Crossover
Definition
A filter network that divides an audio signal into separate frequency bands and routes each band to the appropriate driver or processing chain — woofer for lows, midrange driver for mids, tweeter for highs.
In Simple Terms
A filter inside a speaker that sends low sounds to the big driver and high sounds to the small one. Each part of the speaker only handles what it's designed for, so nothing gets strained or muddy.
In Practice
A two-way studio monitor uses a crossover at roughly 2 kHz: everything below routes to the woofer, everything above to the tweeter. Without the crossover, the small tweeter would try to reproduce bass it physically cannot handle, and the woofer would muddy the high frequencies it cannot resolve cleanly.
Sources & Verification
- Toole, F. E. — Sound Reproduction (3rd ed., loudspeaker design chapter)Routledge, 2017
- Eargle, J. — Loudspeaker Handbook (2nd ed.)Springer, 2003
- Linkwitz, S. — Active filters for use with high-quality audio (Linkwitz–Riley crossover)Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 1976
Last verified: 2026-05-05