In this case, the left stereo channel of an Alpine car amplifier’s built-in crossover circuitry is shown. They, together with resistors and capacitors, can be used to control the musical signal.Ī schematic of a typical electronic crossover. Op-amps are tiny multi-purpose amplifiers that are useful for amplifying or changing an input signal in many ways. They work using a variety of electronic filter circuits based around a very common electronic component: the operational amplifier (“op amp”).
Right: An example of a low-pass crossover circuit using an op-amp to filter out high-frequency sounds.Įlectronic crossovers may sound very complicated (and they are, at least in some ways) but they’re actually based on pretty basic principles. Left: A typical operational amplifier (Op amp) integrated circuit (IC), the Texas Instruments TL072. They’re connected to the line level RCA jacks or a car stereo, car amp, or home AV receiver for example. While passive crossovers connect directly to the higher-power output terminals of an amp, electronic crossovers work only with low voltage signals. They’re essentially electronic crossovers built into the amp, saving the need to use one separately.Įlectronic crossovers are also sometimes called “active” crossovers as unlike speaker crossovers, they need a power source to work.
The 2nd pair is often a subwoofer crossover frequency output.Ī car amplifier’s internal crossover section is made of basic electronic components: Variable resistors, operational amplifier chips, capacitors, and fixed value resistors. One set of output jacks provides a high pass filter output to the amp for driving tweeters or the main speaker pair. Active crossover (electronic crossover) basicsĪ typical example of a separate electronic active crossover. How does a crossover work? What is a speaker crossover? 1. Treble: (high-frequency sounds) Around 3KHz to 20Khz.Midrange: (vocals, instruments, and more) ~100Hz to around 3Khz.Here are some of the most common sound ranges that crossovers help with: “Hz”, “KiloHertz”, “kHz” are shorter ways of writing it (Kilo = one thousand). That’s because sound waves (and electronic audio signals too) are made of alternating waves that happen many times per second. Hertz is used to represent units of frequency in cycles per second. In reality, the human ear can only hear down to around 30 Hz and near 16 KiloHertz, although it depends on the hearing ability of the person. By convention, a range of 20 to 20,000 Hertz (20 to 20 KiloHertz, or 20 thousand Hertz) is used to represent this. When we talk about “frequency” we’re referring to a range of sound the human ear can hear. What does sound “frequency” mean?Ī musical signal’s frequency is described by the number of times per second an alternative wave is completed. Sometimes called the corner frequency or cutoff frequency, it’s used as a starting point in math calculations for audio design. We use it as a reference point at which the output to a speaker (or the input to an amplifier, when using active crossovers) is reduced by 3 decibels (-3dB). The crossover frequency is the sound frequency point at which sounds after that will be greatly reduced, effectively blocking them. (Shown is a typical frequency used at 3,500 Hz ). To prevent this, we can block unwanted sounds. A passive crossover (speaker crossover)Īs tweeters can’t produce low frequency sound, they distort and can even be damaged by heavy bass.There are 2 types of crossovers you’ll use with your home or car audio system: In fact, you’ll almost never find a good-sounding speaker system that isn’t using 1 or more types of crossovers. They’re a critical part of good sound fidelity.
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Both types are very commonly found in home, car stereo, and professional audio. There are 2 types of crossovers: active (electronic) and passive (speaker) types.A crossover’s outputs are the signal ranges allowed to pass such as high pass (lower frequencies are blocked) and low pass (higher frequencies are blocked).It’s the frequency point past which signals are reduced by 3 decibels (represented as -3dB) and more further away from that point. A crossover frequency is the sound frequency that acts as the cutoff point for crossover filters.A crossover filter works using the principle of passive or electronic filters to block a range of sound in the audio signal.
(For example, tweeters and woofers in a 2-way speaker system) They offer a way to send the correct range of sound to the speaker with a frequency response best suited for it. Crossovers are electrical or electronic circuits used to alter or separate an incoming musical signal sent to one or more outputs.
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