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Anybody have an actively multi-amplified system?

Hello,

I am one of the very rare breeds that has a fully active system, 6 Jeff Rowland monoblocks running Klipschorns with an Accuphase F-25V electronic crossover in front of the amplifiers, and the passive crossovers taken out of the speakers. It sounds absolutely phenomenal, like nothing else out there. I've been in the business 35 years and have yet to meet anyone (in home audio at least) who has done something similar. It's done all the time in pro audio, yet nobody talks about it for home use. It's widely known that an actively amplified setup simply IS better than any passively crossed over speaker, since the dividing is done before the amplifier, each amplifier only amplifies a certain frequency range, and then the output of the amplifier is connected directly to an individual driver with nothing in between. If anyone has such a setup, is interested in learning more about one, or wants to throw in their 2 cents, please do! It's about time we did talk about this, and I can't believe in all these years more companies haven't actively (pun intended) embraced this type of setup. Also, if anyone has crossover cards for an F-25V crossover, please let me know!!!
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Showing 4 responses by rodman99999

rodman99999
5,983 posts
 
Accuphase has built some excellent gear, over the years. I wouldn't hesitate to try their new X-over for a moment. Room Correction/Time Alignment and high/low-pass filtering in the digital domain can be VERY rewarding, IF done right. I eschewed digital anything(in home), for many years. Then I got stuck with an acoustic nightmare of a listening room, that demanded correction. I tried the Tact and found VERY little downside(especially after extensive power supply mods). The benefits over the modded DQ-LP1(as transparent as it's passive high-pass filter was), far outweighed any slight downside. But then; I'm only using one crossover point(250Hz/10th order).
rodman99999
5,983 posts
 
After using actively multi-amped systems for years(pro); I started doing it at home, in 1981. By then: I had my own shoppe building, modding and repairing pro and home audio speaker systems and electronics. My first home system used KEF drivers and Rogers LS3-5A crossovers(all matched) in the mains, an active X-over, built with DeCoursey Lab boards, and KEF B-139's, in sealed enclosures. Being a Hafler dealer; I used all highly modded Hafler(SS) gear, at the time. Sold that system, and built some 10" driver(Nestorovics), 8' tapered, folded transmission-line woofers, bought a Dahlquist DQ-LP1 filter and a pair of Acoustat Mod III's. Again- using heavily modded Hafler gear for power. Still have the same TL bottom end(now housing SEAS L26ROY
D1001's), a modded Hafler TransNova 9505, but using a modded TacT RCS 2.2X, Magnepan MG12qr's and Modded Cary SLM-100's. I'd love to go bigger on the mains, BUT- a costly divorce lost me a lot of listening area(in SQ FT).
rodman99999
5,983 posts
 
Never have used the TNT amps. I started with modded DH-500's, and gave my last one(used to drive the 10's) to my son, a number of years back, when I bought the TransNova. I stopped using SS to drive my mains, decades ago, so- I can't really give an opinion of what the 9505 would sound like in that app. If you like the TNT's; I hardly believe you could go wrong with a 9505. Jim Strickland(another Acoustat alumnus)supposedly had much to do with it's design. Did the mods to your TNT's include replacing the rectifiers with HEXFREDs(or Schottkys)? Really cleans and opens the upper registers. Just something easy/basic/inexpensive and well worth the effort. Behringer X-overs work in cheap pro apps, but- I wouldn't use one for home audio(except for expermentation). I guess there are some out there, that mod them though.
rodman99999
5,983 posts
 
I couldn't agree more, about trying before buying(at that price). When my Tact RCS 2.2X was new; it cost around $5000.00(not as deep a bite) and I knew it was easily modded. Like the Accuphase; it performs A/D and D/A, for both my sources and I am just giving up a VERY slight bit of transparency, compared to the one DynamiCap polypropylene hi-pass capacitor, per channel, in the modded Dahlquist DQ-LP1 I was using. That is far outweighed by the benefits of the active HI/LO filtering, room correction & time alignment that it performs. One would reasonably expect the Accuphase unit(at it's price point) to far exceed my Tact's performance, right out of the box(unmodded). The A/D converter operates at 24 bit/172.4 kHz & the digital input; at up to 192kHz, which should result in virtually no loss. Is there no way to audition that one for $9K, or any other of the same model, anywhere?
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