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No, I Figured It Out A While Ago...

Posted by Doug Schroeder on September 11, 2012 at 09:04:02

In Reply to: "with an actively-crossed speaker system, one can use lower power amps" ... posted by andyr on September 11, 2012 at 03:51:53:

I have been working with active/passive X-over for years.

A suggestion for you; I think you are shorting yourself on performance by under-powering your Mid/Treble driver sets. I have found superior performance by maintaining similar power to all driver sets vs. only what is considered enough to get the job done. I recommend you upgrade all driver sets to consistent level, i.e. 200wpc. I think you would enjoy a large performance improvement.

I experimented with such things with the Legacy Whisper DSW and found that I much preferred higher power on all drivers. I am aware that in theory this is unnecessary as the active X-over gives control to match gain. However, I still found substantive differences in the performance of the driver sets with higher power, such as improvement in soundstage and microdynamics. I played with the filters extensively to see if the same result could be obtained with lower power amps as with higher power ones. My conclusion was no, it cannot. Occasionally I make a configuration in which there is a disparity between amps but I prefer to have them consistent across the board, and if possible all identical so that the sonic signature is consistent.

I recall using the Jeff Rowland MC-606 for the Legacy Audio Helix (both reviewed for Dagogo.com), actively crossed using the Legacy Wavelaunch (Xilica) processor. The amp had four channels of 1,00wpc and two of 500wpc for the tweeters. Instead of assuming the performance of the tweeters was optimized I swapped amp channels around on the Bass/Mid/Treble such that each were powered by 500 or 1,000 Watts. Even when matching gain the performance of any of the driver sets languished relatively compared to those using the 1,000wpc. The conclusion was clear, even when using identical amplification with different power levels and matching gain one can improve performance through an amps power across all driver sets. To lower the power of the Mid/Treble is to lower performance, even when using active X-over. Since that time I attempt to avoid power inconsistencies between driver sets.

I am aware of the argument of those who insist that the power rating of the amp is immaterial since the active X-over would theoretically resolve any differences. Supposedly simply a flick of the gain button and/or revisiting the filter should resolve all such discrepancies in performance. In my experimentation it does not. I'm not interested in arguing about theory; I simply try and find out from experience what works better.

Try it and I think you will be surprised. :)

Edits: 09/11/12

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