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To high pass or run full range?

C

Clhigham

New Member
Greetings all,

Seeking consensus regarding using a high pass or full range for my subwoofer. Two different techs at the subwoofer manufacturer garnered two different responses. McIntosh rep says high pass. Seems to me on a "common sense" level that filtering all that signal through the sub , then back to the main amp would degrade that "McIntosh sound". Thank you in advance. I don't know much but I'm learning.

System:

McIntosh MA5200 100 watt

Heresy III speakers

SBS SB-2000 500 watt, 1100 peak
 
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I tend to do something a little different.

Knowing the input impedance of the amp- I pick a high-quality cap of a value, so that the highpass frequency of said cap into the amp input impedance, is near the desired lowpass crossover frequency of the subwoofer. Using a small project box, I wire the cap between input and output RCA jacks, so that the preamp can be plugged into one side, and the amp into the other side of the new box.

This will make a very "low loss" (in terms of maintaining sound quality) crossover, that's usually sufficient to blend the sub with the main speakers, and remove the low-bass content from the mains (increasing headroom in the main amp and speakers).

Regards,
Gordon.
 
You're going to neuter a floor stander with a 12" woofer with a high pass setup? :oops:

The oft sited "strain" on an 100 watt amp with a 99db efficient speaker is a non-argument.

Try both ways and let your own ears decide.
 
Heresy is already headed South at 50Hz, why bother sending them something they don't do particularly well?

OTOH, the HPF in the sub is fixed at 80Hz so it's probably not really optimal anyway for feeding through to the amp.

In any event, I agree with trying both ways.
 
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Going to have to try both ways. 80Hz is higher than I'd like to crossover a full range floorstander, but it's what you got. If you listen at high volumes, your prolly better off with the crossover, if for no reason other than to reduce the beating on the speakers. If you go full range, just set the sub to kick in at the bottom of the Klipsch's range, there will be a natural roll off somewhere, like under 50Hz I guess. Not that I'm comparing gear (because my mid-fi receiver can't actually compare) but it's nice to have a sub out with adjustable crossover for stuff like this.
 
Thank you everyone for your valuable input. I'm starting to see that it's really not a one size fits all answer, but rather system dependent and somewhat personal preference. Some really good points here...
 
PianotunerNJ said:
Going to have to try both ways. 80Hz is higher than I'd like to crossover a full range floorstander, but it's what you got. If you listen at high volumes, your prolly better off with the crossover, if for no reason other than to reduce the beating on the speakers. If you go full range, just set the sub to kick in at the bottom of the Klipsch's range, there will be a natural roll off somewhere, like under 50Hz I guess. Not that I'm comparing gear (because my mid-fi receiver can't actually compare) but it's nice to have a sub out with adjustable crossover for stuff like this.
Click to expand...

Yep. With a Heresy, mating it with say, a 40Hz highpass (cap inline with the amp input), the composite of the two rolloffs will make a pretty good approximation to a standard third-order rolloff (second order from the speaker's sealed enclosure rolloff, one more order from the cap) at about 50Hz or so. Then, just adjust the sub to taste (starting somewhere near 50Hz, naturally).

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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