Active cross-overs: audio nirvana to NIRVANA

[Strainger]

So, after 30 years of hifi, I find myself wiping the slate of what-I-thought-I-knew clean to begin the whole process anew. Thus far the new inscriptions read: HE speakers (horns), SET amps, and now: active crossovers.

This thread is to open a discussion where the guys who already know can teach us plebs something... awesome it will be, I can feel it in my belly.

(Although I approach this from the SET/HE speaker angle, it should be applicable to most/all scenarios... I think  )

From the archives of Dr Gizmo: http://www.meta-gizmo.org/tri/marchand.html

(with active crossovers) this is where we leave everyone in our dust...we can choose exactly the right amplfiers for each driver. The optimal woofer amp for the woofer and optimal tweeter amp for the tweeter. This is especially exciting for single-ended fanatics because, once relieved of woofer duty, your SET will optimally perform. With the coming of age of the 2A3 in America you can begin to experience combinations of 300B on woofers and this tube on tweeters.  In Japan the conventional wisdom is push/pull on woofers, SET on midrange and tweeters. Others prefer combination of OTLs. But the most important facts of life here are, that once you use a tube crossover your amplifiers are so much more effecient that you can, and should, use much lower powered amplfiers...meaning they will be more refined.

Owners of studio monitors, listen up:

RADICAL MINI-MONITOR STRATEGY

So you want to have fun? You are feeling restless, and want to explore the deep, rich veins of your musical soul...and you have small living room and your not Donald Trump.

My recent experience with auditioning mini-monitors stimulated this radical and way cool strategy to satisfy the fires burning in your musical soul. This is what you need:

1. High quality 2 way mini-monitors
2. Marchand tube (read: active) crossover
3. Another amplifier.

All that you have to do is remove the passive crossover from you mini-monitors and use your tube crossover and you will reach a significantly higher plateau of musical pleasure qua intimacy. I have also asserted repeatedly that two small, less expensive amplifiers, used with a tube crossover, will give better results than one more expensive amplifier used with a passive crossover.

With your space limitation this means that you can have endless hours of fun and not be burdened by yardage of electronics...and this means that under most circumstances with your 300B single-ended amplifier connnected to the woofer of your mini speaker it will be positively ejaculartory in its transistent response...and you can use a 2A3 amplifier on the tweeters because you will never need more than a fraction of a watt for them. Get my drift sailor?

 

[Jozua]

 

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