Will,
Quote:
With a symmetrical crossover there's a greater chance of accidentally (due to room accoustics) hearing too much sound near the crossover point.


I don't happen to agree with this statement.

A -24dB L-R symmetrical slope would reduce output faster for the high-pass side than the current -12dB slope, thus reducing total SPL output below the xover frequency and thus interfering less with the sub's output, see below.

If you don't have a symmetrical crossover, then an SPL frequency sweep that starts below the xover frequency and continues above the xover frequency will not have a smooth SPL output because of the mismatched slopes causing SPL deviations below, at, and above the xover frequency.

You are right about room modes also influencing this smooth transition across the xover, but better to start with a smooth symmetrical xover SPL output response first and then correct for room modes only than to try and correct for both a mismatched xover and room modes at the same time.

Just one of my hypothesis on why bass management is so hard to truly get right for many people.

[This message has been edited by bstan (edited November 01, 2002).]