The sonic benefits of an external crossover. A discussion.

[jostber]

Thanks! I might check out some resistor upgrades as the next step. Did you also upgrade the Inductor coil or did you evaluate that to be not necessary?

 

[the sound of Tao]

I thought the pathaudio resistors were a very good move and I had waited till the cap had formed up and settled in before doing the resistors so I could try and get a sense of what was doing what.

I did look at going up a level with the mundorf inductor but left it as stock because I had been playing around with the notion of maybe going OB subs later as well.

But I’ve since bought in a quintet platform (close fit with the 8 x 15 inch midwoofers under the Christmas tree ) and I’m starting that build as a New Year project so there’s a bit of a launch into 2021 with something of a new direction.

Once I’ve got it initially settled in and a bit of it’s measure I’ll then be rolling in a different horn as an option for either the quintet or trio... whichever way works best... plus also maybe using a rear firing horn as well.

So while I’m trying out the values in the xover I want to leave the trio as it is so I can also then use it as a reference benchmark for where I’m going in the larger horn project.

 

[jostber]

Congrats on the Quintet speakers! That will be an exciting project, they certainly look mightily impressive. For the Pathaudio resistors to the Trios, did you keep these to the same values as the original Mundorf resistors?

 

[the sound of Tao]

Thanks Jostber... I’m hoping it will be a good move as the Quintets have just a bit more extension (a couple of hz) and with twice as many 15 inch mod woofers hopefully I’ll get some benefit with overall lower distortion again with the lower frequencies. I love the trios as they are so good as they are so if I can eek out just a bit more extension and also get a even more air moving in the big scale music I’ll be happy.

If the radian seos horn combo make an improvement over the horn1 then that will be just ideal... and yes, I have kept the Pathaudio resistors the same values as original Mundorf spec.

 

[jostber]

Sorry for asking on this again, but in my original Trio10 crossover the Mundorft Supreme resistors have the values 20W 22R and 20W 6R8. I could not find any 20W Pathaudio resistors. Did you resolve this in another way than replace them one for one?

 

[Blue58]

Apologies for crashing in but as an alternative look at Lefson 10W, you could parallel to achieve the correct wattage, just double the R value. Various grades available to fit your budget.
https://www.lefson.com/resistor.php

 

[Dasign]

Hello, ladies and gentlemen of the forum and thank you in advance for your interest and input in the following discussion. This thread will be part of an ongoing series that will concentrate on the "Dissecting a speaker Series". This discussion will be concentrating solely on the sonic benefits of an external crossover and the end result as to what hits your ears.

Some companies offer an external crossover for their speakers and usually the price tag associated with these type of speakers are pretty hefty. Some of you may have heard throughout your audio journey that going external with the crossover is the "way to go" but have never really learned of the sonic reason as to why. Only theory behind why one would do such a thing. Things that could be considered an attribute are as follows;

* Ease of swapping individual components within said speaker/customizing/tailoring to suit one's preferences.
* With loss of vibrations, the values of the individual components retain a better consistency of proper operating performance.
* The ability to isolate said components just as one would with the rest of the gear.

What say you?

Tom

I have rebuilt my Apogee Duetta Signature Xover a few years ago. I decided to go the external route, mainly for two reasons; I wanted to avoid speaker vibration affecting Xover components and also have the ability to eventually upgrade my Xover components assuming the evolution in quality of capacitors, resistors and coils.

The outcome was such a great improvement in all aspects of sound reproduction (increase in bass depth/extension and overall resolution/3D representation). About a year after the rebuild, I installed Steve Blinn Design footers under the Xover. This was another improvement in reducing external speaker vibration. The sound had an increase in focus/timing.

This project was done using Mundorf Supreme capacitors about 8 years ago. I am now contemplating rebuilding the Hi-frequency portion of my Xover using Mundorf Supreme Gold/Silver/Oil capacitors. That is the beauty of having an external Xover.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Sorry for asking on this again, but in my original Trio10 crossover the Mundorft Supreme resistors have the values 20W 22R and 20W 6R8. I could not find any 20W Pathaudio resistors. Did you resolve this in another way than replace them one for one?

Apologies Jostber, should have remembered to point out (as Blue58 mentions) you need to parallel two of the pathaudio to replace a 20 watt resistor (to achieve the same specified value double the R value eg instead of 1 x 22R use 2 x 44R).