Rockford Fosgate 250, 360, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000 manual Using Passive Crossovers

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Using Passive Crossovers

A passive crossover is a circuit that uses capacitors and/or coils and is placed on speaker leads between the amplifier and speak-

er. The crossover delegates a specific range of frequencies to the speaker for optimum driver performance. A crossover network can perform one of three functions: High-Pass (capacitors), Low-Pass (inductors or coils) and Bandpass (combination of capacitor and coil).

The most commonly used passive crossover networks are 6dB/octave sys- tems. These are easy to construct and require one component per filter. Placing this filter in series with the circuit will reduce power to the speak- er by 6dB/octave above or below the crossover point depending on whether it is a high-pass or low-pass filter. More complex systems such as 12dB/octave or 18dB/octave can cause impedance problems if not profes- sionally designed.

Passive crossovers are directly dependent upon the speaker's impedance and component value for accuracy. When passive crossover components are used in multiple speaker systems, the crossover's effect on the overall impedance should be taken into consideration along with the speaker's impedance when determining amplifier loads. CAUTION: The Power amplifiers are not recommended for impedance loads below 2Ω stereo and 4Ω bridged (mono) loads.

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