Dave A Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 I have been working on a passive crossover for a two way for some time now and the major problem was the mismatch of driver efficiencies. Along the way I was using the common crossover calculators online and I got to thinking about how the OEM crossovers are often rounded off to even numbers both in capacitance and resistance. The calculators would give a number like say 4.56 UF or 5.17ohm and I thought "OK why not try to do just this and not round things off". So I built the 2nd order Linkwitz–Riley and an L-Pad doing just this and the results were really good. It took up to three capacitors to drill in as close as I could to calculated values as nothing out there was dead on like I wanted. With the resistors it was different and I found some really close without having to add some together. The end result is that the precise calculated values gave a much better sound then rounding off to the nearest whole number value. Not an expert by any means but I know what my ears tell me and has anyone else tried this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 46 minutes ago, Dave A said: ... has anyone else tried this? Absolutely! For my last crossover I measured dozens of capacitors, inductors, and resistors. (At one point I even contemplated winding my own inductors, but it turned out that I had appropriate values on-hand.) I fine-tuned with SPICE simulation. My results agreed with yours. If you really want to put the final touch on your results, implement Zobel networks, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted July 6, 2022 Author Share Posted July 6, 2022 1 hour ago, Edgar said: Absolutely! For my last crossover I measured dozens of capacitors, inductors, and resistors. (At one point I even contemplated winding my own inductors, but it turned out that I had appropriate values on-hand.) I fine-tuned with SPICE simulation. My results agreed with yours. If you really want to put the final touch on your results, implement Zobel networks, too. OK would those go in after the L-Pad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Posted July 7, 2022 Share Posted July 7, 2022 26 minutes ago, Dave A said: OK would those go in after the L-Pad? Yes. I typically mount them directly to the driver terminals. That way everything upstream of the driver (and Zobel) see nearly constant impedance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mboxler Posted July 7, 2022 Share Posted July 7, 2022 On 7/6/2022 at 3:37 PM, Dave A said: I have been working on a passive crossover for a two way for some time now and the major problem was the mismatch of driver efficiencies. Along the way I was using the common crossover calculators online and I got to thinking about how the OEM crossovers are often rounded off to even numbers both in capacitance and resistance. The calculators would give a number like say 4.56 UF or 5.17ohm and I thought "OK why not try to do just this and not round things off". So I built the 2nd order Linkwitz–Riley and an L-Pad doing just this and the results were really good. It took up to three capacitors to drill in as close as I could to calculated values as nothing out there was dead on like I wanted. With the resistors it was different and I found some really close without having to add some together. The end result is that the precise calculated values gave a much better sound then rounding off to the nearest whole number value. Not an expert by any means but I know what my ears tell me and has anyone else tried this? I don't know how familiar you are with circuit simulations, but if you were to post the exact values you used, I'd be happy to simulate the voltage transfers. Then, I could substitute common capacitor/inductor values and run a new simulation. It might be interesting to see the difference. Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 On 7/6/2022 at 5:37 PM, Dave A said: I know what my ears tell me This is the way to the dark side. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 On 7/6/2022 at 5:37 PM, Dave A said: I have been working on a passive crossover for a two way for some time now and the major problem was the mismatch of driver efficiencies. Along the way I was using the common crossover calculators online and I got to thinking about how the OEM crossovers are often rounded off to even numbers both in capacitance and resistance. The calculators would give a number like say 4.56 UF or 5.17ohm and I thought "OK why not try to do just this and not round things off". So I built the 2nd order Linkwitz–Riley and an L-Pad doing just this and the results were really good. It took up to three capacitors to drill in as close as I could to calculated values as nothing out there was dead on like I wanted. With the resistors it was different and I found some really close without having to add some together. The end result is that the precise calculated values gave a much better sound then rounding off to the nearest whole number value. Not an expert by any means but I know what my ears tell me and has anyone else tried this? Yes. Quite successfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 1 hour ago, Crankysoldermeister said: This is the way to the dark side. Medwin school right ? ;D Hey at least my solder work is nice. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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