Best three way cross over?


I have noticed that the passive crossover (Capacitor) between my woofer and midrange speaker is responsible for a lot of muddying of my midrange. When I bypass it, the sound is much clearer and transparent, however then I have too much bass from my mid driver. I am curious as to what people have found is the purest sounding crossover network they have used for a three way speaker...particularly for the mid driver. I have not used an active or a digital crossover, would either of them work better (be more transparent)for me?
mpheaven

Showing 1 response by mpheaven

Thanks for the responses. I have Tyler Acoustic Speakers with (2) 8" Seas Excel Drivers in each of the Bass Cabinets, and a Seas 6.5" Mid and Millenium Tweater in the Monitors. The speakers are fabulous and I love them to death. But at the same time noticed an increase in degredation in sound going from a 2 Way to a 3 Way crossover (I previously had just a pair of Tyler Monitors) and have realized that in going for a three way design there is a whole nother set of high pass filters my midrange goes through to get to the mid driver. i.e. more mud!
I have now completely removed the internal crossovers and made external crossovers which will allow me to experiment more easily. Just doing this has helped as in the process I also directly connected the internal wire to the speaker leads, etc. I also now have tri wired from the amp to the crossover...and then on to the speakers. This has had a huge benefit. I have contacted Tye at Tyler Acoustics and he has been wonderful and very helpful (he has even sent me som new capacitors for the mid high pass filters). I'll let you know what we come up with further in a future post.
I see now that I simply had no idea how much ALL passive crossover components degrade the signal. It is amazing. Just bypass the crossover - briefly for experimental purposes - and it is amazing the immediate increase in clarity. Its astounding. Truth be told, I have always been very pleased with the clarity of my speakers, and I have compared them favorably to tons of top notch speakers....the closest I think I have found is actually the Avalon Eidelon you mention Ezmeralda11. I was told they have a new type of 3 way crossover.....anyone know anything about the Eidelon crossover.....whatever it is it sounds very good! The only drawback to that speaker is it cannot be bi or tri wired directly, it has a single terminal for wiring. Anyway, hearing the speakers direct (not through the filters) has led me to see why you are all mentioning active (powered) crossovers.
I was hoping not to have to bi or tri-amp, but it seems this is the only option besides the zobel network Ehider mentions. BTY I found this acticle on it: http://www.trueaudio.com/st_zobel.htm Ezmeralda11
maybe you will understand it better than I, and can explain what it does from this site to us all in layman terms! I also looked into the Krell KBXs and for a three way system (and to not use passive components at all) I would need to pairs of them as they are just two way crossovers. Gets kind of pricy, along with the purchase of another set of amps to use the active/electronic crossovers. Does a good less expensive active exist? Is there such a thing as an active crossover the would work AFTER the amp stage? Is there any option besides passive components using a single amp?