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Why HiFi manufacturers don't make active crossovers anymore?

Hello to all,

On the recent days, I noticed that a lot of manufacturers of Hifi 2 channel systems, had plenty of options in a not so long past, of active crossovers, like Luxman, Accuphase, higher end Sony stuff, and many more, why do you think HiFi manufacturers abandoned the inclusion of active cross overs, channel dividers, in their lineup?

Accuphase still makes a digital one.

Appears that this devices are only still relevant in the Pro Audio world, why Home HifI abandoned the active cross over route? It's correct to assume that?

I think that can be very interesting tri-amp a three way loudspeakers with active cross overs, would like to know more about it too...

Share your thoughts about the subject, experiences in bi-amp and tri-amp with active crossovers and etc....

Thanks!
128x128cosmicjazz
giri
39 posts
 
I have been using Marchand Electronics crossover for 2+ years and have been very happy. Phil Marchand is a very knowledgeable person and can guide you to what you want. Part quality is superb, price is very reasonable, crossover modules are very reasonably priced and you can experiment with slopes, crossover points, single ended or balanced etc. without breaking your bank. Pass crossover uses least used and difficult design whereas, Marchand uses Linkwitz Riley, has no phase problems. My speakers are 4 way and tried about 4-5 different crossover points, liked the present one and have stayed with it. Not a difficult job for someone that is not an engineer. Sound is much better than passive crossover, more dynamic.
thanks,

giri
39 posts
 
By the way, digital crossovers are easy to use but analog one will give you better sound. I had dbx Driverack but was not satisfied with sound. I have used Krell and Apogee, but Marchand has been my most rewarding so far.
hifidream's avatar
hifidream
134 posts
 
I disagree that analog crossovers inherently sound better. You can make more complicated slopes that address issues with the room that no analog crossover can touch. You can time align the speakers from the listening position which alone is a huge benefit to imaging. When the filters operate at 24/96 or higher there is no loss of fidelity. While some users make fun of people being intimidated, it’s like anything, that once you know how to do it of course it’s easy. Leveraging the power of Room EQ Wizard and Multi Sub Optimizer to build filters that make the best sound in a room has an initial steep learning curve but the payoff is amazing. I’m happy to talk anyone through it as it took me a great deal of reading and trial and error to get everything to work. 
erik_squires
15,940 posts
 
Actual speaker crossovers are complicated.


If you are going to replace a speaker's internal crossover with an external you are going to have replicate the entire transfer function, not just the crossover location and slopes. DSP makes this a lot easier to accomplish.


If on the other hand you are just adding a sub to the bottom end, an analog crossover can do what you need.
cosmicjazz's avatar
cosmicjazz OP
243 posts
 
Amazed how this thread grows..

Guys, I was checking some speakers projects on the web, builders that share their systems, found a interesting website focused on that, check this out:

http://www.homebuilthifi.com/project/18754

When I look at this particular project, this makes me think, wouldn’t be much more straight solution, if that guy opted in go active?

I think go active isn’t all necessary a complicated solution, in fact, can be much more straight forward..

I think this system must sound very very nice, but I don’t think If I dig all the mess of all this amps going trough the DIY passive crossover that the guy designed for it...

What do you guys this?

An active solution wouldn’t be a much more elegant way to cross and tuning the frequencies response on this huge 5 way speakers?


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