Sean,
When you ask if I've tried them actively crossed over, I assume you mean to a sub on the low end. The answer is that I haven't. It is my opinion, having played with this stuff for a long time, that putting any crossover on the low side of the midrange drivers, anywhere but in the low bass, causes more problems than it solves. The transition from woofer to midrange is always audible.
Many people (and I would guess that you would be in this camp) would rather run subs with active crossovers on both high and low sides, primarily for the reason we have been discussing: limiting excursion in the midrange drivers. But there is another way that is superior, in my opinion.
First of all, I will state that a subwoofer should be crossed over as low as humanly possible, for all kinds of reasons. 100Hz is way too high, and 80Hz is pushing it. Given that this is the case (and I would be very surprised to hear anyone disagree with this, if they've had experience in this area and have good ears), then it makes far more sense to let the speaker itself provide the high-pass function. In the case of the UM, its natural rolloff is essentially equivalent to a 12 dB/octave Butterworth at just under 70 Hz. Of course, this only works with a sealed-box monitor, which is self-limiting in the deep bass, but of course that is exactly what I intended from the start.
This approach is exactly equivalent to an electrical solution, but with the advantage of no added electronics and their inevitable colorations. It allows perfect compatibility with the RELs and other similar subs which are designed for exactly this approach. In my experience, this is the only way of connecting a subwoofer that actually achieves the goals of making the transition sonically invisible and causing no sonic degradation to the main monitors.
Best Regards,
Karl Schuemann
AudioMachina
When you ask if I've tried them actively crossed over, I assume you mean to a sub on the low end. The answer is that I haven't. It is my opinion, having played with this stuff for a long time, that putting any crossover on the low side of the midrange drivers, anywhere but in the low bass, causes more problems than it solves. The transition from woofer to midrange is always audible.
Many people (and I would guess that you would be in this camp) would rather run subs with active crossovers on both high and low sides, primarily for the reason we have been discussing: limiting excursion in the midrange drivers. But there is another way that is superior, in my opinion.
First of all, I will state that a subwoofer should be crossed over as low as humanly possible, for all kinds of reasons. 100Hz is way too high, and 80Hz is pushing it. Given that this is the case (and I would be very surprised to hear anyone disagree with this, if they've had experience in this area and have good ears), then it makes far more sense to let the speaker itself provide the high-pass function. In the case of the UM, its natural rolloff is essentially equivalent to a 12 dB/octave Butterworth at just under 70 Hz. Of course, this only works with a sealed-box monitor, which is self-limiting in the deep bass, but of course that is exactly what I intended from the start.
This approach is exactly equivalent to an electrical solution, but with the advantage of no added electronics and their inevitable colorations. It allows perfect compatibility with the RELs and other similar subs which are designed for exactly this approach. In my experience, this is the only way of connecting a subwoofer that actually achieves the goals of making the transition sonically invisible and causing no sonic degradation to the main monitors.
Best Regards,
Karl Schuemann
AudioMachina