# Help with xover design/processing with 3-way towers



## mikey7182 (Jan 16, 2008)

I recently purchased a matching set of Pioneer Premier PRS subwoofers, midbass, and tweeters with intentions of using them in my car. After receiving them, the tweeters are much larger than I thought. So I had another idea- why not show off the yellow kevlar cones and cool gold baskets in some 3-way towers in my home theater setup? The issue I'm running into is processing. I have a 2 channel stereo amplifier as well as a 6 channel receiver. I'm wondering if I would be better off buying a home audio processor that allows me to do 3-way active, and a few more channels of amplification, or if I can design a 3-way passive somehow. My plan is to build the cabinets myself. The drivers are:

TS-W12PRS 12" subwoofers, dual 4 ohm coils
TS-M7PRS 6 3/4" midbass, single 4 ohm coils
TS-T3PRS 1 1/4" tweeters, single 6 ohm coils

Would there be a way to build 3-way passives that have a single input on the back of the cabinets with a nominal 4-6 ohm load? I have never built passives before, but it seems like it might be a good alternative to purchasing a bunch more equipment. Any help is appreciated!


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## Rob K (Apr 28, 2009)

Designing a 2-way passive x-over is hard enough, you must be very experienced with good software to design a good 3-way. I think there are active x-overs for home audio, but don't recall where I saw them. The only other advice I can give is trying to find someone who will design a x-over for you, you'll have to send them the drivers though.


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## rhinodog00 (Jul 1, 2007)

Don't know how much you are looking to spend ,but quite a few people use these..........Behringer ULTRA-DRIVE PRO DCX2496 Crossover and more Crossovers at GuitarCenter.com.


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## zoomer (Aug 2, 2009)

Let me add a different angle to this. Build a 2 way out of the midbass and tweets.. Perhaps you can even get an xover design from pioneer, This should not be that difficult and the results should be quite good. 
Then use the subs as.... subs... with a separte sub amp from parts express. The only issue here is that the subs are made for in car use, with small boxes and making use of the car gain at low frequencies. For a home sub you cant use room gain .. you need a sub/box combination that can go down to 30 hz or lower.


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## kyheng (Jan 31, 2007)

http://www.visaton.com/bilder/weichen/gross/casablanca_iii_w.gif
Maybe can try the above for a reference. As house crossover setup is easier(easy in terms of after get the correct enclosure size and crossover points more or less fixed, not on the designing stage)


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## zoomer (Aug 2, 2009)

kyheng said:


> http://www.visaton.com/bilder/weichen/gross/casablanca_iii_w.gif
> Maybe can try the above for a reference. As house crossover setup is easier(easy in terms of after get the correct enclosure size and crossover points more or less fixed, not on the designing stage)



keep in mind that most 3 way crossovers are designed for woofer-midrange crossover a 500 Hz or more... What we have is a car sub.. designed for not much more than 200 Hz.. and a midbass that will work to under 100 Hz... So. I reiterate my suggestion of a 2 way passive plus separate subwoofer.


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## kyheng (Jan 31, 2007)

Well, that's just for reference on how a passive being designed.

But I agree with you that sometimes make an independent passive just for the sub is best, atleast no need to worry about phase issues.


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## zoomer (Aug 2, 2009)

kyheng said:


> Well, that's just for reference on how a passive being designed.
> 
> But I agree with you that sometimes make an independent passive just for the sub is best, atleast no need to worry about phase issues.


pretty much all passive crossovers are actually independant low, mid, and high sections... so your statment is somewhat irrelevant. However if you use only one sub then you will have to combine left and right... and you can only do this with an active system 

But one of the key factors in speaker design is balancing the efficiency of the drivers... by chosing them properly or putting in resistor pads on the mids and highs. however, by having a separately powered sub, you can simply adjust the sub volume knob! 

btw. there are plenty of cross over design sites on the web... just do a search. 

But there seems to be a missunderstanding of what the difference between a subwoofer and a woofer is.. They are not the same! He has a subwoofer and cannot us it to design a traditional 3 way system.. He must design a 2 way and then augment the low end with the sub. 

A true 3 way has the woofer covering under 50 hz to something like 500 to 1Khz,, a mid going from there to about 5Khz and the tweeter taking over at 5K. They used to be the norm back in the 70s and 80s. The problem is the difficulty in designing 3 ways over 2 ways, plus the fact that the woofer-mid crossover frequency was in the middle of the vocal range.. Since then smaller 6-7 inch woofers have been designed that have the excursion to go low, yet are small en ough to go up to 3Khz or so.. lettin the tweeter take over from there.. That is what you have with you midbase and tweet. 

We rarely see true 3 ways them any more except in pro audio systems or very high end. With this setup a subwoofer is not needed. 
Home audio subs came to market as an attempt to make smaller satelites with 3-4 inch woofers that stopped at about 100hz, with a single sub to handle lower... Again these are really like 2 ways plus a sub...but its all a matter of semantics..


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## customtronic (Jul 7, 2007)

Have you tried to google passive crossover calculator? I use this free calculator all the time and it does the job for me: Passive Crossovers, Capacitor and Coil Calculator or this one for you: http://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/Calculator/APCXOver/


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## kyheng (Jan 31, 2007)

I have your first link... But obviously the second link is better.


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