has been edited by Seb on 04-16-2002 at 01:03 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted April 16, 2002 Author Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hey thanks seb! That did make perfect since. Something tells me this is one of those, "What sounds good to you" questions, but is there a general concencus as to what it (my subs LP crossover) should be set at for (A)movies and (B)regular stereo music taking my speakers and receiver into consideration? What about dolby digital vs DTS? Lets say I am watching a movie with DTS. Would I set the crossover differnet than I would for Dolby Digital? Or is that just getting too nit picky? ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen This message has been edited by m00n on 04-16-2002 at 01:17 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hi Moon, Hey, don't be afraid to ask anything. That's the best way to learn. A crossover is the part of a loudspeaker that takes the signal from the amp or receiver and divides it into, in the case of a two-way speaker, high and low frequencies and then sends it on to the appropriate driver; highs to the tweeter and lows to the woofer. Of course it can get much more complicated, but that's about it in a nutshell. ------------------ JDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 moon, kinda goes back to your prior thread: http://216.37.9.58/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001041.html or one of those other threads from the askinator. bass management is real tricky though & the makers don't make it any easier. i think you're inquiring again about bass management & the sub's crossover control. i've recommended to switch it to disable (then the knob doesn't work). you then control it with your receiver. when you go thru it's set up you can set the speakers large or small. this controls the crossovers between your speakers and sub. i've recommended 1st setting all to small. sub:yes of course. then from there maybe change the rf-3 to large & see if the bass quality goes down. that's the crossover control moon. it's in your hk. get it set-up then you can join the large vs. small debate i'd never use the crossover (low pass) on the sub itself. your hk has the low pass with it's sub out. if you put your rsw on enable & use the crossover knob, you'll be cutting LFE because that all goes to the sub output. so to start: rsw: disable low pass crossover w/ switch (guess that's why they call that LFE caus you want that switch to disable for LFE stuff). hk: sub:yes, all speakers set small. me w/ your hk, there i'd just set it & forget it. from there you can change things. the hk probably even has a direct mode that'll play all speaks as large and lfe to sub only for that 5.1 dts & dolby stuff, if you want to try that. whether it's dolby or dts you use the same settings. the above set-up should even work good on a 5 channel stereo mode w/ regular 2-channel cd. ------------------ My Home Systems Page This message has been edited by boa12 on 04-16-2002 at 09:55 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted April 16, 2002 Author Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hey boa12 Thanks dude! When i get home from work tonight I will change the way I have it set. Actually I have not been able to make any settings like you mentioned. I need the remote control to get access to the on screen menu. For some reason the remote never got put in the box. Hell for that matter neither did the FM or AM antinas. I called the dealer on this and they had no problems ensureing I was givin the missing stuff. I have no doubts it's going to take me a month or so to get everything figured out and tweeked just to the way I like it. ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 yea moon, that remote is crucial. some do actually go to the sub & manually switch the crossover to disable (or turn it all the way up) for 5.1 w/ lfe & switch it to enable (or dial it back down) for 2-channel music (no lfe). me i just have my sub x-over on disable all the time. don't like to get up that often. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted April 16, 2002 Author Share Posted April 16, 2002 quote: Originally posted by boa12: me i just have my sub x-over on disable all the time. don't like to get up that often. Heh! Spoken like a true couch potatoe! ------------------ the m00n system RF-3II Front floors RC-3II Center RS-3II Surrounds RSW-12 Subwoofer Harman Kardon AVR 520 Toshiba SD 3205 DVD Samsung 27" Flatscreen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 u bet! & if u don't have a straight shot at the receiver, you may find the remote beam will bounce off walls too. ------------------ My Home Systems Page This message has been edited by boa12 on 04-16-2002 at 11:10 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 unless you have a crappy sub, there is no need to change the crossover point (i.e. set your speakers to large or send more bass to them) when listening to music as opposed to ht. it should always be the same. I can't tell you waht you should set it at (if there is such an option in the hk), as I don't know the RF-3s THAT well... plus, I think it wil depend on your room, to a certain extent, since the room affects bass response of both speakers and sub to a great extent. ------------------ http://members.fortunecity.com/sebdavid - go laugh at my crappy website/equipment http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mc.asp?alias=Sebdavid - go laugh at my puny little DVD collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 yea seb when i was using the marantz sr8000 for the main sys w/ it's 80hz fixed crossover, found it best to still leave on all small for the 2 channel music (usually in 5 "channel"/speaker stereo), though i knew the bass could be better w/ an adjustable down from 80hz crossover in the receiver/pre/pro. for about all rooms, w/ the mains on large & sub simultaneously covering the same low range from dif locations, you'll have standing waves sure as shootin. just a matter of where they & you are in the room (& of course our ears) that makes them tolerable or not. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOUNDJUNKIE Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 a crossover is a voter registered as a member of one political party who votes in the primary of the other party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOUNDJUNKIE Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 A crossover is a broadening of the popular appeal of an artist (as a musician) or an artist's work that is often the result of a change of the artist's medium or style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mace Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 m00n, No question is bad to ask... except "what is the best speaker wire?" Mace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOUNDJUNKIE Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 Now that you mentioned it, what IS the best speaker cable for my application? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaapong Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 And while we are at it, what is the different between second-order xover (or was it slope) and first-order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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