"You don't think the person building the crossover tests them all? Come on."
Ed, YOU and I might measure them, but do you really think manufacturers of even expensive speakers measure and select every cap, resistor, and inductor that goes into their crossovers? "Come on" yourself. Maybe SOME of them might measure to see if they're close, but in anything less than the most-expensive speakers, that stuff gets installed exactly as it comes from the supplier, without selection. That happens because it makes virtually NO difference to the performance of the crossover whether, for instance, that hi-pass cap's -3dB point is 2.8KHz or 2.9KHz or 3KHz or 3.1KHz or... Plus or minus 10% is less than an eighth of an octave, and only the most-skilled listener could hear the difference, and only God knows what's correct.
I agree that Axon/Solen/SCR 'propylenes are quite-decent-sounding caps and probably the best dollar values in caps over maybe 10uFs, but even this tinned-eared audiofool can hear the improvement even in the midrange when they're bypassed with, for instance, a North Creek Harmony 0.22/625, and then more improvement when they're replaced with bypassed large-value NC 'propylenes.
Aerial's VP of marketing actually had the nerve to tell me that they built their crossovers with the best-sounding parts available. I almost laughed in his face.
And you're right about changing values depending on the filter topology--I was generalizing about a 1st-order filter. In higher-order filters, changing a value by double or half makes LESS than an octave difference.
I'm firmly in the camp that believes that manufacturers pick the best parts they can find FOR THE PRICE and that it's easy for us audiofools to find better-sounding parts.
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Ed, YOU and I might measure them, but do you really think manufacturers of even expensive speakers measure and select every cap, resistor, and inductor that goes into their crossovers? "Come on" yourself. Maybe SOME of them might measure to see if they're close, but in anything less than the most-expensive speakers, that stuff gets installed exactly as it comes from the supplier, without selection. That happens because it makes virtually NO difference to the performance of the crossover whether, for instance, that hi-pass cap's -3dB point is 2.8KHz or 2.9KHz or 3KHz or 3.1KHz or... Plus or minus 10% is less than an eighth of an octave, and only the most-skilled listener could hear the difference, and only God knows what's correct.
I agree that Axon/Solen/SCR 'propylenes are quite-decent-sounding caps and probably the best dollar values in caps over maybe 10uFs, but even this tinned-eared audiofool can hear the improvement even in the midrange when they're bypassed with, for instance, a North Creek Harmony 0.22/625, and then more improvement when they're replaced with bypassed large-value NC 'propylenes.
Aerial's VP of marketing actually had the nerve to tell me that they built their crossovers with the best-sounding parts available. I almost laughed in his face.
And you're right about changing values depending on the filter topology--I was generalizing about a 1st-order filter. In higher-order filters, changing a value by double or half makes LESS than an octave difference.
I'm firmly in the camp that believes that manufacturers pick the best parts they can find FOR THE PRICE and that it's easy for us audiofools to find better-sounding parts.
.