Currently, I run single driver speakers using 4.5" drivers. I'm considering supplementing these with a stereo pair of subwoofers. I wish to keep the system fully active, and have discussed the possibility of having an active crossover incorporated into a pre-amp specifically for this purpose. The plan was to crossover between the subs and mains at 100Hz, and importantly to use a 24dB/octave slope on the low-pass filter to ensure that the subs won't do anything to the vocal range. I'd then find myself a couple of small, passive, sealed subs, and an appropriate solid state stereo amp.
Then I came across these Rythmik/GR servo subs. At 12", they are larger drivers than I had considered originally. But all the reports seem to suggest that they will be "faster" than one might otherwise have thought. This is far more important to me than being able to plumb the depths of the audible spectrum or the ability to put out massive SPLs.
Obviously, the servo subs need the special servo-enabled amps. And the servo-enabled amps include a 24dB/octave crossover. So, I was wondering: if I were to use a pair of these servo subs, which of these approaches might be best? I could maintain my plan to have the active crossover built, using a 100Hz crossover, and simply set the internal subwoofer crossovers significantly higher than 100Hz (i.e. "out of the way"). Or, I could abandon the active crossover idea, set the internal subwoofer crossover to 100Hz, and employ a passive, line level high-pass filter prior to the amp driving the main speakers.
I guess the issue ends up being the relative merits of the crossovers in the subwoofer amps and the active crossover. Perhaps this will have little or no impact on the sound. For what it's worth, the active crossover would be designed and built by Roger Modjeski, and would be tube driven. I trust that the quality would be excellent. But I have no idea how the crossovers in plate amps compare.
Any advice?
I'm open to just about any suggestions at the moment, and am not committed to anything at all. I do like my single drivers, and am most interested in finding an effective way to relieve them of bass duties, while fleshing out the bottom registers. I don't have space to employ open baffles, though, and am tending in the direction of relatively small, sealed subwoofers.
Chad
