Well, actually it's about interconnects, not speaker cables. It's not like this section is being overrun with OT discussions.

They don't call us Outlaws for nothing!

That should be clear by now... :-) I thought you felt the same way about yourself, or MAYBE it just SEEMS that way.

You are absolutely right of course that active crossovers are not for everyone, and probably not for the majority either. I was simply trying to point out that there is a lot of improvement that can be had by "thinking outside the black boxes" of what manufacturers offer up - they after all are market driven and this does not necessairly equate to the finest possible sound for a given amount of money.

Having worked for two speaker companies (Altec Lansing and JBL) for a total of about 10 years, I know firsthand that what goes into a speaker is a compromise of factors like cost and the level of user interaction required. Active crossovers are very user intensive and passive crossover speakers are set-and-forget affairs.

The audio hobby in it's early years used to be very user interactive with many kits available and project articles published - not anymore. The norm is take what you get from manufacturers and don't dare mess with what's inside. About all that is left for the average person is experimenting with cables and other tweaks.

Active crossovers, while more difficult to set up than a conventional system, are not rocket science either. The required knowledge is easily gained. Personally, I think that it is a shame that the DIY spirit has essentially vanashed from the audio scene and people assume that "the speaker manufacturer knows best and who am I to question their judgement".

Nope, I just have 30 years experience in the sound and recording industries and have thrashed out just about every audio issue imaginable - usually many times over. Been there, done that.

A bunch of speaker companies would list the crossover point of their drivers. B&W does in their website. That should make it a bit easier to tinker with if one decides to go with active bi-amp using B&W speakers.

Magnepan's are also terribly easy to convert (the speakers I've been considering doing this to)... there's just a little cloth seperating the crossover from the outside world

Yes this is the first step, in addition to determining the crossover slopes used. Then one would need to run a frequency response curve at the input to the individual speaker drivers to determine what, if any, response contouring (voicing) takes place in the passive crossover (an RTA would do this). If there is some maniupulation of the response in order to "voice" the system, this could be duplicated by an external equalizer - or not - this is totally up to the user.

Then, the polarity of the drivers would need to be established for flattest response through the crossover region - this could be determined by looking at the response of the system on an RTA (like TrueRTA). The final step would be looking at the system on an RTA and establishing the volume levels for the induvidual speaker drivers for flattest response.

Of course, one could deviate somewhat in crossover frequency and slope, in addition to "voicing" options with an external equalizer, in addition to adjusting the relative volumes of the speaker drivers. "Flat" response on an RTA does not necessairly yield the best, most realistic sound - this is one beauty of an active setup since the character of the final sound from the speaker is completely in the hands of the consumer.

Yes, and the original passive crossover does not have to be completely removed from the system, just disconnected. Restoring "stock" condition would be easy then.

I intend to go with DIY speakers again when I do CHT 2.0, and the intention is to bi-amp and use active crossovers. It should be EASIER since tweaking is so much less painful.

Stay tuned ...