CDT AUDIO CROSSOVERS
The unnoticed, but crucial component in the speaker system
The passive crossover has a very important job in the component speaker system. It needs to divide the duties of precise musical reproduction to the appropriate speakers without introducing phase shifts or distortion into the music. The CDT Audio Elliptic design crossovers are an engineering breakthrough for car audio. They use a very ingeniously designed fifth order elliptic type network that creates very distinct advantages over conventional passive filter topologies.
Technically speaking, the CDT crossovers design is a fourth order/24dB per octave design supplemented by a series first order/6dB per octave on the front end. The unique combination of the two creates a virtual 10th order of 60dB per octave crossover where the critical crossover point between the mid and tweeter lies.
The benefits of the design are many. First, the power transition between midrange and tweeter is virtually identical. Phase response problems and polarity shifts are almost entirely eliminated. That makes for a much more natural sounding component system, as if it were one perfect speaker.
