Many people call our wonderful tech support agents looking for options and recommendations for the awesome audio system they want to build! We always love helping our customers understand the potential of our products and what they can do for their audio systems. In this article, we will discuss the differences between building an actively crossed-over audio system and a passive audio system.
What Is A Crossover?
In order to fully understand the differences between an Active and Passive system, we must first understand what exactly a crossover is and how it affects the frequencies we can hear.
Simply put, a crossover is a device or circuit that divides an incoming audio signal into two or more frequency ranges, directing each range to a specific set of speakers or drivers optimized for that range. Using Passive crossovers is typically much cheaper than building an Actively crossed-over system.
The primary purpose of a crossover is to ensure that each speaker or driver receives only the frequencies it's designed to handle, thus improving sound quality and efficiency. In turn, when using a crossover, it ensures that the speaker only receives the frequencies it is capable of playing.
For example, if we were to send subwoofer frequencies to a tweeter, damage would occur to the tweeter since we are not regulating the frequencies designed for the tweeter to play and it is being forced to move outside of the designed range of the speaker. This is where you can accidentally "deep-fry" a speaker. Crossovers are built to prevent this from happening!
Crossovers are commonly found in multi-driver speaker systems such as 2-way, 3-way, or even more complex configurations. For example, a 2-way speaker system might have a crossover dividing the signal between a woofer (for low frequencies) and a tweeter (for high frequencies). Similarly, a 3-way system might have additional drivers for mid-range frequencies, each driven by a separate crossover network.
Overall, crossovers play a crucial role in ensuring that each speaker or driver in an audio system receives the appropriate frequencies, allowing for balanced and accurate sound reproduction across the entire audible frequency spectrum.
Passively Crossed Over Audio Systems
Passive crossovers use passive components like capacitors, inductors, and resistors to split the audio signal after amplification. They don't typically require external power but are often less precise and may introduce some output and signal loss through the components as the signal is crossed over using the devices. The most important thing to note is that Passive crossovers are also installed after the amplification process which is why the signal loss occurs through the passive crossover. An example of the Passive Crossover in our PNW69CS2 and PNW65CS2 speaker kits is shown below. It has a single input but the output is split into its respective Tweeter output and Woofer output.
Some Passive crossovers also have a circuit that allows you to decrease or increase the output by a small amount to aid in setting the gains on your amplifiers to make gain matching easier. Typically, these settings only affect the tweeter output of the crossover, but some Passive crossovers are more robust depending on the manufacturer's needs.
Something to pay attention to is the wattage limitations of passive crossovers so that we do not inadvertently damage the crossover or downstream speakers.
Actively Crossed Over Audio Systems
Active crossovers use active electronic components like operational amplifiers to split the audio signal into different frequency ranges before amplification. They typically offer greater flexibility and precision but require power to operate.
There are many advantages to using an Active crossover device over a Passive one.
Flexibility: Active crossovers offer greater flexibility in terms of crossover frequencies, slopes, and customization options compared to passive crossovers. This flexibility allows for precise tuning of the audio system to match specific speaker characteristics and room acoustics.
Adjustability: Many active crossovers feature adjustable crossover frequencies and slopes, which can be easily tuned to optimize system performance. This adjustability makes it possible to fine-tune the sound reproduction according to personal preferences or the requirements of different audio sources.
Signal Processing: Active crossovers can incorporate additional signal processing functions such as equalization, phase correction, and time alignment. These features can help to further optimize the performance of the audio system and compensate for any imperfections in the speakers or room acoustics.
Independent Amplification: In active crossover systems, each driver (such as a woofer, midrange, or tweeter) is typically powered by its own dedicated amplifier channel. This arrangement allows for greater control over each driver and ensures that they receive sufficient power for optimal performance.
Low Distortion: Active crossovers can provide lower distortion levels compared to passive crossovers, particularly at higher power levels. This is because active crossovers operate at line-level signals before amplification, reducing the risk of signal degradation and distortion.
Bi-Amping and Tri-Amping: Active crossover systems are often used in bi-amping or tri-amping configurations, where separate amplifiers are used for different frequency ranges. Bi-amping involves using two amplifiers (one for the low frequencies and one for the high frequencies), while tri-amping involves using three amplifiers (for low, mid, and high frequencies). This approach can further improve system performance by minimizing intermodulation distortion and allowing for greater control over each frequency range.
Examples of active crossover devices are Digital Signal Processors such as the D-Series amplifiers and the DM-Series Processors. A DM-810 is shown as an example below. Our LC line amplifiers also have active crossovers built into the amplifiers themselves to offer a lower-cost means of actively crossing over the amplifier's outputs, similar to the way the D-Series amplifiers would.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has given you some knowledge to understand the major differences between an active and passively crossed-over audio system. If you have further questions regarding this topic, you are encouraged to reach out to technical services here!
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