How To Design A Crossover For A DIY Speaker || Part 1 - Crossover Design Intro

How to design a crossover for your DIY speaker project. This is part 1, and intro to crossover design.
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SPEAKER DESIGN SERIES
Step 1 | The Plan - • How To Design Your Own...
Step 2 | Driver Selection - • DIY Speaker Driver Sel...
Step 2.5 | Detailed Driver Selection - • Detailed DIY Speaker D...
Step 3 | Enclosure Design - • Easy DIY Speaker Enclo...
Step 4 | Intro To Crossover Design - • How To Design A Crosso...
SPEAKERS
Dayton Audio DS90-8 3” - bit.ly/DS90-8
Dayton Audio TCP115-8 4” - bit.ly/TCP115-8
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CROSSOVER TUTORIALS
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techtalk.parts-...
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If you have any questions, comment!
I invite you to be apart of this awesome community.
Thank you so much for watching!
-Kirby

[@mrGoesto11]

Important info starts at 4:40....well done, you're teaching an important lesson well.

[@scottaberdonian7374]

nope :)

[@libaant.10m91]

Excellent teach.thank you

[@Deepsouth34]

You sir, are a teacher first, audio guy second. Excellent video! I wish there was a “really like” button. For hobbyists, this was the perfect split between what crossovers do and then how they do it.

[@SuperSpeedy101]

Oh my goodness, I was just hitting my head on a wall all night trying to figure out crossovers... You are a miracle maker!

[@thepetesfishingnz232]

Excellent. Helpful for this complete novice. Built my first wee speakers last year, full range 4 inch drivers. I actively avoided trying 2 way as was dodging the crossover "thing". After this video, may look at building a 2 way speaker....

[@nicolaswirtz6952]

Thank you for adding additional resources and describing what you are explaining before the you dive into the video!

[@c7dermatome]

Best description ever, I never thought I could get my head around crossover electronicy stuff so easily (I'm not smart, this comment is intended to illustrate how good the explanation is in this vid) thanks

[@o0Donuts0o]

Ah dude. Don’t do yourself like that. Smart is just a measurement of excellence in a specific field. There are tons of smart people out there but can theoretical physicist build a brick wall that will stand up for decades?

[@gabrielisaacx.ramirez9330]

THANK YOU YOU¨VE BEEN THE MOST FUN SO FAR THANKS AGAIN

[@Sheppards1984]

Finally a proper explanation... You saved a LOT of time. Too bad I already wasted hours looking at super scientific explanations

[@hi-fidude6670]

There are some incredibly nice sounding full range drivers out there, I had a pair of vintage Coral Beta 8 35 watt version that outperformed everything I have now in sound quality. They sound out of this world, to this very day I have not heard better sound.

[@sarahbehringer3947]

Hey for those of us that are getting to this 4 years later... does anyone know how to get his worksheets? Loving these videos, so well-organized and easy to follow. Can't wait to get started.

[@kordta]

I like that robust workbench! Crossovers are as important as loudspeakers and often generic ones are not a perfect match for your needs! Welcome to rocket science!

[@dushyantchaudharymathura]

I ve watched 100s of video for understanding crossover but this one I came through is best. Awesome❤️

[@TheMultifun]

I started a electrical engeneering bachelor last winter. Never thought that the things we learn apply so directly. It was a breeze for me. Can only recommend

[@attainableaudio7130]

Maybe you know this, but this is not a straight resistive system so in most cases the electrical order will not actually match the acoustical order your aiming for.

[@TheMultifun]

Attainable Audio yeah speakers are also inductive components, so there's that. So it it a lowpass filter in itself, if I understand it correctly. But the inductance is probably so low that the characteristic frequency is relatively high.

[@sprobertson]

Really excited about this series. Your build videos are inspiring but this is empowering.

[@KirbyMeetsAudio]

That's awesome! I'm glad it helps. Thanks for watching!

Kirby Meets Audio it does much more than that! 👍👍👍

[@Justwantahover]

I'm stoked too cos I make my own speakers.

[@jamie3d1977]

Great video dude! I like how you explain things, nice and casually. I have two Sonic PA cabinets that I would like to build matching crossovers for. The only intimidating part is the fact I would need both low and high pass filters. You have inspired me to really think about taking it on and I’m gonna keep following this series. Thanks for your work!

[@natemorales5731]

This whole series has been a great insight up to now on how to build a speaker. can't wait to complete the full series and obtain total knowledge....lol...keep it up. When this video series comes to an end I will show one of my own speakers.

[@KirbyMeetsAudio]

I'm so glad its been helpful! Can't wait to see it!

[@clintonraubenheimer5879]

I have been mucking about with various crossover specs, both active and passive. My conclusion at the end of it is to go with active right from the get go. Since you can fine tune to any driver and any system. This way if you make changes later on you dont have to go through the whole drama of tweaking and re-tweaking.

[@stephenyoud6125]

Great summary and intro - just what i was looking for

[@uzernaim1648]

im so happy that you made this video because i never seem to find a suitable crossover for my plans

[@KirbyMeetsAudio]

I'm glad it helps! Thanks for watching!

[@patk2998]

there is a software crossovers so there is no need to use a hardware crossover also the hardware crossover has a slow decrees but with the software crossover the sound will stop instantly at the crossover point this means the software crossover works a lot better then the hardware crossover

[@sajanmistry8800]

We spent a lot of time in my electrical theory class learning about filters. If theyd just told me it was related to speakers, I might've understood it way faster!

[@rajucherian]

This is the problem in India, bloody teachers teach every theory but no practical knowledge or don't know where it is used.

[@sajanmistry8800]

@@rajucherian I'm not from India

[@daa2622]

@@rajucherian i know right! they tell me "as long as youre in india, its your marks that count". really gets you down sometimes

[@dlfrestoration]

Why did you stop making videos

[@davekimball3610]

Been so waiting for this one. Hope your broken digit heals quickly!

[@KirbyMeetsAudio]

I hope it helps! Part 2 is coming next week. Thanks! me too!

[@aussie_philosopher8079]

I have a b&w 705 s2. The crossover has VERY SIMPLE but hi quality, thick gauge air core inductor and a mundorf silver gold oil cap. Is this simplicity good or bad? The whole speaker/cabinets is high quality, but seems it could benefit from small xover mods

[@stevescott200]

excellent video thanks

[@dednside5229]

It makes of sense to go active with a mini dsp At least initially to dial everything In

[@ejazmirza9108]

Nice inform some time its depad u wich freqance u need to listing but good ideya that u give thanks

[@OrenArieli]

Just the info I was looking for, explained cleanly and clearly. Thanks, Kirby!

[@gabrielisaacx.ramirez9330]

YES THE VALUES FOR THE PARTS

[@wicked650s]

MORE!! MORE!! MORE!! MORE!! Fully addicted to this series!!

[@KirbyMeetsAudio]

Haha awesome! More to come. Thanks for watching!

[@audiomor]

Thank you very much from Brazil

[@edwardcase]

AC/DC electronics classes, showed me the real dynamics of filters. Chokes or "Inductors" increase in impedance with frequency, whereas "Capacitors" decrease in impedance with frequency. The 'slope' of a crossover, must derive from the driver impedance as well. A voice coil under a driven signal is not uniform in impedance, where the passive components in a filter are, and the difference is because magnetic flux in the motor of the speaker varies with frequency. Say you want the driver to roll off at a given frequency. The impedance of the inductor at that frequency would then be equal to that of the driver. Thus the driver is 3 decibels down or meaning that it is getting half of the power from the signal. In terms of crossovers, there is no such thing as a 'flat' response. Most entry-level, off-the-shelf speaker systems on the market today, employ only capacitors. They usually are not audio-grade film and foil, they're usually bi-polar electrolytic. The costlier systems are more costly, simply because they employ a true crossover. The actual response curve of a simple inductor is linear, but since we logarithmically scale what we see, it appears to slope. The actual response time of electrolytic caps in the super-tweeter region is too slow, such that film and foil caps outperform.

[@manuelmeyer5879]

Thanks for all the compact infos. Keep doin'

[@manylch7964]

Great explanation . Thanks

[@aquinmanners937]

This video is great

[@ryanhill7318]

Very well done! I just learned a lot. thank you!

[@tomd5678]

Nice and clear explanation

[@leonardmboloma5281]

Great information

[@konglyyi2681]

your video is so good

[@mdmahmudulhasanmiddya9632]

Great job sir

[@secbite4]

Great video I would like to replicate the crossover circuit of a Ar3a vintage speakers with today components is that possible to do? Is there a blueprint for crossovers circuits?

[@alciriello7380]

Kirby: can I use (2) 8 ohm 12db low pass passive xovers in parallel to reach a 24db/octave slope? Have an extra xover here & I'm curious about this application. Thanks for your videos. Al

[@jeromeb2532]

Good teaching

[@ytwhite5930]

Kirby, Very informative video!Crossovers have always been a mystery to me...UNTIL NOW!!! Your explanation was easy to understand. Hopefully,I'm armed with what I need for a project that's waited long enough... Thanks so much,Y-T

[@VISHALBILARIYE]

Dear how to select capacitors and inductor value for different speaker wattage?

[@MC-ph7gr]

Great video, thx a lot. I have 2 questions. I checked some speakers with just a capacitor as crossover for the tweeter and they all have different capacitor values between 1.5-4.7 µF. Is this because the manufacturer wants different sound or the tweeters are different or the amplifier is different ? How do I choose the right capacitor for a tweeter ?

[@D.Feenstra]

Finally some well documented video's in speaker building, ive been building several existing designs and want to build my own 2 way now. This helps a lot! thx

[@pavlobilous4030]

This is good stuff!

[@peterwood2633]

Amazing never understood crossovers before! Thanks

[@Hrostbjergsorensen]

That is really a simplification of capacitor and coils in relation to frequency..

[@AI3-4]

thank you , glad i found you Kirby, amazing resource!

[@o0o-jd-o0o95]

Thank you for the Video It was easy to understand Easy to learn ... thanks kirby

[@shaunsanders9673]

Excellent info - thank you!

[@MrPerfusionist]

you are great at explaining!

[@PetrasGrigaitis]

Great video. It's not rocket science but to explain it you have to put NASA hat on :)

[@eksine]

nasa people aren't that smart, that's why elon Musk had to step in

[@microreniassance2929]

Great video set. I have a question. My speakers are late 70s Pioneer Stereo Hifi 4 speaker, speakers. There's the usual bass, midrange, and tweeter, then theirs another piezo electric speaker. Do I need a 4 way crossover or can I double up the tweeters on a 3 way (doesn't sound good to me). Do you have designs for such a 4-way crossover system?? Thanks for any help and you make really great and helpful videos.

[@bujoun76]

The video(s) I have desperately been waiting for! Thank you...

[@brenden5342]

Awesome delivery of info!

[@Ramingo1983]

Nice video! Thanks

[@cameronkrause4712]

this is a great explanation. a very clear, well done video.

[@bvrunowerneck1234]

You re the best

[@nebuladus7850]

Thxsomuch👍👍

[@craigwheaton2506]

Awesome

[@hugodiaz163]

How can I bring down the mid sound of a 100watt 10 inch woofer? I have a dayton audio model ds270-8 by the way, from my favorite shop, parts express. Thanks

[@Toki1908]

Thank you so much for this!

[@Joemama-km9np]

Damn, havent seen Kirby in a while-he went full hipster!

[@mattgrimaldi13]

you could put some speakers in your ear things! :)

[@ninethirtyone4264]

I usualy just take the frequency responce table of both (or all 3 If I have a sub) of my speaker and draw a line where I want the cutoff and figure out my components, and if I dont like it I just move it a little up or down

[@markoduvall]

All the big words and "maths"...hilarious. Crossover design has always been confusing to me. This was a great 50k foot view of how they work. A driver always has it's own inherent impedance. Will a crossover alter the amps perceived load of a driver, where you have to run things in series or parallel? Thanks Kirby!!

[@rahulathsr]

Hey Kirby, I've been watching your videos lately and i find it super interesting and i actually decided to build a portable sound box myself. :D So I decided to use a stereo 20watt portable amplifier using adafruit max9744 based amplifier which uses filter-less spread sprectrum for the output section(no inductor/capacitor on the output side). I plan to use crossovers for my build and i'm not really sure if i can use the regular crossover components for these. What components would i need for a amplifier like this one? TIA

[@martinromero5515]

Thanks for you informed it's very nice to know that 👍👍👍☺

[@Iconroller]

Such a helpful video. Thanks!

[@BigBoy74X]

Hey Kirby one quick question. I got 2 jbl prx 525 loud speakers that are self powered rated at 1300 watts peak. Long story short on both PAs both amps are gone. I wanted to know if i do an amp delete and run a high quality audio crossover for the Loudspeakers can i get away with that?

[@ismailsonjosemartinscosta539]

Salam paz.thanks

[@IceJackal1984]

Thanks!! nice informative video!! I had that Aha!! moment :)

[@RyderRipps]

You’re a great teacher, thnx

[@Justwantahover]

0:53 What if you bought really good speakers and used them as reference speakers? Copy the speaker's sound with the crossover and then tweak that just a little bit and make them maybe sound a bit different (to your taste) but not too much different. The only trouble is that I don't have 3 grand for really good reference speakers. Would that be better than just guessing?

[@hoppefan]

so how do i know wich inductor value i need to drop off at a certain hz value?

[@Justwantahover]

You had two inductors, and with a 1st order, you could use a single inductor @ the value of the sum of both your inductors. But there is a purpose for that. I was puzzled how I could place a cap from + to - without having to resist it (otherwise it would short circuit the treble) and (even with resisting it) I would still lose some treble (robbed from the tweeter). So I put a small inductor in series with the across cap and the added resistor. It worked (I suppose) but your double inductor idea is better (I reckon). Now I know. You used two inductors that are half the value (one on each side of the cap connection) so it blocks the treble that would otherwise be short circuited. Well done. Make some more crossover stuff.

[@eddy.maldonado.r]

Hey! I have a tech question related to this video, can I use a resistor to lower the volume of a tweeter? if so, can you please explain how it's done? thank you very much for your awesome videos!

[@tucker.productions]

his part 2 video goes over this

[@f4phantomf4]

Hi Kirby!! I love your channel...you've inspired me to build some speakers...I have a question I hope you or a viewer can answer. When hooking up my system, the speakers just move in and out with a loud popping noise...any help is appreciated!@

[@kenbharata]

thanks bro.. appreciate it

[@yogeshkanwadia1176]

Hi Kirby can you make 5.1 channel speakers sets 4or 6 oms

[@danml550]

I want to learn how to build crossovers but, I need that hat even more.

[@mwizachavura8399]

I have a yamaha speaker I really love and only crossover it has are 1 cap to the mid range and 1 cap to the twitter... The woofer is fed full range, then I have a speaker wit a complex crossover that sounds very average, nothing stands out

[@artomaniaccreation2492]

Hi buddy, next time please make a video about how to make a inductor coil for crossover

[@WeBuild4Life]

oooooo yes, can't wait to watch

[@KirbyMeetsAudio]

Thanks for watching!

[@OU8Aspark]

It's magic!

[@shivanshpuri3065]

a much awaited video keep the good work brother

[@KirbyMeetsAudio]

Will do! Thanks for watching!

[@shivanshpuri3065]

Kirby Meets Audio appreciate your personal touch to your audience

[@ow_will]

I learned that xc=1/2pi.fc Xc being equivalent resistance of a capacitor and f being frequency And: XL=2pi.fL L being inductance. Each being in their true unit Henries farads and Hertz

[@FyyMyy]

Very nice video. Love it!

[@dadofshane]

no time to discuss more? but time to play with fire woofers? I liked this video discussion. Maybe you could slowly expand on this subject: 2 way, 3 way, and 4 way crossovers, L-pads, (variable resistors, or potentiometers are not the same as L-pads), impedance matching, time alignment, matching the driver output of the hf - (mf)- lf (dB)., then electronic crossovers vs passive crossovers, bi-amping, tri - amping, powered sub woofer(s) - one or two.

[@davidgriffin79]

So, how do you evaluate a speaker in a live room situation? Speaker positioning will be fundamental to how it sounds, images etc, before even considering crossover configuration. Speaker manufacturers will have access to an anechoic chamber (their starting point, I would imagine) and will know how to exactly place a speaker in a live living room situation. For a DIY builder, a poor choice of speaker positioning could lead to an even poorer choice of crossover configuration.

[@robertrobert2981]

Thank you

[@MrJakigabi]

That was cool dude :) thx! very useful and clear

[@Drunken_Hamster]

I've read that ideally you want to use nothing BUT 4th order crossovers in order to prevent phase issues and haveing frequency level bumps at the crossover point because of excess blending or something like that. I also heard 1st order crossovers were the worst at this, and the most likely to damage speakers when it came to cutting out low frequencies because they didn't cut them strongly enough. And that they were also the worst for subwoofers because your subs would start playing the hum of male vocals if you had the crossover point anywhere reasonable like 60-100hz. Care to elaborate or give your thoughts on that?

[@Tylerharrell64]

Kirby, have you ever used passive radiators? I’ve been following your build guide videos, and I wanted to try going for the passive radiator over a port. I’d like to see a build from you with some passive radiator.

[@p-townflipperbunajon2873]

Ll7oouou lol

[@thecatat7]

Awesome vid - thanks!

[@bujoun76]

I can never find an exact match, on Parts Express, when I search for specific inductors and capacitors. Besides not understanding what types work best for my needs, my question is can I use something close? Instead of 6.6uf is it ok to go with 6.8uf?

[@67Bigsby]

Great work!!