With two amplifiers (solid state) I feed one with the right channel and
the other the left..this out of a mixer. All in/outs are RCA. Can I
fit a device into this home system to let me control the amount of
power going to the mids and highs and lows? The few units I have seen
have "xlr" plugs. Can these connectors be adapted to RCA?

wrote:
With two amplifiers (solid state) I feed one with the right channel and
the other the left..this out of a mixer. All in/outs are RCA. Can I
fit a device into this home system to let me control the amount of
power going to the mids and highs and lows? The few units I have seen
have "xlr" plugs. Can these connectors be adapted to RCA?

Yes, there are several electronic crossover devices available for home
use. Behringer make one of the cheapest, there are lots of others.

Unbalancing a balanced XLR input is simply a matter of connecting pin 1
and 2 together to the screen of the RCA cable, and pin 3 to the centre core.

Unbalancing a balanced XLR output is more difficult as you need to know
whether the output is balanced referred to ground (also called centre
tapped when there are output transformers, or balanced fully floating
where there is no ground reference. This last was very common with
output transformers, less common with electronically balanced outputs,
but nevertheless still exists.

S.

On 15 Jun 2006 01:12:12 -0700, "
wrote:

With two amplifiers (solid state) I feed one with the right channel and
the other the left..this out of a mixer. All in/outs are RCA. Can I
fit a device into this home system to let me control the amount of
power going to the mids and highs and lows? The few units I have seen
have "xlr" plugs. Can these connectors be adapted to RCA?
Seems to me, you are asking about an equalizer since changing the
level of either amp will change the entire range it covers.

Kal

wrote:
With two amplifiers (solid state) I feed one with the right channel and
the other the left..this out of a mixer. All in/outs are RCA. Can I
fit a device into this home system to let me control the amount of
power going to the mids and highs and lows? The few units I have seen
have "xlr" plugs. Can these connectors be adapted to RCA?

Sounds like you want to bi-amp your speakers...

You'll need...

1) Two more amps (or another stereo amp) for the tweeters (maybe half
the power rating as your woofer amp.

2) A good stereo 2 way ANALOG crossover, 24db per octave Linkwitz
Riley. Stay away from digital-domain crossovers they sound like crap
and introduce a lot of aritifacts from the intense DSP processing
involved. The only decent digital-domain crossovers today approace 10k
dollars.

3) Speakers that allow themselves to be biamped (see manufacturers user
manual for how to bi amp and bypass the passive crossover)

Your mains feed the crossover, which feeds the 2 stereo power amps (one
for highs one for lows) with the larger power amp for the lower
frequencies and smaller amp for the higher. Choose the proper cutoff
frequency for your speakers (need to find out current cutoff frequency
of your passive crossover).

Done properly your system will sound much more open and relaxed when
pushed hard. I like bi-amping. You could also active tri-amp but that
is much harder to get right due to time alignment and comb
interference. But you could also bi-amp into a 3 way speaker with an
additional passive xover in the speaker system itself. If you are
currently running a sub, then biamping your mains effectively is
tri-amping.

windcrest wrote:
wrote:
With two amplifiers (solid state) I feed one with the right channel and
the other the left..this out of a mixer. All in/outs are RCA. Can I
fit a device into this home system to let me control the amount of
power going to the mids and highs and lows? The few units I have seen
have "xlr" plugs. Can these connectors be adapted to RCA?

Sounds like you want to bi-amp your speakers...

You'll need...

1) Two more amps (or another stereo amp) for the tweeters (maybe half
the power rating as your woofer amp.

2) A good stereo 2 way ANALOG crossover, 24db per octave Linkwitz
Riley. Stay away from digital-domain crossovers they sound like crap
and introduce a lot of aritifacts from the intense DSP processing
involved. The only decent digital-domain crossovers today approace 10k
dollars.

3) Speakers that allow themselves to be biamped (see manufacturers user
manual for how to bi amp and bypass the passive crossover)

Your mains feed the crossover, which feeds the 2 stereo power amps (one
for highs one for lows) with the larger power amp for the lower
frequencies and smaller amp for the higher. Choose the proper cutoff
frequency for your speakers (need to find out current cutoff frequency
of your passive crossover).

Done properly your system will sound much more open and relaxed when
pushed hard. I like bi-amping. You could also active tri-amp but that
is much harder to get right due to time alignment and comb
interference. But you could also bi-amp into a 3 way speaker with an
additional passive xover in the speaker system itself. If you are
currently running a sub, then biamping your mains effectively is
tri-amping.

Also on this, the hi/lo level controls on the crossover need to be
adjusted so that output at crossover point is flat. To do this buy an
audio test CD with 1/3 octave warble tones and sine waves and a cheap
SPL meter (radio shack if they decide to stay in the electronics
business). Test the bands immediately above and below the crossover
frequency, using the SPL meter, adjust the crossover levels to get the
smoothest response at that point. Then do the same at your subwoofer
frequency to match that up to the low end of the crossover. Sweep test
the whole audio range to confirm that everything is as flat as you can
get it. Note the room nodes will affect these measurements, ideally
this can be done outdoors to really get a true picture, but you may
want to be aware of what peaks are caused by room nodes and what are
caused by the gear. You can manually plot amplitude to frequency on
some graph paper.

Finally lock down the frequency knob on the crossover, so that nobody
will accidentally change it and blow your tweeters.

On 15 Jun 2006 10:36:58 -0700, "windcrest"
wrote:

Stay away from digital-domain crossovers they sound like crap
and introduce a lot of aritifacts from the intense DSP processing
involved.

If they sound like crap it's because they ARE crap, not because they are
digital. Digital done right is very, very good.

Greg

Greg Berchin wrote:
On 15 Jun 2006 10:36:58 -0700, "windcrest"
wrote:

Stay away from digital-domain crossovers they sound like crap
and introduce a lot of aritifacts from the intense DSP processing
involved.

If they sound like crap it's because they ARE crap, not because they are
digital. Digital done right is very, very good.

Greg

Yes, but the ones that sound ok still cost a lot, with only one
low-cost digital choice on the market anyway, the Behringer. I've used
this unit in a PA setup and re-sold in a week, made everything sound
like compressed MP3's and introduced a lot of DSP hiss, also had a
scratching sound with one channel. And I was using the aes/ebu input
to avoid another A/D conversion.

To date the analog filters using the best op amps still sound the
sweetest and quietest. I was assuming the OP did not want to get into
a real costly speaker management unit with built in time alinment, and
all the latest DSP, etc.

On 15 Jun 2006 13:20:49 -0700, "windcrest"
wrote:

If they sound like crap it's because they ARE crap, not because they are
digital. Digital done right is very, very good.

Yes, but the ones that sound ok still cost a lot, with only one
low-cost digital choice on the market anyway, the Behringer. I've used
this unit in a PA setup and re-sold in a week, made everything sound
like compressed MP3's and introduced a lot of DSP hiss, also had a
scratching sound with one channel. And I was using the aes/ebu input
to avoid another A/D conversion.

I have no experience with anything Behringer, but it sounds like you and
I agree more than I originally realized.

Greg

one more thing..
the speakers:
two 2-ways with 10" woofers
two 2-ways with 8" woofers
one sub woofer
one 15" all way, big box and big speaker to handle all ranges.

One amp handles the 8" pair on "a" right and "b'" right.
another amp handles one of the 10" on "a" left and the sub woofer on
"b" left.

One amp is for the right channel and the other is for the left.

Placement in a rectangular space and mono recordings make a "depth" of
sound.

Phonos and line items patched to those rca pods in my mixer. Would I
place the electronic xo between the mixer and the two amps. Thinking
the electronic xo could be tailored to feed only the high end range to
one amp and the low end to the other amp.

wrote:
one more thing..
the speakers:
two 2-ways with 10" woofers
two 2-ways with 8" woofers
one sub woofer
one 15" all way, big box and big speaker to handle all ranges.

One amp handles the 8" pair on "a" right and "b'" right.
another amp handles one of the 10" on "a" left and the sub woofer on
"b" left.

One amp is for the right channel and the other is for the left.

Placement in a rectangular space and mono recordings make a "depth" of
sound.

Phonos and line items patched to those rca pods in my mixer. Would I
place the electronic xo between the mixer and the two amps. Thinking
the electronic xo could be tailored to feed only the high end range to
one amp and the low end to the other amp.

Yes the xover goes directly in front of two power amps, and will give
you one hi and one lo output, that you need to amplify and connect to
the individual tweeter and woofer. (times two for stereo)