Convention Paper
A Family of Linear-Phase Crossover Networks of High Slope Derived by Time Delay
AES Convention 69 · Paper 1801 · May 1981
Abstract
The design of linear-phase crossover networks has until now necessitated the use of crossovers at least one of whose outputs suffers from either frequency response ripple in the passband or low rolloff rate in the stopband. It may be desirable, at least for experimental purposes, to construct a high-quality loudspeaker which avoids the all-pass phase characteristic exhibited by the best of conventional Butterworth or Thiele-Linkwitz-Riley-derived high-slope crossovers, because such phase distortion can subtly degrade some program signals. This paper generalizes a recent suggestion and shows how, by introducing a suitable time delay into the signal path, a family of complementary constant-voltage crossovers can be synthesized with high slopes in both low-pass and high-pass outputs. Such crossovers are also applicable more widely, for example in bandsplitting companders, limiters and signal processors of various kinds. The performance of the new crossover design for different low-pass alignments is discussed in some detail.
