Crossovers

[Guy Boisvert]

I am looking for some feedback on this idea. I am in the process of putting together a pair of speaker enclosures. Each unit will have 2 Scanspeak woofers, 1 Scanspeak midrange and 1 ScanSpeak tweeter.

The three crossovers are rather massive and heavy. Instead of stuffing them inside, I am  thinking of this:


- installing two vertical re-inforcing ribs on the rear of the cabinet [3/4  x 3  x 38]

- placing the three crossovers in between - [vertical position]

- placing a sheet of clear Lexan over them



It would be a nice way to admire and show the crossovers, allow a nice practical access to them, and leave the innards free and clear.

Would there be a problem, I wonder,  [practical, electrical, magnetic, sonic, etc] with this idea ?

Guy

[Grainger49]

Some years back a few High End speaker manufacturers were encasing their crossovers in an external box behind the speaker.  I expect they had banana plugs for the drivers.  Those were spiked, like the speakers, and filled with sand so the crossover components would not be vibrated by the speakers. 

That is a bit overboard and didn't catch on.  But you could make a box and put the plexiglass on top.  It wouldn't take away from the volume of the enclosure so that design stands by itself.

Of course if you are pressed for room, that isn't such a great idea.

[MisterM]

Good idea!  I did the same thing with my BassZillas. I thought the components looked too good to hide inside the cabinet so I made a box to sit on top on the bass enclosure behind the mid/tweeter open frame and mounted the crossover componants circuit board style with all wiring underneath. The panel was mounted into routed slots mid way along the sides, veneered and finished the same as the mahogany cabinet, I also fashioned some mahogany blocks to hold the inductors in place and finished off with 1/4" plate glass. As long as you have room in the rear, I say go for it.

[corndog71]

If you do a google image search of "external crossovers" you'll find lots of ideas.

[Paul Birkeland]

If you're working on a ground up design, this is the only way to go (changes always must be made).
-PB

[Guy Boisvert]

Thanks all. Full sail ahead for the external/glass covered crossovers. They are just too pretty to hide inside a cabinet....