A SUBTRACTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF 2222 (E-4)

LINKWITZ-RILEY CROSSOVER DESIGN

Rudolf P. Chalupa
Extel Corporation
Northbrook, Illinois

Presented at AUDI0
the 78th Convention
1985May 3-6
Anaheim
Thispreprint has been reproduced from the author% advance
manuscript, without editing, corrections or consideration by
the Review Board. The AES takes no responsibilityfor the
contents.
/

Additiona/ preprints may be obtained by sending request

and remittance to the Audio EngineeringSociety, 60 East
42nd Street, New York, New York 10165 USA.

A# rights reserved. Reproduction of this preprint, or any

portion thereof, is not permitted without direct permission
from the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society.

AN AUDIO ENGINEERING SOCIETY PREPRINT

 A SUBTRACTIVEIMPLEMENTATION OF
LINKWITZ-RILEY CROSSOVER DESIGN

R. Chalupa
Extel Corporation
Northbrook_ Illinois

ABSTRACT

With the exception of the state variable implementation of

Bohn, active crossover implementation of Linkwitz-Riley
crossovers has been by cascading of multiple-feedback or Sallen
and Key Butterworth filters. In 1983, Lipschitz and Vanderkooy
showed that the Linkwitz-Riley filters were particular cases of a
family of crossovers characterized by having their high- and low-
pass responses in phase at all frequencies. This paper
demonstrates practical active implementations of the subtractive
approach for the second and fourth order cases. Advantages and
disadvantages of this topology are discussed.
0. INTRODUCTION

In 1976 [1] Siegried Linkwitz proposed a new family of

loudspeaker crossover filters. This family has since become
popular for use in high-performance loudspeakers, this with good
reason, as it has many advantages. Among these are:
1) The drivers' outputs are in phase at all frequencies.
2) The drivers' outputs sum to unity gain at all
frequencies.
3) The slopes of the high- and low-pass sections are
symmetrical and sufficiently steep for the use of
practical drivers.
The definitive treatment of subtractive filtering was given
by Vanderkooy and Lipsohitz. Their paper [2] showed that a
subtractive filtering scheme could result in a linear phase
output with adequate filter slope if the real filter response
were subtracted,not from the input, but from the input delayed by
the "group delay" of the real filter at low frequencies. The
price paid for obtaining linear response was significant lobing
error, as well as the expense of obtaining a pure high quality
delay.
In 1983, Lipschitz and Vanderkooy [3] showed that there
exists a family of crossovers characterized by having the outputs
of the high- and low-pass sections in phase at all frequencies,
and that the Linkwitz-Riley crossovers are a special case of this
family. This paper describes a practical implementation of the
subtraotive approach.

1. THEORY: FIRST-ORDER IMPLEMENTATION

The first-order crossover is unique in that the outputs of

the high and low pass sections sum to unity, ie., the original
signal. Unfortunately, the rolloff slope of this filter is too
slow for practical implementation. (The response of dynamic
drivers outside their paesband rolls off at 12db/octave, while
the response of the filter is only 6dB/octave; in order to attain
a correct acoustic response, one would frequently have to boost
the outputs of the drivers outside their passbandst) It does
however serve as a simple example of subtraotive filtering.
A first order low pass filter can be modelled by the
equation
V2 1
--z---

V 1 s+l

The corrsponding high pass filter is obtained by

substituting (l/s) for s:

V2 s

V1 s+l
 When these responses are summed it is apparent that the
result is the original signal:

1 s s+l
---+---=---=1
s+l s+l s+l

It is therefore obvious that either of these responses can

be obtained by subtracting the other response from the input.
Normal and subtractive implementations for f=lOOOHz are shown in
Fig. 1.

2. SECOND ORDER CASE

A second order Linkwitz-Riley low pass filter is obtained by

cascading two first-order Butterworth filter sections:

V2 1 1 1
__=___#___= .......
V 1 s+l s+l s2+2s+l

The corresponding high pass filter is

s2

s2+2s+l

When the outputs of these filters are summed, the result is:

s2+1 s-1

s2+2s+1 s+l

If jw is substituted for s, it can be seen that this is a

first order all-pass filter. Therefore, either of the second
order filters can be synthesized by subtracting the output of the
other filter from the output of the all-pass filter defined by
the above equation. Conventional and subtractive implementations
of these crossovers are shown in Fig. 2.

3. THE FOURTH ORDER CASE

Most commercial implementations of the Linkwitz-Riley

topology use the fourth-order case. This design has several
advantages:
1) The crossover rate is quite steep (24dB/octave),
providing an extra margin of safety to the drivers.
2)The output of the crossover is in phase with the input
outside of the immediate crossover region.
 A Linkwitz-Riley fourth order low pass filter is synthesized
by cascading two second order Butterworth filters:

V2 1 1 1
m

V 1 s2+ 2s+1 s2+ 2s+1 s4+2 2s3+4s2+2 2s+1

The corresponding high pass filter is

s4

s4+2 2s3+4s2+2 2s+1

When the outputs of these two filters are summed, the output
equals

s4+1 s2- 2s+1

s4+2 2s3+4s2+2 2s+1 s2+ 2s+1 .

It can be shown that this equation describes a second order

low-pass filter with a Q of 1/ 2. Conventional and subtractive
implementations of this circuit are shown in Fig. 3.

4. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE NEW TOPOLOGY

The primary advantage of the new topology is that. the

summation of the output responses will always be the same as the
response of the all-pass filter. This frees one to some extent
from the need to use precision components in the Linkwitz-Riley
crossover section; variations in this section will be compensated
for in the subtraetive filter section. While this changes the
rsponse of the subtraetive section, the net output of the system
will remain flat over frequency. The equivalent error in the
conventional circuit will result in a peak or dip in the
frequency response.
The primary disadvantage of this topology is that in using
it one must assume that the drivers are ideal. The Q and rolloff
of the filter sections in the conventional circuits can be
adjusted to compensate for a driver that is being used to the
limits of its frequency range [4]. It might be noted, however,
that in the fourth-order case, which is most likely to be used,
the driver need only be flat one-third octave past w o for the
response to be flat within 1dB. If the driver is flat an octave
past We, the response will be flat to within 1/2 dB.
The circuit is obviously economically unattractive for the
second order case. It will hold _s own in this respect in the
fourth order case, especially if high-quality (expensive)
capacitors are used.
REFERENCES

[1] S. H. Linkwitz, "Active Crossover Networks for Noncoincident

Drivers," J. Audio Engineering Society, vol. 24, no. 1/2, pp. 2-8
(1976 Jan./Feb.)

[2] J. Vanderkooy and S. P. Lipschitz, "A Family of Linear-Phase

Crossover Networks of High Slope Derived by Time Delay_" J. Audio
Engineering Society, vol. 31, no. 1/2, pp. 2-20 (1983 Jan./Feb.)

[3] S. P. Lipschitz and J. Vanderkooy, "In-Phase Crossover

Network Design_" presented at the 74th Convention of the Audio
Engineering Society_ preprint #2051

[4] S. H. Linkwitz, "A Three-Enclosure Loudspeaker System--Part

III," Speaker Builder, vol. 1 , no. 4 (1980 Dec.)

[5] D. A. Bohn, "A Fourth-Order State Variable Filter for

Linkwitz-Riley Active Crossover Designs," presented at the 74th
Convention of the Audio Engineering Society_ New York, NY, 1983
October b-12, preprint #2Oll
 k............ I
I I

I I_N I

., ..... HIGH PASS

D ,,
1On I '

............ I
1 51k8 '
I I
I

' ' _.--!-- LOWPASS

15k8 '_ -
--;4- J .'

--_ l Orl I..

Ca

_40n -
13mo v- _I5k8 15k8

IN -- 15k_ I --LOW PASS

Fig. 1: First-order Crossover

a: conventional
b: subtractive
 15k8

i0_0n 15k8_ I HIGH PASS

IN I 10n [

15k8

15k8 15k8 15k8 15k8

iN iii____j__q+
__._ _ i _ _ . Low
PASS
b

Fig. 2: Second-order Linkwirz-Riley crossover

a: conventional
b: subtraetive
 llk3 I10n ] ICHP
n22k6
IN -- I 20n ] k31
1_ i?__

1lk3
_ 1210___ 8 ll LOWPASS

llk3

llk3
I ion

I 2_llk_ b

Fig. 3: Fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley crossover

a: conventional
b: subtractive