Arts >> Music >> Live Music

How to Hook Up a Crossover in a PA

Hooking up a crossover in a PA system requires all components to be separate. Many small systems use integrated mixer/amps, and have "passive" electronic crossovers built into full-range speakers. In a component system, crossovers are "active" rack mounted components, used to split sound frequencies for efficient and adjustable distribution to separate amplifiers and speakers. The use of dedicated amps and speakers for each frequency is called "bi-amping" or "tri-amping," for two or three-way systems respectively. In a simple bi-amped system run in mono, a single stereo power amp can be used by assigning one channel for low frequencies, and the other for high frequencies.

Things You'll Need

  • 3 Shielded input cables
  • Mixer
  • Crossover (2-way active)
  • Stereo power amplifier
  • 2 Unshielded speaker cables
  • Woofer
  • Horn tweeter
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Plug one end of a shielded input cable into the mixer's main output, and the other end into the crossover's input. The cable connectors will be dictated by your particular mixer and crossover, and will be either standard 1/4" or 3-pin XLR connectors. Consult the owner's manual of all components for specific details and recommendations.

    • 2

      Plug another shielded input cable into the crossover "high" frequency output, and the other into the crossover's "low" frequency output.

    • 3

      Plug the cable coming from the crossover "high" output into the channel one input on the stereo power amp, and the cable from the crossover "low" output into the channel two input of the power amplifier.

    • 4

      Plug one end of the unshielded speaker cable into the power amp channel one speaker output, and the other end into the horn tweeter.

    • 5

      Plug one end of the second unshielded speaker cable into the power amp channel two speaker output, and the other end into the woofer. The connections are now complete.

+:
+:

Live Music

Related Categories