Thread: Advice Needed for 3 way Active Setup

Why not just get a card with digital out to go to the alpine processor? Any reason why you would want to get a digital signal converted to analog to be converted back to digital and the manipulated via the processor to them go back out as analog? When you can go digital source, digital out, digital in and analog out? I think one conversion keeps the signal cleaner.

Keep digging around.

Originally Posted by HyperZulu

Why not just get a card with digital out to go to the alpine processor? Any reason why you would want to get a digital signal converted to analog to be converted back to digital and the manipulated via the processor to them go back out as analog? When you can go digital source, digital out, digital in and analog out? I think one conversion keeps the signal cleaner.

Keep digging around.

Thanks. I must have misunderstood the workings of the processor. My thoughts were if analog aux in was used, it will just do those EQ & TA tasks.. Didn't know that the analog signals will be converted back to digital for processing & then analog out again

My mobo doesn't comes with digital output & it also can't support PCI soundcards due to its size/enclosure. I think i'll ditch my DAC & look for a USB soundcard with digital out instead?

Why not do all your DSP using the PC instead??
Something like this (2-way)...



I'm using a different crossover filter now (single 4-way + pass-thru), and my setup is a little simpler, but it works great...

Yeah I did all my processing on the computer using kx drivers on an Audigy2 card. It's PCI though. Not sure how to do the processing with other cards, but I'm sure it's possible. Saved me from having to buy a dedicated crossover or sound processor.

Hey WuNgUn, how do you like AudioMulch? I've used Console before but it was a little tricky to get working.

Originally Posted by Machinehead

Hey WuNgUn, how do you like AudioMulch? I've used Console before but it was a little tricky to get working.

Mulch is pretty decent...there is however, an issue with shutting down Windows with it running...an error dialog comes up. But I set XP to force-close hung apps, so it's not really an issue...
AM 2.0 is s'pose to be coming out soon too...

I have a shortcut with a command line to my AM setup files in the startup folder, so whenever XP boots, i'm ready for music...

Originally Posted by HyperZulu

Yeah I did all my processing on the computer using kx drivers on an Audigy2 card. It's PCI though. Not sure how to do the processing with other cards, but I'm sure it's possible. Saved me from having to buy a dedicated crossover or sound processor.

I use ASIO4All drivers for my setup...
They work with USB sound cards too, so long as it's a supported chipset...

Originally Posted by WuNgUn

Why not do all your DSP using the PC instead??
Something like this (2-way)...



I'm using a different crossover filter now (single 4-way + pass-thru), and my setup is a little simpler, but it works great...

This idea sounds good. So the Rubber filter does the crossover? What is the other software that you used for chaining up the devices? I'm still trying to grasp this idea... How do you link the Stereo RCA outputs from the DAC? Cheers!

There's no DAC outside of the soundcards...everything is handled in software.
That image is old (and was just a test setup)...here is my current setup (with a different crossover)...
I decided I don't need an EQ, at least not until I run a white-noise or frequency sweep test...and the LS filter has phase control as well, so I got rid of the individual phase filters.
(Also note the sub output and VU Meter output channels)



For doing active crossover, I decided each stereo channel (pair), instead of being left/right, or now high/low...
Left channel is low-pass and right is high-pass.
For a three way setup, you could add another channel, just strictly mid-bandpass, and run it as a left/right setup and pass it to the amp...

And that's all I did...I have two Xonar sound cards...one handles drivers side (front/rear) and the other, the passenger. These output to a pair of 4-channel TRU amps...again, one for passenger side, the other for the drivers side...

Here is the amp.
4 X 1/8" stereo jacks (handmade) into 8 chassis-mount RCA's, and then interconnect RCA's into the amps (also handmade)



The dual Xonar cards!



The VU meter out is line level only, and the sub out goes to a 2 channel Alpine under the drivers seat...

Also note, the LS filter is 3-way + sub, but it also has full-pass output on the first two channels (for the VU meters)...very nice filter!

I could of done this with 1 soundcard (8 channels), but without sub or VU meter output. I could of spliced in for both, and let the amp do
the sub crossover, but this gives me more flexibility and control...and the possibility of maybe 3-way in the future!

Also, I use Virtual Audio Cable as my default playback device (in Centrafuse)...this is picked up as the audio input with Audiomulch...AM does it's thing, then outputs
the the actual jacks on the soundcards...
This was ONLY possible with ASIO4All drivers (else not all 16 channels were visible) and ONLY with 1731 Vista drivers (running on XP no less), or else there was 'cross-talk' between the channels, and/or the sub/center output jack wouldn't output discreetly.
Did a LOT of testing (drivers, operating systems, etc) and hair-pulling to make this work, let me tell ya!!