How do you high pass your main speakers?

Hi,

You need to use line level OUT  to ______ a device that separates only the low bass frequencies,  and that device then passes only the remaining upper bass/mids/highs back TO the Preamp or back TO an integrated amp.

A tape out/in loop; a processor out/in loop; a unit with preamp (line level) out, and line level input jacks

Thus the amp and the main speakers only try to make upper bass/mids/highs.

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integral crossover:

here's a Raven Blackhawk Integrated Amp with an integral high pass, 80 hz crossover: sends 80 and below out to separate amp(s), like self-powered sub(s). Crossover point is not adjustable, 80 hz is their single setting.

then the blackhawk amp and the main speakers only try to make 80hz and above

https://ravenaudio.com/product/blackhawk-mk3/

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simple self-powered subs

have built-in crossovers, you go preamp line out, to sub's line in, then sub's line out (low bass missing) to preamp line in. preset sub's adjustable crossover and preset sub's volume (, then your preamp changes the volume of main and subs together

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external crossover

use a loop out of preamp to external crossover, back into your preamp. or line out to external crossover and line in of an integrated amp

a tape loop, processor loop, line in/out loop

crossover and volume

Ideally you want an adjustable crossover to find the best setting with your main speakers and your low bass speaker(s), and

adjustable volume, remote volume ideal.

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separate amps for the sub(s) somewhere, how volume controlled?

Ideally you would want to insert a high pass filter AKA electronic crossover, between your preamp and amplifiers. If your amp is an AVR this feature I believe is built into most of them. If you are not using an AVR you have a few options at varying price points. A lot of people seem to like the miniDSP, DBX makes an economical analog crossover and there are other options, including some that can sell for several thousands of dollars.

I’m not sure that there is an ideal crossover point, kinda depends on the style of music you like, how loud you like to play, the kind of subs you have and to some extent your room acoustics, If your subs are close to your mains you could crossover as high as 200 Hz if your subs can cycle that high. If your subs are not inline with your mains you would want to crossover no higher than 80 Hz. I play a lot of bass centric music at rather loud volumes so I cross my front subs at 173 Hz and my rear subs at 78 Hz.

Marchand XM446 balanced high pass filter.  
Scroll down to see the balanced version.  It is a passive filter and works well.

Here is another interesting option.

@tony1954 wrote:

I have been very happy with the distributed bass array I added to my system, but from what I hear, the optimum method of integration is to high pass the main speakers.

Two questions:

1. What are my options for accomplishing this? Does this need to be a feature built into my amplifier or is there another component that needs to be inserted in the chain.

Preferably you’d need a DSP unit (digital crossover)/electronic crossover inserted between your source/preamp and power amp to your main speakers, instead of high-passing your mains through the (potentially available) high-pass filter function of your subs.

2. What crossover point would be ideal? What frequency and amount of rolloff would be best if my speakers are ATC SCM19’s which have a frequency response of (-6dB) 54Hz-22kHz.

Your ATC’s are passively filtered already, and running a DSP prior to your amp in addition - to some degree dependent on the specific DSP unit chosen - is really the least of a filter function interference compared to a passive filter.

What you gain high-passing your mains, on principle - certainly with a XO-point no lower than ~80Hz, and relative to the chosen filter steepness - is two-fold: the ATC’s are freed of a large chunk of LF signal, meaning less excursion, more headroom and a cleaner sound in this (great) driver’s band. And, similarly the amp driving your ATC’s will be rid of LF-signals, so it’ll operate more effortlessly and with lower distortion as well.

Will it be worth it? Who knows, only you can decide given your specific setup context and different factors that are at play here. I’d be inclined to say though: leave it as it is. You’re happy with your DBA-implementation - good, that's something to be appreciated.

Make no mistake: I’m an ardent proponent of high-passing main speakers in the 80-100Hz range crossing over to subs (to make the most of the added headroom this allows for), but I do this fully actively sans any passive XO’s, and so my speaker setup as an outset, incl. separately housed subs, is really approached as a whole, interconnected system per channel - like you would a single box; high-passing the mains in my case is not an extra "layer" of filtration, but rather designing each channel, in its different bands, as a complete setup from ground up.

@phusis 

Thanks for the response.

Actually my MiniDSP crossover is set to 80Hz for the subs so there would be a redundancy of frequencies from that 80Hz threshold and where the ATC's roll off around 54Hz. 

Perhaps it might be best to just tweak the crossover point a little bit lower to mitigate any spike between 54Hz and 80Hz.