Active Crossover Settings

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fenderdude

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Hey all, I am going to start using a external active crossover for some subs and FOH speakers. I was wondering if anyone knows some good settings for these, i.e. at what point should I set the high/low cut filters?
Thanks
Fenderdude :p
 
Wouldn't you want to start at the source? They'd have that info pretty much dialed in.
 
Just try Playing so music through them and dial it in till you get what seems to be the best sound....

The Guitar amp I just built uses an active adjustable JBL Crossover with one 12 in Sub and a 6 in Mid and I basicly just dial it in till I get the type of sound I want, I know it isn"t very scientific but it is what works for me....


Cheers
 
There is no set number at all. It completely depends upon both the sub, the tops, and even the room and/or processor that you are using. On average your crossover point will be between 80 and 120 hz. 90 hz. like Ford Van suggested above may not be a bad starting point, but do not be afraid to stray form the number and experiment. Over the years working on many different rigs, almost every different rig used a different crossover point, and sometimes the same rig did depending on location, reflection, weather etc...
 
as sound starts to get directional at around120hz thats kinda your upper limit... but it really depends on the cabs.... my keyboard rig where im useing jbl MP 410's and EV 15L's in tl style cabs seems to like 85hz... where does your top cabs start rolling off ??
 
Out of curiosity... Why would 120 hz be the "upper limit"? I understand that low frequencies are generally less directional than high frequencies, but they are still very "locatable" in the stereo image well below 100hz. Also, there is nothing wrong with subs having some sort of directional properties. It reall is a bit of a myth the way people consider subs to be "omnidirectional". Is the sub really that undirectional? Or is the room just reflecting that well.... If you notice, outdoors the low frequencies are still MUCH MUCH more prominent in front of the PA than behind it.

Crossover frequencies really are different for every setup, and even different locations of the same setup. By design my 21" Turbosound subs are meant to run at a 150 hz crossover point. Logically to me this seemed very high in the frequency range. However, when you run it like that with the Floodlight tops they are meant to mate with they absolutely sound better once you get considerably above the "normal" crossover points. When you are running Servodrive subs though often times they sound better at 65 or 70 hz as a crossover point. My custom subs work the best at around 106 to 110 hz. EAW SB1000's and The newer JBL dual 18's seem to work the best at either 80 or 100 depending on what tops you are using. L Acoustic subs sound awesome at 80 hz., as do the Meyer's etc... The point is that every rig is different. All of this changes a little more even once you factor in amount of subs, placement of them, the drive processing etc...

Ford Van suggested 90 hz as some sort of a standard. Whereas I disagree that this would be a standard at all, trying somewhere between 90 and 110 would probably be an excellent starting point for some sort of basic inexpensive sub/top combination.
 
fenderdude said:
Hey all, I am going to start using a external active crossover for some subs and FOH speakers. I was wondering if anyone knows some good settings for these, i.e. at what point should I set the high/low cut filters?
Thanks
Fenderdude :p
Fenderdude,

Perhaps you should start hanging out in this forum...ProSoundWeb.

They can answer a lot more questions about live PA systems than the Home Recording guys generally can. ;)

Click on Community Forums, then LAB, then LAB Lounge for the weekend warrior's forum. There are tons of beginners there asking tons of questions just like yours.

Good luck,
RawDepth
 
What type of filters are you using? What model Crossover are you using?
I know this doesn't really answer the question, just curious.
 
RAK said:
What type of filters are you using? What model Crossover are you using?
I know this doesn't really answer the question, just curious.

What do you mean by "filters"? I have a nady two channel crossover with a sub out. I hooked up my subs and other speakers for the first time today in my garage. I was pleasantly surprised! I tried a few combinations and finally decided on the following: I have two 18" subs, I have a behringer 1500 rack amp powering those (through the crossover), I ran the highs to a set of small cabinets I have and am using another set of cabs(full range) run out of my Crate powered PA, so they don't go through the crossover. This combo seemed to give me all the lows/mids and highs I was looking for. I am not using the "Mids" from the nady at this point just the lows and highs and running the other cabs with a normal signal.
That make sense?
 
fenderdude said:
What do you mean by "filters"? I have a nady two channel crossover with a sub out. I hooked up my subs and other speakers for the first time today in my garage. I was pleasantly surprised! I tried a few combinations and finally decided on the following: I have two 18" subs, I have a behringer 1500 rack amp powering those (through the crossover), I ran the highs to a set of small cabinets I have and am using another set of cabs(full range) run out of my Crate powered PA, so they don't go through the crossover. This combo seemed to give me all the lows/mids and highs I was looking for. I am not using the "Mids" from the nady at this point just the lows and highs and running the other cabs with a normal signal.
That make sense?

By filters I meant Bessel, Butterworth, or Linkwitz-Riley. Those are the standard filter types for crossover networks. So do you have an amp for each speaker post crossover (active crossover)? Or is it the other way around? One amp -> crossover -> speakers.

Edit: I was just looking at the Nady, doesn't look like you can change the filter types anyway. Usually with a digital crossover network you can choose the type of filters you want.
Anyway, so where did you set your cut offs? Sounds like you're throwing away a lot of midrange freq. Or is the full range cabs part of the set up, so you're doubling the highs and lows? If you're happy with the sound, then that's good.

I guess I don't really have a comment or a question, but am just saying words. oh well.
 
RAK said:
By filters I meant Bessel, Butterworth, or Linkwitz-Riley. Those are the standard filter types for crossover networks. So do you have an amp for each speaker post crossover (active crossover)? Or is it the other way around? One amp -> crossover -> speakers.

Edit: I was just looking at the Nady, doesn't look like you can change the filter types anyway. Usually with a digital crossover network you can choose the type of filters you want.
Anyway, so where did you set your cut offs? Sounds like you're throwing away a lot of midrange freq. Or is the full range cabs part of the set up, so you're doubling the highs and lows? If you're happy with the sound, then that's good.

I guess I don't really have a comment or a question, but am just saying words. oh well.

No problem Rak, I run it like this, Crossover to 2 amps to the 2 sets of cabs. I run the other set of cabs through the Crate PA (they are full range) I may get another amp for the crossover but this way seems to sound good. I guess it is doubling the some of the lows and highs somewhat but the speakers I am using w/o the crossover seem to carry the mids very well.
Let me know your thoughts.
Lata
Fenderdude
 
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