Speaker guys...Crossover advice please.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steenamaroo
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Steenamaroo

Steenamaroo

...
Hey all.
This is just a question out of interest more than anything.


I have a pair of Wharfedale Dovedale IIs that I really like.
They're in auld shabby DIY cabinets that look like dick all squared, but they have nice bass and....I just like them.


I was doing a clear out and turned up a pair of Boothroyd Stuart / Meridian crossovers and tweeters that I salvaged from a pair of Argent A3s.

So..Crossovers. How does it work? Is there such a thing as better? Can low quality ones have a negative effect on the sound, or is it just a question of suitability? - that is, matching the crossover points to the drivers in question.

Would there be any good reason for me to try out these meridian crossovers?
Both sets of crossovers have bass,mid and treble out.
The meridians actually have separate ins too, but I'd be bridging.

I know the meridian drivers were all the same size.


To be perfectly honest they just look and feel so much more substantial than the wharfedale ones, and I know nothing about this so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks.

Wharfedales as they are.

01.webp

Wharfedale crossovers.

02.webp


Meridian crossovers.

03.webp
 
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I don't know, but you might check out the SpeakerLab website. I think some of their old catalogs talk about this.
 
I'm no expert on passive crossovers but do know the basics and they follow a few basic rules.

Firstly - They have to be matched to the drivers, (woofers, mids and tweets), so that they're rolling off the out of range frequencies that will damage them and also to help bridge the gap and overlap of each driver's usable frequency response range in consideration of those different drivers working together to establish an even frequency response and power handling. And the drivers also have to be matched in some basics like impedance and SPL efficiency, otherwise, you then have to over build the crossover to help smooth out the driver miss-match.

A basic crossover can be as simple as a single capacitor for the tweeter to establish a 6 db per octave roll off of the lower frequencies that would bottom out the voice coil and help protect it from the excessive power that's needed to feed the larger woofer. A cap and coil crossover will deliver a 12 db per octave roll off, giving more protection and helping to maintain a more even impedance to your amp.

But you generally can't just take random drivers from different manufacturers along with random crossovers from other speakers and expect it all to work seamlessly, just as you probably couldn't stick a Chevy carburetor onto a Ford engine block and expect it will all work just because you liked how they looked. :D

So the planning involved is in having the knowledge to match drivers to each other, again, based on power handling, efficiency and the native frequency responses of each driver and then designing the crossover with those specific drivers in mind, regarding their need for out of range protection, (roll off), and the best smoothing characteristics to make the final sound as smooth as is possible for a given budget.

And why I claim I am not an expert at all that is because I don't have a grasp on the math needed to select the right caps and coils to achieve all that. But speaker manufacturers would have that design expertise and is why most folks are content to let them deal with all the matching of drivers and crossover designs to achieve a product that we will happily fork over our hard earned money to possess.

Cheers! :)
 
Sounds like it's best left well alone.

I appreciate you taking the time to write all that, Ghost.
Cheers. :)
 
Hmm. Let's look at this another way.

Since I have the meridian tweeters and crossovers, say I wanted to build a new set of speakers around them..what could I do?

It would appeal to me to have something with maybe 8",4" and tweeter. Could I work out how to select appropriate drivers without specs on the crossovers?

Maybe that's just not worth doing?
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hmm. Let's look at this another way.

Since I have the meridian tweeters and crossovers, say I wanted to build a new set of speakers around them..what could I do?
Click to expand...

Best bet is to replace with the original drivers and cabinet volume which is tuned to the woofer's resonant frequency.

Anything beyond that is a crap shoot if you don't have an understanding of what I outlined in my previous post.

That said, if you have the time and interest to roll those dice, go for it and have fun! Worst case scenario is that you end up with a set of shitty sounding speakers, but hopefully, if you do make the effort, you might also gain some insight into what's involved to do that successfully and expand your knowledge base in the process.

Also, before you dive in, maybe do a basic web search on speaker and crossover design and maybe find some videos if reading technical stuff glazes your eyes over.

Cheers! :)
 
Haha. Ok. It's not something I'm gonna jump into.
I'm only 27 but already I have that middle-aged man 'must make stuff from other stuff' syndrome.

At least I know it's not worth just diving in, so thanks again, Ghost.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Haha. Ok. It's not something I'm gonna jump into.
I'm only 27 but already I have that middle-aged man 'must make stuff from other stuff' syndrome.

At least I know it's not worth just diving in, so thanks again, Ghost.
Click to expand...
I am a certified middle aged man and have zero interest in re-inventing the wheel or in even changing a flat. :D

That why I got a auto club membership! :)

Cheers! :)
 
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