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Is this how a Subwoofer Crossover is supposed to work?

I bought two Starke SW12 subwoofers that I installed.  So far I'm not particularly happy with them.  They are way too loud even with the volume set almost to off.  More importantly, I'm having trouble integrating them into my system and I'm wondering if that is because their crossover setting is really functioning as I understand a crossover should. Attached please find measurements from Room Equalization Wizard with SPL graphs of the two subs (no speakers) taken at my listening position with the crossover set at 50 Hz, 90 Hz, and 130 Hz. Ignore the peaks and dips which I assume are due to room nodes.  All of those settings appear to actually have the same crossover point of 50 Hz. All that changes is the slope of the rolloff in sound levels. This isn't how I thought a properly designed crossover was supposed to work.  I thought the frequency the levels would start to roll off would change, i.e. flat to 50 hz then a sharp drop, flat to 90 hz then a sharp drop, etc. etc..  But Starke says this is how a subwoofer crossover is supposed to work.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8x4cr32pagwg48i/Two%20Subs%20Different%20Crossover%20Points%20No%20Speaker...
Any experts on here with an opinion about this?  Is it possible to buy an inexpensive active crossover that I could use in place of what is built into these subs?
pinwa
imhififan's avatar
imhififan
2,211 posts
 
Not an expert, just my 2 cents.
I thought the frequency the levels would start to roll off would change, i.e. flat to 50 hz then a sharp drop, flat to 90 hz then a sharp drop, etc. etc..
Yes, but depend on the crossover, usually subwoofer low pass filter slope is 12 dB/octave instead of a sharp drop.
But Starke says this is how a subwoofer crossover is supposed to work.
I think this is how a Starke subwoofer crossover supposed to work.
Is it possible to buy an inexpensive active crossover that I could use in place of what is built into these subs?
Look like you can't bypass the built-in crossover! Any chance to return it?

pinwa OP
291 posts
 
erik_squires I can remeasure with one sub and set the crossover to its 200 Hz high point but I'm not sure the results will show much difference but you can never tell.

I am using a Willsenton R8 tube amp to drive Moabs.  If I want to add subs to level out the room nodes they either have to be connected at the DAC which is why the SW12's looked ideal because they have a balanced input so I use the balanced outs from the DAC to the Sub and the RCA out to the R8.  From their web page I can't figure out how the MiniDSP would fit into that setup.  
pinwa OP
291 posts
 
imhififan1  Shipping costs returning the subs would be a significant portion of the purchase price.  I would rather figure out a way to make them work for me if possible.
imhififan's avatar
imhififan
2,211 posts
 
From their web page I can’t figure out how the MiniDSP would fit into that setup.
https://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/miniDSP%202x4%20Balanced%20and%20Kit%20-%20User%20Manual.pd...

Look at page 12
kenjit
1,771 posts
 
Are you telling me you can't hear any difference when you go from 130hz to 50hz on the crossover? 
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