DEQX - converting passive Speakers to Active - any tips?

Gior said:

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd seek some advice from any of you guys that have converted your passive speakers to active speakers with a DEQX HDP-3.

Am a little bit worried about blowing the drivers, especially the tweeters and mids with if I do this. Will be running Emotiva XPA-1's for the bass drivers (2x Seas W21EX-001 wired parallel - 4 ohm load) and an Emotiva XPA-5 for the Mids (2x Seas Excel W11CY-002 wired in parallel - 4 ohm load) and Tweeter (Seas Excel T25-001).

Any advice at all would be most appreciated!

Have a good Easter guys!

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Why would you be concerned about blowing drivers?

If you play the speakers at the same SPL active as you did with passive, they will be getting about the same amount of power and they weren't damaged then were they?. If you then crank it wildly louder than you did before with the DEQX in place, then there is a risk, but no more so than if you brought a very high power amp home and used that with the passive version, and were foolish with the volume control. Remember, you are in control of the system.

The steeper slopes possible on the xover section of the DEQX will be beneficial in this regard as well if you use them as they will lower further the excursion at the bottom of each driver's range. Do however be cautious with the EQ as the DEQX will allow a lot.

I ran a pair of 15W rated vintage Celestions on a 400W/ch amp recently for a few months. No damage as I didn't turn it up past where they sounded strained - they probably never got more than a few W continuous.

Relax and enjoy the DEQX. It's a brilliant unit. I have a friend who has one in hi system and it is one of the two best sounding systems I have ever heard, bar none. It's a very, very capable and powerful piece of kit.

Gior said:

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd seek some advice from any of you guys that have converted your passive speakers to active speakers with a DEQX HDP-3.

Am a little bit worried about blowing the drivers, especially the tweeters and mids with if I do this. Will be running Emotiva XPA-1's for the bass drivers (2x Seas W21EX-001 wired parallel - 4 ohm load) and an Emotiva XPA-5 for the Mids (2x Seas Excel W11CY-002 wired in parallel - 4 ohm load) and Tweeter (Seas Excel T25-001).

Any advice at all would be most appreciated!

Have a good Easter guys!

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the deqx itself won't blow drivers, but of course if you set it up wrong (and tell it what to do incorrectly) then it is possible to blow drivers.

A9X very correctly pointed out a solution, hook up any old speaker to each output (bass, mid and treble) and run a sweep, you should hear each register being reproduced only.

A very good alternative is to use rew and simply do a sweep of each driver (mute each output on the deqx to do that) and measure to check you have set it up right. I am assuming you can use rew, given you asked here.

A9X also pointed out that get to know the unit (ie moo baby moo)(...took me a while to work out what I had originally typed..R-T-F-M without the spaces...can I not use that abbreviation???). The deqx is only as good as you use it. As much as it can work wonders, it only is as good as the operator.

Cut your teeth on stages if you wish. Leave the existing x-over of the vafs in place and use a single amp as you normally would. In this limited role it acts as a very sophisticated equalizer. Then you can see the different effects of how you measuer etc etc.

DON'T 'bite the bullet' and get all gung ho and lug the speakers out to measure them etc. Someone I know did that (after I specifically urged him not too)..I got a phone call 'I have no mic input, what's wrong?' (how the hell would I know?), then later 'oh, I had the mic plugged into the wrong place'. In other words, he was trying to run before he could even work the software.

So when he did not get good results, no wonder he was not inclined to lug his speakers and amps etc outside to try again, and blamed the unit.

Play with it, get to know the interface etc, and get to know how to work the thing.

Then depending on your level of comfort go further.

I just jumped into the deep end, but if as your first post suggests you are a bit gun shy, then those are the sort of baby steps you can take.

Gior said:

Cool...I'm gonna give DEQX a call tomorrow about it as I do want to get these VAF I-93's sounding right.

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Thought you already had it from your first post. AFAIK you are able to download the manual from the website (???), but that could be a little overwhelming.

I don't check in that often, but send me an e-mail if you feel like gasbagging about it a bit, happy to help if I can.

Just don't talk to me about amps or cables yeah!! haha.:coocoo: Someone very recently got in touch with me and listed his equipment list...I answered in my usual fashion and I have not heard from him since.

pretty sure I scared him off. ""who is this bloody idiot??""

Hi Terry,

I've read a lot of your posts over on Stereo.net before the ban I'm not sure why they actually banned you as I thought your points regarding SGR were all quite well thought out and valid. I must've missed your more 'colourful' posts lol.

Anyway I'll probably do the first run of the DEQX with just the existing Xovers in the I-93's. I'm thinking up of making a new back panel for the I-93's for the active setup which will take me a bit of time (not the best at woodwork lol). I haven't actually pulled off the back panel yet.

Have been speaking with Kim at DEQX. Luckily being local, he's can provide some hands on support. I told him about the Emotiva amps that I'm intending to use and that's piqued his curiousity as he was astounded at their price. I think he just wants to have a good listen to these amps lol

I'm not the biggest believer in audible differences between well designed class A and AB SS amps at most reasonable listening levels. Class D however does seem to sound a bit different though which is why I went with the Emotiva's rather than one of the D types. Cables wise I just go for the bling value Mostly use Mogami interconnects where possible and big gauge speaker cables as I really don't want to worry about possible resistance issues over any domestic length lol.

lsiberian said:

I'm not a fan of this idea at all. If you want to make your own active speakers than go ahead, but changing out the crossover seems like a lot wasted energy. You can fix issues with a parametric EQ device. No need to go Active. Unless you plan on modding the cabinet. :bigsmile:

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don't get hung up on simply the '''eq''' side of it, (ie if all you were gonna do is eq then yeah, agree with you completely, plenty of cheaper units around that will get you there) as that is only about ten percent of it's capabilities. From the discussion I have had with alan it seems that 'there was a bit of capability left over after finalising it's intended functions, why don;t we throw eq capability in too??' type of stuff.

Once you get into the whole box of dice (which can be done in stages as your confidence grows, which is all I really wanted to get across before) that is when it starts to shine. linear phase crossover slopes etc etc, but the magic (I think) occurs in what it does to the time domain.

Anyway, not a sales post but it needs to be understood that eq alone is trivial. If that is all you want to do, forget the deqx and get a different unit.

Gior said:

Hi Terry,

I've read a lot of your posts over on Stereo.net before the ban I'm not sure why they actually banned you as I thought your points regarding SGR were all quite well thought out and valid. I must've missed your more 'colourful' posts lol.

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Ahh, did not recognise your logon name, anyway 'nice to meet you'. If you have read my posts then you naturally would not make the mistake of engaging me about cables haha, (simply don't care, rather than anti etc)

The ban more related to a certain moderator, nuff said.

Anyway I'll probably do the first run of the DEQX with just the existing Xovers in the I-93's. I'm thinking up of making a new back panel for the I-93's for the active setup which will take me a bit of time (not the best at woodwork lol). I haven't actually pulled off the back panel yet.

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Good. smart way to go. Run thru the procedure a few times, find out what works and does not work, experiment (on axis, off axis, from the lp etc etc). Each time you do that you will gain familiarity with the software and the procedure.

Have been speaking with Kim at DEQX. Luckily being local, he's can provide some hands on support. I told him about the Emotiva amps that I'm intending to use and that's piqued his curiousity as he was astounded at their price. I think he just wants to have a good listen to these amps lol

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That mean you a syd guy?? feel free to pop out if you are, we can go thru the entiore procedure on my system as long as required for you to 'learn the ropes'. I mean YOU do it, I drink beer and break your ears by complaining about audiophiles haha. (you gotta supply the beer tho) By doing it rather than watching it you learn that much quicker.

anyway, as I said if you feel like dropping an email do so (presume it is in my profile)

So you are just spitting distance away in Bathurst? My cousin went to Uni over there.

Yup, I'm in Sydney (about 40mins out or so just past Liverpool). If I popped out I'd bring a carton of beer lol. Don't blame me if I run a 20hz signal and your tweeter goes pop after I've had one too many though ok?

I never did read your posts about cables lol. I've made a few choice comments myself on some forums about cables lol. I am however a strong believer in BLING VALUE. It's to help aid some of the Audiophools in their transition to audio nirvana . I even went and got some custom POWER cables made up with 'audiophile' grade connectors (Furutech if you've ever heard of that Jap brand) for kicks and giggles. Only just recently got round to hooking em up lol. So far I've noticed that they pass power to my equip just like my previous oem power cables which I guess is a good thing. I would've been upset if they didn't work or caught alight lol.

Gior said:

Yup, I'm in Sydney (about 40mins out or so just past Liverpool). If I popped out I'd bring a carton of beer lol.

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XXXX Bitter.

Don't blame me if I run a 20hz signal and your tweeter goes pop after I've had one too many though ok?

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This seems to be at the bottom of your fears. Let's see if I can allay them slightly.

For sure, you could be a complete idiot when it comes to speakers (you being general rather than you personally) and cross the tweeter to the mid at 800 hz say.

Well, assuming it is your first go you'd at least play it quietly for a little rather than straight to FULL volume. I reckon the tweeter would probably survive, but the sound would be awful rough. So straight away you'd have signs that something was up.

If you were a complete newb, then the smart thing to do (either by measurement, article or even an e-mail to the manufacturer) is find out the pre-existing crossover points and simply use them. That way that side of things is sorted.

If you went straight to fully active, and you were worried about the tweeter, then you can be a little bit clever and plug the tweeter input (the one you're worried about) into the mid or bass driver. If you somehow made a mistake and sent a 20hz signal to the tweeter then the bass or mid driver would show that, and survive.

Another easy alternative, use rew (say) and send a bandlimited sweep (or pink noise) to the entire speaker, check that a sweep starting at 3000 only goes to the tweeter, a sweep from 300-3000 to the mid and 20-300 to the bass driver.

Not too hard to do a double check by means like that. Hope it made sense.

Re your cable desires haha, I must admit to getting perverse pleasure in seeing peoples reactions when they first look at mine, with the myriad of different stuff spliced into others (whenever I need to move the speakers-hence extend the cables- I simply add whatever is laying around using BP connectors, or failing that a bit of electrical tape works fine)

From memory, the internal wiring in the franks are different from left to right, what part of the house was being renovated at the time determined what sort of wiring went in, light wiring or power wiring. Or even what was in the original boxes that still fit, so a real hodge podge.

Sounds fine.

Gior said:

XXXX Bitter - DONE!

I think I should be fine on it as I do know the specs of each of the drivers in use and will just set the xover points based around those

I've heard that you also have a penchant for the most beat up digital sources you've found lying around too? That true as well?

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whatever gets the job done.

we all vary, but my 'mantra' is and always have been 'fix the speakers, fix the room'. The deqx is at the heart of my system, and one bored weekend I cracked open a few bales of f/glass laying around (house renos remember?? same source as my cables haha) and just started hanging them from string (temporarily of course...that they have been in for over a year does not change that!!) just to have a looksee what happened.

I was stunned.



just for larfs.

Anyway, the long and short of that is that there most definitely IS a heirarchy of relative importances in audio, and (for me) cables and source...digital at least....are way down the bottom.

using the deqx can throw a curve ball in what audiophiles would have as a natural arrangement, assuming digital then all you need the cdp for is a transport. Ie take straight digital feed into the deqx. No longer do we need to pay for expensive cdps and dacs etc etc.

Haha, it pays for itself! I mean there are plenty who have cdps or dacs that cost twice as much as the deqx unit itself, so it is good to have that in perspective.

Anyway, yeah I love stirring audiophiles who hear the system for the first time (and are blown away) by pointing to the back of the dvd player remote, from memory it says '$58, cash converters' nyuck nyuck.

So, did my earlier explanation soothe your troubled soul any regarding blowing up tweeters??

Gior said:

You know, I think what my problem may be is that deep down I may WANT to blow up that tweeter...

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Ahh, well that is easy to do if you really want!!

you won't be doing it on mine tho...I'll teach you how so you can do it when you get back home.

M7, then M4, pick up A9X along the way. simple.

ask alan @deqx if he reckons it is worth your while coming out for a listen.

anyway, if you have any questions re the doingness etc of the procedure, ask away. It may be of use to others browsing in the future.

If I don't see you out here, please keep us informed on how you went.:T