Active Crossover (Jubilee) and Amp Input Sensitivity

[Todesengel]

Hey All,

I am purchasing a pair of the Klipsch Jubilee that have an active crossover and I am struggling to consider what I need to do to yield the best signal chain. I asked Klipsch at what input voltage their crossover clips at and they didn't have that data. All they said was its input/output operate at line level and the maximum acceptable voltage is 2.5V.

I would like to run my setup as below with the Okto dac8 Stereo acting as the pre-amp:

Okto dac8 Stereo-->Jubilee Xover-->Buckeye 9040ba-->Jubilee Speaker

If the Jubilee crossover truly does operate at line level, then even at the highest gain setting of 2.9V on the Buckeye 9040ba I wouldn't be optimizing the dynamic range of the system. Given the sensitivity of the speaker I never expect to need to drive the amp anywhere near 2.9V, however, my question is am I loosing out on SINAD with the lower input voltages in this setup?

Given the sensitivity of the speakers, would it make sense to operate the Buckeye 9040ba at its lowest gain setting (9.2V)?

With the Okto dac8 Stereo I can have it built with a custom output voltage. In this case would I want to set it to the maximum allowed input voltage of the Jubilee crossover (2.5V) instead of the default maximum 4.2V output?

I appreciate your help,

Tony

 

[Chris A]

If the Jubilee crossover truly does operate at line level, then even at the highest gain setting of 2.9V on the Buckeye 9040ba I wouldn't be optimizing the dynamic range of the system

Even if the Jubilees play in excess of 120 dB/m at that voltage into your stereo amplifiers? I think you need to rethink your measures of merit. My issues with Class D amplifiers and Jubilees are at the opposite end of that scale: the linearity of Class D at microamp levels seems to be an issue for the Hypex FusionAmp series.

Chris

 

[Chris A]

Given the sensitivity of the speakers, would it make sense to operate the Buckeye 9040ba at its lowest gain setting (9.2V)?

With the Okto dac8 Stereo I can have it built with a custom output voltage. In this case would I want to set it to the maximum allowed input voltage of the Jubilee crossover (2.5V) instead of the default maximum 4.2V output?

General gain-staging advice applies here. I use amplifiers that have fairly low input sensitivity, such as a First Watt F3 for the compression driver channels and an older Crown D75A for the bass bin channels. Higher input gain amplifiers have been a problem in terms of controlling noise floor and getting linear amplifier response.

Chris