The Series-Fed Crossover

Author: N.H. Crowhurst

Another arrangement of the simple crossover

For a voltage divider, both loudspeakers are in series, but one has a capacitor in parallel with it, and the other has a parallel-connected inductor. At low frequencies, the inductor bypasses the loudspeaker across which it is connected, so that the other one gets all the low frequencies. At high frequencies, the capacitor bypasses its loudspeaker, and the other speaker gets them. As before, at a middle frequency, the energy is equally divided between both units. The response would be exactly as plotted for the other arrangement. The only differences are the series or parallel connection of the speakers with respect to the amplifier output and the connection of the reactive elements. (In the series arrangement, the capacitor is connected to the woofer and the inductor to the tweeter; in the parallel arrangement, this association is reversed;)

Although the circuits divide power, each of them resembles a simple divider, one for current, the other for voltage. The power delivered to each of the speakers is proportional to this voltage or current division. It is possible to get better frequency separation by using more components in the networks.