High order crossovers

JSE (John Sollecitto Engineering) speakers from the mid -late 80's had the best implementation of high-order x-overs!  I have a pair in my collection. Later adopted by Joseph Audio (Pulsars).

No problem with the dynamic performance and coherence of my JSE Infinite Slope speakers!

Well thanks to all who answered. My speakers are Montana XP that are 4 way with 24db/oct. crossovers. They are 4 Ohm with an efficiency of 93db @ 2.83V. Some people have told me that all these crossover parts are absorbing the dynamics to the drivers. While I feel the speakers are very neutral, not having any emphasis at certain frequencies, they don't seem to have the "aliveness" that I have heard from other brands like Spatial Audio. Now that may be something I would tire of in a short while, but without a long audition I wouldn't know. I have owned my speakers for many years now, and I don't have any immediate plans on changing them out.

@kestner 24db/octave slopes help maintain smooth response when you are off the tweeter axis. 

You need to evaluate the entire speaker, not just the possible imperfections of one specific parameter. 

Best,

E

Higher order loudspeaker crossovers ABSOLUTELY and EMPHATICALLY rob dynamics!!!

Insert a single capacitor in series with a driver, and the amount of sonic degradation will more than disappoint you. Multiply that by the complexity of a crossover, and the impact manifests itself accordingly.

Although crossover complexity normally correlates with slope, it does not absolutely.

Additional components making up things like Zobel networks, notch filters, L Pads, etc. must be considered, and why many (like me) believe they create more / larger problems than they solve. Think about not just crossover slope, but overall parts count, as well. Each part acts like a speed bump.

Thiels employ first order crossovers, yet with all of the added circuitry, represent some of the most complex crossovers, with the highest parts counts around. THAT’S why they’re so difficult to drive, demanding of the partnering amplifier, and simply will not come alive unless fed correctly.

Having owned and been around the entire JSE / Infinite Slope lineup, their obvious and fatal flaw is the very dynamics of the loudspeakers. Though they possessed many qualities such as notable timbre and ease of listening, they simply lack the ability to stop and start / react, ability to startle, and overall excitement IOW...dynamics.


Perhaps the biggest reason the Frieds I was a part of had such fantastic dynamics and the overall ability to excite in a most beguiling manner was Bud sorting all of this out so long ago. Frieds used simple first order crossovers, with a minimum of components. Most who remember know he employed the series crossovers he learned from Dynaudio (even if they themselves don’t), which not only present a more natural and coherent presentation, and far easier load on the partnering amplifier, but the ability to implement a more gentle or steep (as desired) slope IN A FIRST ORDER(!) crossover; that’s impossible in the parallel networks used in 99.9% of the market. Bud’s raison d’etre was the resistive, not reactive, loudspeaker, all in the attempt to recreate his life changing experience of hearing Stokowski in Philadelphia as a child. In fact, Ralph Karsten told me he developed his Atma Sphere amplifier when he owned a pair of Frieds (or IMFs?) back in the day, which even today present an astoundingly wonder match with his amplifiers