DSP vs. active analog crossover vs. passive analog crossover. What is your take?

no simple answer to this question.

the crossover should compliment the media, and the degree of room acoustical work that has been done. dsp fixes room<->speaker integration issues. but it’s not the only way to do that. at lower price points and integrated systems dsp does result in a more listenable performance. but past a certain price point it starts to get in the way of signal path purity for 2 channel.

so no absolutes in this question.

it depends....

personally i play at the upper performance levels for 2 channel and home theater. but dsp still has value to me.

i own the ultimate dsp processor, the Trinnov Altitude 16. i use it with my 9.6.3 surround sound system for my home theater. it uses ’object based’ dsp to create soundscapes that do make movies more real. horses for courses, and it’s the ideal solution for those type movie or concert recordings.

for traditional 2 channel i prefer an analog crossover since i’m a big analog recording guy, as well as have no intention of ’double’ converting my digital files with dsp for my 2 channel listening. that would suck the life out of the music. but i do have a separate dedicated 2 channel room. my 2 channel room is purpose built and highly tuned to avoid the need for any dsp. i’ve fixed the room, and retained the purity of my analog signal path.

my 2 channel room speakers have 2 towers per side; each tower is 7 foot tall and 750 pounds (3000 pounds total). one tower per side is passive, from 35hz and up, the other tower is active and powered for under 40hz, (on paper) -3db at 7hz and -6db at 3hz. so serious bass capability. the passive tower rolls off at the bottom and cannot be used as a stand alone speaker. the bass tower uses analog adjustments and gets it’s signal from the passive tower speaker terminal so it’s signal mimics the sound of the main amplifier. the crossover can be adjusted from 50hz down to 20hz for best room integration.

i get awesome performance, considering the years of work i’ve put into the room.

i think many situations can benefit from dsp, but at the tip top of the 2 channel music reproduction food chain it’s a penalty.

There’s not a passive crossover that can do what DSP crossovers can no matter the price. One of the most fascinating speakers around and I would love to hear it is the Genelec W371a. Paired with the 8351b’s or 8361a using GLM 4.2 calibration. Not to mention a complete immersive system. If money was no object this is world class.

https://www.genelec.com/immersive-hub

I agree with @phusis, when I horizontally bi-amped my speakers with an analog active crossover design by the same manufacturer (of the speakers) it brought my speakers three notches above the passive crossover in sound quality. 😎

Mike

See Active Vs. Passive Crossovers (sound-au.com)

i think many situations can benefit from dsp, but at the tip top of the 2 channel music reproduction food chain it’s a penalty.

I agree!

Mike

Having built many Xovers ,passive such as a passive preamp is not active and 

you loose a lot of dynamics , electronic Xovers will change the Xover points and enhance certain aspects of the frequency band but imo,flatten the sound no life a true active Xover you choose the parts especially capacitors, Such a Duelund being a top quality capacitor, 

vh audio ,Jupiter Jantzen Alumina Z , there are many ,

resistors for speakers there are only two, theNewer Mundorf Ultra Copper foil is most neutral and detailed , Path audio a bit warmer ,not quite as detailed but still very good in absolute terms. ,I have never cared for electronic Xovers except in Bass where it is not in the critical midrange region ,,I am speaking in Loudspeaker terms , in electronics such as preamps ,absolutely a Active preamp,

if A tube preamp many top ones don’t use capacitors on the output ,there are trade offs, with capacitor output stage you Taylor the sound with capacitors ,I use Tinned Copper foil Duelunds, in Top Vacuum tube some use very high quality chokes and Transformers to couple the output stage ,then it comes down to design 

for many use Lundahl transformers and chokes , then Upper Monolith, or Hashimoto .all depends on budget. All depends  on the application design engineering.