14-Nov-2021, 10:12
Your speakers appear to be designed for tri-wiring or tri-amping. This means that the internal passive crossover is still engaged, even if you were to use 3 separate stereo amps or 6 mono.
This is distinct from an active setup, because in that scenario the amps are connected directly to the drivers, with no crossover in between. The advantage is that the losses and nonlinearities of the crossover are removed. However, it becomes absolutely critical that there is an active crossover before/within the amps and that your amp(s) powering the tweeter, and possibly also the mid, are correctly high-passing the signal. If the full power of bass were to reach the tweeter unfiltered, it would become an ex-tweeter very quickly.
So, to experiment, you don't need to set filters at all on the Expert, because the filters are in the speakers. It sounds a bit like cause downstream of effect, but, for example, the amp connected to the tweeter will still supply a full bass voltage swing at 50Hz. But the filter in the crossover will draw no current at that frequency, so the amp will have a much easier load than if it were connected to the other two drivers also.
If you were to set filters on the Expert, then the ignored voltage swings would be lower also. It might make a difference. The crossover frequencies for your speakers are quoted as 380 and 3800 so those would be the numbers to use, and if you use a 1st-order slope then you're preserving whatever crossover characteristic PMC have designed in. Wouldn't hurt to experiment with steeper slopes, but you may find holes appearing in the frequency response.
This is distinct from an active setup, because in that scenario the amps are connected directly to the drivers, with no crossover in between. The advantage is that the losses and nonlinearities of the crossover are removed. However, it becomes absolutely critical that there is an active crossover before/within the amps and that your amp(s) powering the tweeter, and possibly also the mid, are correctly high-passing the signal. If the full power of bass were to reach the tweeter unfiltered, it would become an ex-tweeter very quickly.
So, to experiment, you don't need to set filters at all on the Expert, because the filters are in the speakers. It sounds a bit like cause downstream of effect, but, for example, the amp connected to the tweeter will still supply a full bass voltage swing at 50Hz. But the filter in the crossover will draw no current at that frequency, so the amp will have a much easier load than if it were connected to the other two drivers also.
If you were to set filters on the Expert, then the ignored voltage swings would be lower also. It might make a difference. The crossover frequencies for your speakers are quoted as 380 and 3800 so those would be the numbers to use, and if you use a 1st-order slope then you're preserving whatever crossover characteristic PMC have designed in. Wouldn't hurt to experiment with steeper slopes, but you may find holes appearing in the frequency response.
1000 Pro / Magico A5 / REL Studio III
