Why not put crossover networks in accessible compartments?

I think Wilson kind of helps answer this question. They literally pot (encase in black resin) their crossovers so you cannot see anything, even if you disassemble the speakers.


Wilson, like other highly regarded makers, uses straight off the shelf parts you could buy yourself. If you knew what the crossover values were, you could make a straight up clone. Focal used to have little windows so you could see the parts.


It’s also true that the economics are such that putting in high quality crossover components is rarely a win for makers. This makes a couple of brands like Focal and Wharferdale ridiculously good upgrade targets.


Of course, if you want to play with parts this badly, the DIY speaker kit market is probably what you should be looking at. :) Lots of kits and plans out there which you can tweak to your heart's content.

They literally pot (encase in black resin) their crossovers so you cannot see anything, even if you disassemble the speakers.

so how do you know what they use?

so how do you know what they use?

No one does, it's a trade secret. A secret most other manufacturers only do minimal work, if any to hide. For instance, using branded OEM caps. You can't tell if they are expensive or cheap and you can't buy them  yourself.

I should point out not all speaker makers use cheapest possible parts or go through any more trouble than putting crossover components in the speakers.

B&W uses Mundorf in some speakers, as does Magico and Joseph.

Sorry, I was unclear about something:

Wilson, like other highly regarded makers, uses straight off the shelf parts

Here what I meant to say was "off the shelf drivers."

Hope that clarifies.

Vandersteen use a slew of high quality parts, custom drivers, graded and sorted to match within amazingly tight tolerances... and then the whole shooting match goes in the Anechoic chamber for tuning....

Treo and up filters are in a separate cabinet within the cabinet w constrained layer damping and a very unique buss bar/lug attachment to the other driver and input connection, heavy duty :-) I might post up picture on the Poverty Bay system page...