Crossovers - What are they?

A crossover breaks an electrical audio signal in to separate frequencies. Its purpose is to ensure that each speaker driver receives its desired frequency. It usually splits it up into high, mid and low frequencies, assigning low range speakers such as woofers and subwoofers low frequencies and vice versa for high frequencies.

Crossovers allow speaker systems to produce awesome high fidelity sound. It gives manufactures the flexibility of making high-range, mid-range and low-range drivers. Having three types of drivers designed for certain frequencies sounds much better than one trying to handle everything. This also allows consumers and manufactures to tweak specific speaker driver components. For example, you can have more woofers (low-range) for a more powerful bass feel to your sound, or more high-range for better treble.

Crossovers usually do not need a power source in order to operate. These are called passive crossovers. These crossovers often act within speaker enclosure, where no power source is present. They are often superior because the speaker manufacturer constructs them in a way that gets the best out of their speaker drivers.

Active crossovers pick up certain frequency ranges before they go into the amplifier. These are usually used within pre-amplifiers or receivers. A great advantage of them is that you can actually change the frequency that is sent. This is often found in devices such as six channel amplifiers, where the high frequency is sent to the center and the surround speakers and the low frequency is sent the subwoofer. A bad thing about them is that they are often more expensive than crossovers within speakers. Although you can change the actual frequency settings. Preset frequencies within speakers often work better because they are made by the manufacturer who knows the specific needs of the speakers.