A speaker stand with room for an amp?

@erik_squires 

If you have mono amps, I would put each mono amp under each speaker, it also saves space and it allows you to keep your speakers cables very short.

Mike

@ditusa 

Since this project is to convert my two way speakers from using passive crossovers to active I would like to have 1 stereo amplifier under each speaker and use one channel for the tweeter and another for the woofer.

In an ideal world, the DSP crossover and stereo amp would be one unit, but I will probably end up with a crossover under the processor, and run a pair of balanced cables to each amplifier.

@erik_squires wrote:

Since this project is to convert my two way speakers from using passive crossovers to active ...

Good initiative. It’ll give you a bearing for sure what’s in store sonically with active config. of your mains compared to them being passively configured, but will it be more of an initial experiment only or (being open-minded about) a potential attempt at an all-out approach eventually? I’m asking because like any endeavor in home audio reproduction, if you want a true assessment of a given configuration/design direction you have to give it a bloody good shot to know where it stands compared to other approaches you’re already familiar with.

For one it appears you just started out on this active endeavor with the mains, and as such it is of course an experiment that can’t be decided upon in the blink of an eye whether to continue with ahead even more seriously. I know it was an experiment for me when I bought an extra pair of speakers + extra power amp (I had the Xilica DSP already) and started fiddling with active config., but it didn’t take long to realize it was the way to go. It will be interesting to see what your findings will be here, but as you no doubt know assessing that potential also reflects on the amp and DSP choice of yours, apart of course from the overall implementation of the filter settings, but I take it you have a pretty good grasp on these aspects.

My "warning" here would be not to base your findings to heavily and/or quickly in light of the class D amps and DSP chosen (not knowing what they are, sorry), but it should give you a bearing nonetheless.

... I would like to have 1 stereo amplifier under each speaker and use one channel for the tweeter and another for the woofer.

That’s another place to experiment: vertical (like in your case here) or horizontal active bi-amping. Vertical offers shorter cable lengths, but I wouldn’t let the desire to minimize cable length dictate that choice. It’s obviously system dependent and a matter of preference. I opted for horizontal active tri-amping (incl. subs) as that which sounded the more natural to my ears.

One of the benefits of vertical bi-amping, as I see it, is that it naturally makes you use the same amps for the two driver sections, in both channels of course, whereas horizontal bi-amping sees many using different amps to the respective driver sections. Not saying that can’t lead to good results, but personally I find it’s paramount to use similar topology/brand/series amps top to bottom - even with the subs - to aid overall coherency and tonality. Just saying that using similar amps with horizontal bi, tri or whatever-amping is an equally intuitive option compared to the one that is naturally given with vertical ditto.

In an ideal world, the DSP crossover and stereo amp would be one unit, but I will probably end up with a crossover under the processor, and run a pair of balanced cables to each amplifier.

When you say that (i.e.: "In an ideal world"), do you mean to keep komponent/chassis count to a minimum?

Wondering if the vibrations of the speaker would affect the performance of the amp.

@kennyc I’m going to have to live with that, but at the end of the day the amps have to go somewhere. I’d like to have as short a speaker cable as possible.

@phusis I’m not running a broad based research project here. I have specific needs I want to accomplish. I will use a stereo amplifier for each speaker and I will put each amplifier underneath a speaker.

By an "ideal world" I mean it would be nice to have a stereo amplifier with built-in crossover and DSP in a shelf-ready form factor. All I can find in this regard are plate amps from Hypex or miniDSP which are meant for cabinets. I already have much of the ICEpower amplifiers I need. With some new cases I can build the stereo amps, but will still have to acquire a new miniDSP with balanced outputs.