EQ with Crossovers? Really?
Bit of a system update and an excuse to talk about how I set up the crossovers for my active 4-ways plus subs.
The usual way to design crossovers is to do a bunch of anechoic measurements and shoot for the flattest response possible. Then do some fine tuning by listening, however this is a step that some designers skip and just go with the measured response as "good enough". And that works for most rooms - flat response is the best all-round compromise.
But since these speakers will only be used in my listening room, I decided to design the crossovers tailored to that room - so the measurements I took were NOT anechoic.
This allowed me to play with the crossover points and slopes (via the miniDSP 4x10) to not only separate the frequencies for the individual drivers, but also to "EQ" the response. I did this by changing the points and slopes so that I got the most even response that sounded the best to me.
For example the midwoofer cross to the midrange is at 910Hz for the midrange at 24db / octave, while the midwoofer crosses at 860Hz at 12db / octave. This flattened out a significant peak in the response around 900Hz that was there when I tried using matching points and slopes.
I won't lie - this took a LOT of time, both in changing the settings and in listening and measuring. But in the end I have a crossover configuration that sounds fantastic that I could then use to design the analog filters for the new active amplifier.
And I know this is beyond what most people can do, but I thought it would be interesting to show what's possible if your goal is the best sound quality you can get. This is a process that a lot of home theatre receivers try to approximate - room correction - but don't do very well because they are trying to correct a generically designed speaker to work in a room. My process is better because it designs the speaker to match the room without altering the original signal.
As set up, I'm using no additional EQ at all. The unchanged original music goes straight through to the active amp.
I used a picture of a passive crossover for this video and you may think it's misleading. But the same thing can be done with passive crossovers in the same way as I did with active ones. In fact you might be able to use software like Xsim or VituixCad to design the crossovers after you measure the drivers individually in the room. That would eliminate the need for the miniDSP.
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