Where to position my external crossovers ?

[VantheMan]

Close to my Sugden A21SE or close to my WD25TExs ? or does it make no difference ?

[John Caswell]

Hi,
Position them very close to the loudspeakers, with cables as short as possible to the L/S, then the effect of the cable resistance to the drive units will be minimal as you are dealing with low resistances/impedances.

John

[VantheMan]

Thanks, John.

Guess what. Well, I tried them both ways and there is no contest. Far, far better when crossovers placed close to the amp and then long bi or tri-wired to the speakers. As if there were more power to my elbow and clearer. Gawd knows why.
If anyone has external crossovers, you´d better try it.

[Phil Y]

That is interesting to hear, I was thinking of doing this sometime. What connectors did you use on the back of the cabinets?

Phil.

[Greg.]

Well, VtM, your findings fly in the face of conventional wisdom as advocated by John. I have to say I'm a little unsettled by your claim. As they say, only way to find out is try it for yourself! Maybe I'll give it a go, but until I hear something different that I like, I'll continue to adhere to the theory as John posted. Consider, it might just be that there are other issues within your system which are affecting sound and this latest tweak is making things sound better for you?

It would also be good to know if you researched this matter and found alternative advise to that given by John, and if so, can you provide links?

Thanks.

[VantheMan]

Hi Greg,
Research is too long a word for my extremely limited technical knowledge.
It all started when a 10 year old thread was resurrected on the Pink Fish, DIY section. The thread was started by a highly respected DIY person there. I was intrigued by Avondale Audio and amp designer Les Wolstenholme´s reply which cryptically said that with external crossovers the higher upstream that frequencies are divided into their final bi or tri wire destiny groups, the clearer it all sounds so he uses his crossovers just 30cms from his amps. Well someone had tried this recently and was astounded by the results so I decided to do the same and was similarly wowed with a mate´s A21a and WD20T speakers. The trouble would seem to be due to the fact that as yet no-one has found a good theoretical justification for this and without a guarantee, people are logically loathe to start opening up their beloved speakers. In my case it is dead easy and I will be trying a lash up with my Sugden A21SE and Wd25TEx this weekend.

Here is the thread :

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/s...77#post2827777

[VantheMan]

Originally Posted by Phil Y

That is interesting to hear, I was thinking of doing this sometime. What connectors did you use on the back of the cabinets?

Phil.

Hi Phil.
In the case of the of the A21a and WD20Ts, connection is bare ended wire van den Hul CS122 (thick stuff )
For my test at home this weekend I have Neutrik 4-pole speakons on the back of my WD25TEx speakers and direct wire connection to four terminals on my crossovers. As my 5m long WD Blue OFC cables go underfloor I will do a lash up with a short piece of simple 2.5mm mains cable from the electrical store twixt amp and crossovers and then double up the long runs of the same cable to the speakers just connecting them to my existing short Speakon terminated Wd cable - not ideal but enough for a test (I don´t fancy disconnecting my male Speakons ´cos it´s easy to get confused as all my leads are the same colour, blue). If the results are anything like last week´s I will order some Van damme 6-core studio grade (just in case someone invents another arrangement) and set about threading it through my underfloor conduits and then reconnect the Speakons with the first 4 coloured inner wires of the Van Damme.
I wonder what Peter would have to say about all this ?

Chris

[Greg.]

Thanks Chris. Well I have great respect for Les Wolstenholme and would not dismiss anything he has to offer. I think I will try this for myself sometime. It'll take a bit of cable engineering but is certainly doable. When I do, I'll let you know how I get on.