That high pass crossover

[Deang]

Today started out pretty much like other days - listening.

Ever since I traded the RB5's in on the pair of RC7's I've been becoming more and more aware of the differences.

The one and only area where I had felt the RB5's actually sounded better was in the balance of sound. The RC7's seem a little 'hot' sometimes. With some material they come off sounding a little 'thin' - as with most things related to sound it is difficult to peg down.

Now I had been using the high pass crossover on the sub and with the RB5's this certainly was the superior configuration. Using the high pass with the RB5's really opened them up. The high pass on my sub is 6db/octave @90Hz, which I believe put the RB5's down -3db @45hz. I'm usually not a big fan of the high pass but with the RB5's it definitely sounded better using it than running them full range.

So...when I hooked the RC7's up I just figured on using the high pass again - I mean, sounded better with the RB5's - so it's bound to sound better with the RC7's right?

Well...huh... I got to thinking (still trying to recover) - and was looking at those bad boys and thought that maybe I was cheating them. Even though they are only rated to go 3 cycles lower than the RB5's - there is a lot more speaker there. So I figured what the hell. So, out with the high pass and in with the full range signal.

Too my dismay the 'all there' sound is back and though still a little hot at times - it certainly sounds better than going through the high pass on the sub. Where the RB5's benefited from having the bass knocked out from under them - the RC7's almost seem to need it.

Any two-way speaker benefits from the reduction in IM the high pass provides - but then I guess the 2 1/2 way RC7 isn't your typical two-way either.

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deanG