26/08/2026
Elektroakustik Journal | Vol. 6
Crossovers & Wavelengths — Driver Spacing & Wavelength Size
A crossover is not only an electrical transition.
It is also an acoustic and geometric one.
At any frequency, wavelength defines the physical distance over which the phase of a sound wave repeats. In a multiway loudspeaker, when two or more radiators contribute through the same crossover region, the distance between their acoustic centers becomes part of the system’s behavior.
As that spacing becomes small relative to wavelength, their outputs can combine more coherently across a wider listening area.
As spacing increases relative to wavelength, differences in path length create greater phase differences off axis — producing increasingly pronounced lobing and variation in directivity.
This is why crossover design cannot be reduced to filter slopes alone.
The crossover shapes how the drivers transition between frequency ranges and how their outputs combine through that region. It cannot eliminate the physical distance between the radiators or change the wavelength of the frequencies they reproduce.
Driver spacing, crossover frequency, acoustic phase, individual-driver directivity, and geometry must therefore be considered together.
The objective is coherent radiation through the crossover region: smooth summation, controlled directivity, and predictable off-axis behavior.
Keeping simultaneously radiating drivers close relative to the wavelength of the frequencies they share reduces the path-length differences that produce lobing and spatial variation.
Physical layout is therefore part of crossover design itself. The electrical network and the geometry of the radiators must work together as a single acoustic system.
Physics sets the constraints.
Engineering determines the outcome.
STRAUSS ELEKTROAKUSTIK
Nothing Added. Nothing Lost.
Explore STRAUSS ELEKTROAKUSTIK monitoring systems, electronics, and acoustic design at strauss-elektroakustik.com
