Desktop Crossover?

[dalbert02]

Hi. My apologies if this is the wrong place, it is my first post. I recently got in to computer audio by wanting to use a very old Audio Alchemy DAC-in-the-box that was sitting in my closet collecting dust. I bought a NuForce U192S they had on sale for $50 over at Audio Advisor. The combo sounds much better than the 'audio out' of my Dell Ultra Small Form Factor PC even through some old Altec Lansing computer speakers. Soon I upgraded the speakers to some equally old Optimus Pro X77 metal cabinet speakers that I had lying around. The foam surrounds were shot, so I upgraded them with some Dayton drivers from Parts Express. I have a small decent 10W amp driving the old X77s but will probably soon replace with a Topping TP-21 desktop amp or the Emotiva x100. Well, now I want to add a sub, but I really would like a small desktop crossover so I could play with the crossover point on the fly. I found a Rolls SX45 that would be perfect but sadly the reviews say it sucks. I was thinking perhaps a 1/2 DIN old school car audio equalizer/crossover but thought I would see if you may recommend something better. I'd like to stay small (like the size of the Audio Alchemy DITB) and relatively inexpensive, say under $200. Any thoughts?

Thank you in advance.

-dave

[pooger]

Welcome to the forum!

 

I'm assuming you'll have the sub under your desk. My advice would be to put the extra money into a better sub, and not worry too much about changing the crossover points. For those speakers, you'll probably start around 80 to 100 Hz, and just listen for a bit, and try bumping it up or down, and seeing what sounds best. It really shouldn't be very recording dependent, so once you have it dialed in, there's no need to change it.

 

Also, so, play around with the sub placement--even under your desk, there may be a big difference in a one or two inch move or a rotation. Mine is a front fire design, and I ended up with it rotated about 45 deg. To the wall behind it. Finally, if it's a new sub, it will take a while (100 to 200 hours?) to break in, and you may want to revisit the crossover point again.