To be fair, I'll also point out that it is possible to make an active crossover that behaves the same as an analog crossover. In this regard, you *could* be better off. It's easier (i.e. cheaper) to create steeper crossover slopes with an active crossover, and you can do all of the same phase and impedence adjustments using active crossovers. In fact, I've heard of people using DSP chips to create "digital filters", and the result is unbelievable sounding speakers. However, the important thing is that those design decisions have to be made for a specific set of drivers.

Using a GENERIC active crossover is where you could run into trouble. Typically an active crossover will only allow you to set the crossover frequency and probably provide you with a gain control. With the aid of a parametric or graphic EQ, you might be able to gain back some of the response shaping capabilities of the analog crossover.

Now for the scary part: All of what I have said to this point assumes that we are talking about WELL DESIGNED speakers. How much did you spend for your speakers? If it was less than $1000/pr, there's probably a good chance that a lot of compromises were made in the design of your speaker, and probably includes sub-par crossover components. The crossover is likely to include electrolytic capacitors, small gauge iron core inductors, and wire wound resistors, as opposed to more expensive poly caps, large gauge air core inductors, and non-inductive resistors. Also, many of the specific response shaping circuits have probably been omitted, and the overall crossover topology may be insufficent to properly control the drivers. The result is that your speaker may have more "character" than they should. In cases like this, it's quite possible that even that standard electronic crossover will sound better.

This is why I'm such a big advocate of building your own speakers. To get a commercially built speaker with high quality components and that have been well designed will likely cost you several thousand dollars. To build a comparable speaker yourself may only cost a few hundred.

I'll get off my soapbox now.
Jason

[This message has been edited by JasonA (edited February 26, 2002).]