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Figure 18 :
PowerDistribution versus Frequency
Both active and passive filters can be used for
crossoversbut todayactivefilters cost significantly
less than a good passive filter using air cored
inductors and non-electrolytic capacitors. In addi-
tion, active filters do not suffer from the typical
defectsof passive filters:
- power less
- increased impedance seen by the loudspeaker
(lower damping)
- difficulty of precise design due to variable loud-
speaker impedance.
Obviously,active crossovers can only be used if a
poweramplifieris provided for eachdrive unit. This
makes it particularly interesting and economically
soundto use monolithic power amplifiers.
In someapplications, complex filters are not really
necessaryand simple RC low-passand high-pass
networks(6dB/octave)can be recommended.
The result obtained are excellent because this is
the best type of audio filter and the only one free
from phaseand transientdistortion.
The rather poor out of band attenuationof single
RC filters means that the loudspeakermust oper-
ate linearlywell beyondthe crossoverfrequencyto
avoid distortion.
Figure 19 :
ActivePower Filter
A more effective solution, named ”Active Power
Filter” by SGS-THOMSON is shown in Figure 19.
The proposed circuit can realizecombined power
amplifiers and 12dB/octave or 18dB/octave high-
pass or low-pass filters.
In practice, at the input pins of the amplifier two
equal and in-phase voltages are available, as re-
quired for the active filter operation.
The impedanceat thepin(-)isof theorderof 100
,
while that of the pin (+) is very high, which is also
what was wanted.
The component values calculated for f
c
= 900Hz
using a Bessek3rd order Sallen andKey structure
are :
C
1
= C
2
= C
3
22nF
R
1
R
2
R
3
8.2k
5.6k
33k
Usingthistypeof crossoverfilter,acomplete3-way
60W active loudspeaker system is shown in Fig-
ure 20.
It employs 2nd order Buttherworth filters with the
crossover frequenciesequal to 300Hz and 3kHz.
The midrange section consistsof two filters, ahigh
pass circuit followed by a low pass network. With
V
S
= 36V the output power delivered to the woofer
is 25W at d = 0.06% (30W at d = 0.5%).
The power delivered to the midrange and the
tweeter can be optimized in the design phase
taking in account the loudspeaker efficiency and
impedance(R
L
= 4
to 8
).
It is quite common that midrange and tweeter
speakers have an efficiency 3dB higher than-
woofers.
TDA2030A
9/15