Passive CrossOver Basic Design
A passive crossover is made entirely of passive components, arranged most commonly in a Cauer topology to achieve a Butterworth filter. Passive filters use non-reactive resistors combined with reactive components such as capacitors and inductors. Very high performance passive crossovers are likely to be more expensive than active crossovers since individual components capable of good performance at the high currents and voltages at which speaker systems are driven are hard to make, and expensive. Polypropylene, metalized polyester foil, and paper-electrolytic capacitors are common. Inductors may have air cores, powdered metal cores, ferrite cores, or laminated silicon steel cores, and most are wound with enamelled copper wire. Some passive networks include devices such as fuses, PTC devices, bulbs or circuit breakers to protect the loudspeaker drivers from accidental overpowering. Modern passive crossovers increasingly incorporate equalization networks (e.g., Zobel networks) that compensate for the changes in impedance with frequency inherent in virtually all loudspeakers. The issue is complex, as part of the change in impedance is due to acoustic loading changes across a driver’s passband.
