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Is Parasound on to something? Or, How important is crossover management in preamps?

How important is crossover management in mid-fi receiver?

I auditioned Parasound separates yesterday — P6 and A23+ and the dealer emphasized how useful it would be to be able to control the crossover *both* for the subwoofer (I have a Rel 328) and the bookshelves (TBD, but I'm looking at Dynaudios and Salk WOW1's). Not many preamps have this, and I'm wondering how important it is. I'm also quite interested in PS Audio's separates (Stellar Gaincell + S300) but they do not have these, nor do they have tone controls.

So how valuable is Parasound's controls? What is the significance (positive or negative) control over the crossover — especially of the *main* speakers themselves? The positive, I read, is that it (a) allows mains to do a more precise job by relieving them of the burden of the bottom end, and (b) it increase the efficacy of the power amp in driving the mains. Is there a negative? Is there something "improper" about limiting the demands on mains, especially given their designed frequency range?

As you can see, the answer to this question helps determine whether Parasound has a major value-adding feature in these crossover controls.

Obviously, at the end of the day, auditioning pre's and poweramps (or integrateds) is crucial, as is match to speakers, etc. But if this feature is very important for fitting sub and mains together — and fitting speakers to room environments — then it will help me weigh the Parasound or any other preamp with this feature.

P.S. To those who keep seeing my newbie questions, I hope they're not irksome. I'm posting so often because I'm researching purchases for a whole system, of some cost, and so I'm really digging into these questions about all aspects. And I'm having a blast.
128x128hilde45
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
5,091 posts
 
Ok, well I’m confused, then. Consider:

Fact: Parasound offers something that changes the crossover point for the speaker design. They argue (and some here agree) that’s overall beneficial for sound because it reduces burden placed on speakers and amp while improving the integration of sub, speakers, and room.

Fact: PS Audio asserts they don’t offer that feature because it speaker crossover design shouldn’t be interfered with and that this adds circuitry that harms the overall sound.

Dilemma: either Parasound’s feature is beneficial to the achievement of audio quality *overall* sound or it’s not.

(a) If it IS helpful, then it IS ok to interfere with the crossover of the main speakers and PS Audio’s argument is wrong.

(b) If it IS NOT helpful, then it is NOT ok to add circuitry and interfere with the crossover of the main speakers and PS Audio’s argument is right.

If (a) is true, the PS Audio’s reasoning is specious.
If (b) is true, Parasound’s feature is detrimental to overall sound and shouldn’t have been included in their product.

There is another alternative:

(c) The question doesn’t really matter very much, and while people make design choices and then argue for them, these are tantamount to cosmetic differences and the differences highlighted are more marketing than engineering arguments. I’ve made a mountain out of a molehill. In which case, the answer would be (as I think was said by least one person above): "Fuggedaboutit."

djones51
4,947 posts
 
I looked up your sub the Rel 328 and was wondering how do you connect it now? According to the manual you should use the speakon connector on the sub  and connect to your amps speaker binding posts in which case you wouldn't use the preamp crossover. It shows other ways of connecting but says this way is best for 2 channel system. PS Audio suggestion makes sense if you're not using a subwoofer but if you are a crossover is going to come into play somewhere and is not really something you see  a lot on 2 channel stereo preamps anymore it's  not a specious argument. The Parasound would give you the choice of using the subwoofer connected with the sub out and using the preamp to control the crossover and compare with the way Rel suggests but it doesn't look like it's a feature you really need but for some it could be useful as they wouldn't have to buy another component if they wanted to set crossovers so it is beneficial in certain cases. For example if I was using a small bookshelf speaker that only went down to 48hz without using a subwoofer  I would set the high pass on the Parasound say to 45hz making it easier on the amp and speaker since the speaker isn't going that low anyway you're not interfering with the speakers crossover. 
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
5,091 posts
 
@djones I connect the Rel in the way indicated — Speakon to speaker terminals. It works well.
I have small bookshelves that only go down to 45hz. This is why I'm interested in this question.
And I believe I told PS Audio I had a sub and small bookshelves. That's why I'm confused about the validity of their answer.
Thanks for trying to think this through with me. The purchase of my amplification may hang on this question, other things being more or less equal.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Telling them you are using a sub and bookshelf speakers their answer makes sense they know the sub probably has a crossover, most all do so you don't really need it in the preamp. Manufacturers have different ways of looking at things PS Audio isn't  wrong and neither is Parasound it just depends on what your objective is one advantage of using the Parasound built in crossover is you can adjust it without having to get behind the subwoofer if you like to change it depending on the type of music or if you're watching a movie using it as a 2.1 system for HT. 
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
... I'm looking at Dynaudios and Salk WOW1's

Considering the diminutive size of the WOW1 (7 x 9 x 10.75 inches, including a 4.5 inch woofer) my guess is that **in this specific case** the sonic benefits of keeping the deep bass out of the speaker are likely to outweigh whatever sonic downsides may result from introduction of the P6's crossover circuitry into the signal path. And if that proves not to be the case the P6's crossover circuitry can of course be switched out of the signal path.

Without knowing the specific Dynaudio model(s) you may be considering I wouldn't want to speculate on the net result of that tradeoff .

Regarding the dilemma cited in one of your recent posts, every design approach has tradeoffs associated with it. And the net result of those tradeoffs usually depends on how well the specific design is implemented, and on how it synergizes with the rest of the system. So I would not consider the rationale of either company (PS Audio or Parasound) to be specious. And in choosing between the two products I would take into account the specifics of the application as much as possible.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al
 
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