High pass quality to mains uisng Velodyne DD subs

Looks like no one has A/B'd this. Within the next few weeks, I'll be able to give a try.

If I find that the higpass is benefical, but a little noisy, I may go for an outboard crossover like the the vandersteen m5-hp. The savings on long rcas's of even moderate cost would about pay for it.

Thanks for the responses.

Jerry

Rwwear...Any degradation due to "extra" circuitry is theoretical, and could be expected to occur only for inferior electronics. LF cone motion is actual physical reality...not theoretical. It causes Dopler modulation of higher frequencies, and requires the driver to electically function over a large range of cone excursion that would not be present if the LF were filtered out.

By all means try it both ways, and do what you prefer. In all likelihood you will hear no difference with the typical lightly driven home audio equipment, but a Pro Sound rig, driven to its maximum capability, would be a different story.

I have asked the same question a couple of times without getting any answer, but I intend to purchase a SMS-1 and will certainly try the high pass. A better way to minimize the tradeoff between transparency and distortion may be to use a separate high-pass filter like ACI's for the satellites, or to solder a high quality capacitor in series with the main amp. There is a formula to derive the required value according to hinge point and amplifier impedance.

Vladimir...The capacitor idea is attractive, but...

1. The capacitor will give you only a 6 dB filter. It will significantly impact frequencies well above where you want to make the crossover.

2. The capacitors used in a line level filter will be of much smaller value than those of a speaker level filter and can be of the highest quality for less money.

3. The 6 dB filter will cause a 90 degree phase shift. An active line level crossover with the ubiquitous four pole L/R 24dB characteristic has a 360 degree phase shift, which is back to 0 degrees.

4. Active amplification in the line level filter is just several unity gain impedance buffering stages. These are easily implemented with almost unmeasurable distortion.

5. With a capacitor you will not be able to easily experiment with different filter frequencies. You will probably want to do this. Personally, based on much experience in this matter, I go so far as to vary the X/O frequency according to the particular music I am playing, and this requires a crossover with a frequency selection knob.

I have done the capacitor thing in the past, and I think that item 1, above, is the killer. Try it by all means, but experiment with inexpensive capacitors until you decide what you want.

Vladimir, you should take note that using the SMS will overide the servo control in Velodyne's subs and I would guess in others as well. That's the only reason I don't use one with my DD15. If your sub doesn't have servo control then it will not matter.