We often get inquiries from DIY enthusiasts or speaker manufacturer startups who ask if we can help with:
– Designing crossovers for a random set of drivers
– Designing new and upgraded crossovers for both new or vintage commercial speakers
– Redesigning commercial speakers to use a new set of drivers, including designing the new crossover, the new baffle (front plate) for new driver placement, time alignment, etc.
The short answer is that we do not work with crossover design or with designing complete speakers systems from scratch.
We only supply the parts and can to some degree advice on which components to use for the various sections of crossovers.
No one can design crossovers by using driver data alone and by only doing a software simulation.
Using the manufacturer’s driver data in a software simulation is only the first of many steps required to properly design crossovers.
To properly tweak the crossover design, you will always need to have the drivers mounted on the actual baffle and make measurements of amplitude, phase, and impedance.
You must firstly import this data to the simulation software to generate the crossover and then make test crossovers to measure and listen if things worked out correctly and to your preference.
All this requires that the designer has the speakers in hand, it cannot be done remotely via software simulation alone.
When it comes to replacing the drivers in existing speakers to use different drivers it is even more complicated than designing a new speaker from scratch, as you have to use an existing cabinet and baffle design that was made for a set of completely different drivers and this complicates things further.
It is not only a matter of designing a new crossover, you also need to redesign the baffle for the new drivers in relation to driver placement, time alignment, etc.
In most cases it doesn’t make any sense to try to reuse a cabinet to be fitted with a completely set of drivers as the cabinet may simple not be suitable for the new drivers and it will be better to design the speakers and cabinets from scratch.
What we can help with is to give some general advice about choosing components (also for upgrading stock crossovers), but it does require that the crossover design has already been completed and that you send us the crossover schematic including all component values (DCR values for coils will be also be needed).