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Could someone explain the overall advantages / disadvantages of going with a 3 way vs a 2 1/2 way speaker design?
my understanding is that the 3 way is more complex and usually is more expensive and requires excellent x overs....but aside from this, can produce a more pure midrange due to e fact that the woofer doesn't double as a midrange or vice versa...
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a 2 way we know where the signal goes.How is it done in a 3 way or 4 way? Wonder how the crossover works and all.I am not into speaker design,hence the question.Thanks.
Hi Bill,The simplest setup for a 3-way is when it has 3 pairs of BPs. If you run it with one pair of wires, then you can take these wires to any one of the 3 pairs and run jumpers to the other pairs. (The combinations will probably all sound unique!)
If you bi-wire then you can choose which 2 (out of the 3) pairs you directly connect to, and you only need one pair of jumpers to the third pair of BPs.
If your 3-ways only have 2 pairs of BPs then, usually IMO, one pair of BPs is for the bass driver (ie. it leads to the bass lowpass filter) and the other connects to the mids and tweeters (ie. it leads to a mid-panel bandpass filter and a tweeter highpass filter).
Regards,
Thanks Andy.That is a very clear explanation.
I have not really looked at the rear of 3 way speakers.I really dont know which ones have two way connectors or three way.The option for different ways of hook up is good.Another item to play around with.Do the high end three ways have three sets of connectors.? Perhaps these speaker makers should give pictures from the rear also in their brochures and website.That way guys like me who cannot afford these behemoths can at least enjoy the rear view also.
Cheers
Bill
Whatever floats ya boat, Bill!! :-))I mean ... Playboy has "rear view" shots as well as "front view"! :-))
Regards,
Oh I hadnt thought of the triwired rear end.Thanks for reminding me of old times and magazines.Feeling young again.Cheers
The issue is that speakers using 3 drivers in my experience create an isolation effect when the driver's pass information from one to the next. If you do not hear it then what John says makes much sense because one driver is only responsible for one part of the audible spectrum and in theory the more drivers are ideal because they have essentially less work to do. However if you do hear the pass off then the entire music reproduction illusion is completely ruined. I have yet to hear a 3 way at any price that I would care to own because that handoff is completely ruinous to the illusion. It is especially true when companies use drivers with completely different sonic signitures. Metal tweeters have a graininess and an unnaceptable break up which for me is very audible and always fatiguing on long sessions. And of course this applies to their two way designs.The problem is that 2 way speakers often do no present good enough bass or sensitivity and the subwoofers out there are forced to act as woofers (These for me always call attention to themselves unless the sub is directly between the two speakers or you use two subwoofers. One sub cannot create a stereo image. 2 and a 1/2 ways are nice marketing to save some money but I have not been impressed with any of them.
Ideally you would have one driver cover the full bandwidth.
My least favorite speakers typically have lots of drivers. SOme of the very worst speakers I have heard are those speakers like the Snell B-Minor with the idiocy of putting side firing subwoofers in the box. The positioning is a true nightmare and the boxes give themselves away.
While it's certainly possible to get good performance from a 2.5-way, the 3-way off loads the bass from the midrange and, to me, that's critical. I sell 2.5-way, 3-way and 4-way speakers and from my experience, the 4-way is beating all my 3-ways except for one and the 3-ways are beating the 2.5-ways. But that can change from model to model. In today's world of computerized design and higher grade crossovers/drivers, I think 3-ways and 4-ways have a distinct advantage, even at the same price. Sometimes at a lower price. It does depend on the implementation, however. Our 3-way monitors outperform most of our 2-way monitors and our best one overall is a 3-way, despite not being the most expensive.
From what I have found, there is no answer for that question that EVERYone will agree with. I have a full range system (one full range driver), and two way system, a three way system and a four way system and they all do one thing very well. I think it all depends on the situation they are in. Cheers.
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