What crossover components to buy?

[Leroy R]

So since buying a couple of every cap, inductor and resistor out there is not financially feasible, I figured I'd ask what are the most common components you guys use and keep in your inventory for crossover design, voicing and such?

[Steve Henry]

I keep a large assortment of cheap NPE caps for prototyping. When I'm happy, I order what I need depending on the value of the design. Also Mad has a deal every now & then on poly caps that are cheap, so I stock up. Apex JR has deals on caps all the time you can afford to inventory.

[madass]

How about just buying a minidsp? You can create any filter you like.

[Oscillate]

"How about just buying a minidsp?"

Knowing just a little about the MiniDSP and next to nothing about cross-over design,
I would like to ask... Once you find the settings you like with the MiniDSP, how easy
is it to translate that to into a standard passive cross-over design (including the correct
component values to be used in the cross-over)?

[DjDisturbed]

I agree with Steve Henry, buy some NPE caps that are close to what your design calls for. But inductors are another story, usually if you are close to what you want in your sims. You can buy that inductor and adjust the caps and resistors to your liking. But if you can afford a couple of different inductors, I would definitely do that as well. You can always use them for your next project .

[diy speaker guy]

So since buying a couple of every cap, inductor and resistor out there is not financially feasible, I figured I'd ask what are the most common components you guys use and keep in your inventory for crossover design, voicing and such?

I recently completed my "beginner crossover kit". I can start a thread on this if there's interest - I got about 500 pieces for $300 or so. And that includes an lcr meter and some big coils, as well as all fees, shipping costs, taxes, etc. - and I live in Canada, so most of the orders were shipped internationally.

Brief overview -

Resistors - I got about 100 or so, 1 pair each of every value from .5 ohm all the way up to 100 ohm. They are mostly under 10 ohms.

Caps - I bought in bulk to save money. I got 100 each of 2.5 and 10 uf, and 10 each of 1, 1.5 and 2.7 uf. I can literally make any value out of these, even values that you can't buy. And they were cheap because I bought in bulk. Those are all poly. And then I got 30 or so larger value NPE's for woofer shunts on 3 ways - or whatever else you normally use NPE's for.

Coils - I bought these in bulk too, at least the 20 gauge stuff (which is good for everything except high power woofers). This would need it's own thread though, since this requires a lot of winding and unwinding but it's possible to get any value you want in a wide range of dcr. I also got a few smaller gauge (thicker wire) coils for use with higher power woofer applications.

Alligator clips - 30 for $5 on ebay.

My advice overall is to buy in bulk, look for sales (commercial and private) and have money ready when you find what you need. I think I paid on average less than 20 percent of retail cost for the stuff in my beginner kit.

[diy speaker guy]

And btw - unless you have an lcr meter, it's probably not a good idea to prototype with NPE's and then substitute higher quality caps in for the final version, since NPE's usually measure quite a bit higher than they are rated while poly caps are usually pretty close to their rated value.

[Leroy R]

Thanks for the input everyone. Keep it coming.

I don't have a specific project in mind to draw from at the moment. I'm just looking to build a beginners kit like diy speaker guy did. I just don't want to buy components with values that I am likely to never use. I don't mind investing money into something I am likely to use but don't like waisting money on things I will likely never use. That being said, I need to prioritize values as well, because the budget isn't unlimited. If I get the most common values first, I can add others later.

diy speaker guy if you could put a list together of your complete kit for me that would be great. Your budget seems close to what I am willing to invest at this time.

I have a few LCR meters, but my WT3 will measure resistors, caps and inductors as well.

[diy speaker guy]

diy speaker guy if you could put a list together of your complete kit for me that would be great. Your budget seems close to what I am willing to invest at this time.

I started a new thread for my kit here - http://techtalk.parts-express.com/sh...51#post1758451

[madass]

"How about just buying a minidsp?"

Knowing just a little about the MiniDSP and next to nothing about cross-over design,
I would like to ask... Once you find the settings you like with the MiniDSP, how easy
is it to translate that to into a standard passive cross-over design (including the correct
component values to be used in the cross-over)?

Well, if you know next to nothing about crossover design. I think going the active route is the ideal way to learn about crossovers. I don't know if you can convert every minidsp setting to a passive filter. But you can do the opposite. You design a passive filter on paper and enter the filter response into the minidsp.