Digital Crossover/EQ with Open-Source Software: HOWTO

The following setup can be used to implement a 2- or 3-way digital crossover (with equalization) for active loudspeakers.  It runs on a linux PC and uses only free, open-source software.  My design goal was a small, self-contained unit that can live on a shelf beside an amplifier: it runs without need of a display, keyboard, or mouse, and it looks like this:

The PC is the small box on the left.  It’s silent, always on, and requires no user interaction.

One could use this system to implement the xover/eq for the Linkwitz Labs Pluto 2.1 or LX521.  For those interested, I’ll post specific configuration files in the Owners’ area of the Orion/Pluto/LX521 Forum: together with this how-to, those files can be used to build a DSP version of the Analog Signal Processor (ASP) for those loudspeakers.  I’ve written a long article detailing my development of the LX521 implementation; my Pluto implementation is similar. Continue reading