If you need an active crossover to feed low and high signals to your ampfiliers, this is the place. I have use this crossover for over 9 yeas and it is if it isn't there. It does it's job and adds nothing to the overall sound which is praise indeed. I bi-amp with 2 amps, one powering the my subs and the other powering my mains. This crossover delivers and the sound is incredible and very sensitive to any upgrades I have made. Taking the product off line adds nothing. I love you Marchand!!!! Buy it.

Transparent, detail, speed, liveness, powerfull low frequency response, and very linear!

For diy audiophile: need time and good quality parts

For assembed product: I do not know.

I had tried electronic crossover before just for subwoofer with satellite small main speaker. However, last experience did not amaze me at all. This time I'm curious whether a 3-way electronic crossover + tri-amp combination could beat a very good passive crossover (quaility parts and fine tuning) plus a very good power amp. Hence, this XM9 electronic crossover journey began!

For experimental purpose, I just bought four XM9 PCB from Marchand Electronics Inc. After carefully reading of the well-written assembly manual, collection of the quailty parts and suitable case started with 100% confidence. I think everyone will believe this electronic crossover had been well design by Marchand after reading of the manual! The op IC are sixteen OPA2134 and the resistors are PH 1% or 0.1%. The power supply are mono-mono with local well-design +- 15V power supply (http://ucccap.myweb.hinet.net/) (not 7815 and 7915). Connetion cable are Mogami #2791 and pure OCC 1mm. The RCA are CMC high quality connectors. The sound level adjustment between three frequency bands were assisted with frequency generator and AC meter, then final level adjustment with HiFish AC controller and HiFish test CD.

The results is much more than I expected! Every kinds of music become more transparent, more speed, more detail, more power, and more linear across a very large range of sound pressure!

Conclusions: If you could diy, try it! It is 100% bargain while it is 100% high quality of sound! If you could not diy, buy it assembed if you need a electronic crossover!

Customer Service

Does not need service up to now.

Similar Products Used:

Old colony tube crossover (forgot the name), PA purpose 2-way electonic crossover.

So far, a waste of time and money. Hoping to receive some useful information/explanation from the manufacturer. If I can correct these problems and enjoy the benefits other reviewers have posted, I'll be happy to post a revised review.

See review summary.

I'm guessing this XM-9 is a pre 1995 model because of the extremely thin power cord (thinner than the cord on my clock radio), but I could be totally wrong. . . So far I am thoroughly disappointed in this crossover. Pro audio friends have told me for years that if I try active biamping, I'll never go back to passive crossovers. Finally, I got the extra power amp and interconnects and the XM-9 crossover and was ready to try. Overall, compared the the stock passive crossovers I was using, this configuration sounds muffled, as if someone just hung several layers of cloth over the speaker cones. Transients are blurred, the sense of liveliness and "presence" is gone. It's just mid-fi boring sound now. And, to make matters worse, the crossover produces so much speaker hiss that you can plainly hear it 6-8 feet away; It's so bad it interferes with quiet acoustic passages. So far a big disappointment. I've written to Marchand Electronics to see if they think the crossover needs servicing. Associated equipment: Sony DVP-S9000 CD/SACD/DVD player PS Audio 5.5 preamp Muse Model 100 power amp (2 units) Altec 604-8K speakers in custom 8.5 cu. ft. cabinets based on Altec 620 cabinet, but with shelf braces and 1.5 inch thick panels (baltic birch and MDF) all around. XLO and JPS cabling.

Similar Products Used:

Stock Altec Lansing 604-8K crossovers only.

+ excellent parts + good warranty + good company to deal with + flawess operation

- should have balanced outputs = could look a little less like an old (1950s) unit; something that only an engineer would love.

I built this unit from a kit provided by Marchand. I also purchased the upgrade options. Marchand's kit instructions were excellent as were the quality of the components. I have build many Heathkits over the years and this kit would do Heathkit proud. I also purchase 8 crossover pts at $5.00/kit. The XM9 is not a variable crossover point unit. I can only summarize what this unit does. It's a great external crossover device. If you need an external crossover, e.g., you are using Oris horn, then you'll want to consider this and save yourself a lot of money buying a European design. It also allows you test various subs and low bass units at different crossover points. You can also connect up to two subs. The kit was plug and play. The kit has one or two points where you check your work and the power supply has a self-test diode, so you'll know if you have messed up the power supply (solder bridge like me.)

Similar Products Used:

None. Internal speaker crossovers

I can only agree with what has already been stated.This product is outstanding.

None.

Excellent performance, excellent service, excellent price.
I purchased the assembled unit, and I opted for the
"deluxe connectors" ( although I can't remember what that
was, I think it involved the gold plating). There are a few
more options, sensible ones, essentially involving
flexibility and expandability.

Build quality, flexibility, price.

None

I purchased the Marchand XM-9KK, which is the kit form of the crossover. As mentioned in the other reviews for this product, anyone that knows which end of a soldering to hold can build this kit and save themselves some dollars.

I bought this kit out of necessity. After building a pair of BESL Series 2.4 MTM monitors and BESL Single CSX-10 sub modules, I needed a component to handle the crossover duties in my bi-amped system. The XM9 does this, and does it extremely well!

The quality of this unit is first rate, from the heavy steel chassis to the circuit boards.

I have posted my experience while building this kit on my website. While not going into step-by-step detail, you can get a good feel of what is involved if trying to build this unit from kit form.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/1511/xm9home.htm

Current system:

Preamp : Yamaha C-80
Tuner : Yamaha T-80
Source : Pioneer Elite PD-65
Crossover: Marchand XM9
Amps : (pair) Carver A-500X
Speakers : BESL Series 2.4 MTM monitors
BESL Single CSX-10 bass modules

Definately 5 stars for the XM9!

absolutly no sound coloration

not remote controllable

For over a year now I have been using the XM9 to handle the bass management chores in my Home Theater/Sound Room, it replaced a Crown VFX-2 (variable frequency 18dB/oct high/low pass xover). I felt that the Crown colored the sound with the introduced phase shift and a ground loop hum, not to mention the Crown does not have a 'soft turn on' delayed on/off power sequence which can cause the
always annoying and sometimes damaging speaker THUD!

What I wanted was a way to handle the bass for music sources as well as Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic without having to throw sitches and set levels each time I changed sources. With the XM9 in the receivers pre-out/main-in loop I can effectivly send the bass information to the amp/subs leaving the high pass information to the mains. With the music and Pro Logic sources the signal dispersion happens without any other set-up steps, with Dolby Digital I set the speaker size to large for the main
left/right pair, all others to small and redirected the LFE to the mains. By choosing a frequency of 90Hz or less the bass information is non-directional and the receivers amplifiers are not taxed by having to reproduce the bass. In all respects this configuration has performed flawlessly, once set it can be forgotten!

The XM9 crosses over the frequencies to their respective amplifiers without distortion or coloration, no noise or phase shifts are added and the results are superb. With the easily replaced frequency modules, I can change the crossover point with little difficulty. With a separate electronic crossover and what is essentially a Bi-amped setup I obtained a balanced sound without need for constant adjustment for each input sound source. The XM9 is a well designed quality unit worthy of consideration when the task
of frequency management arises in you audio environment. I'd buy it again.

Similar Products Used:

Crown VFX-2

sound quality!

none

Not too many audiophiles and almost no casual listener considers an active crossover. I suppose the extra cost of more amplifiers scares people off or they don't know much about active crossovers. Technically, well-made active crossover and amplifiers connected directly to the drivers are superier to the passive design and should be considered by any serious audiophile. I won't go into details since there are a lot of good information to be found on the internet about the subject.

I'm actually reviewing Marchand XM-1, which is a crossover on a small circuit board. It is cheap and it's amazing. I used Ashly for about a week, then switched to dbx and stayed with it for more than 3 months. As I posted on DBX 223XL review, dbx wins hands down on sound quality against Ashly. Then comes Marchand XM-1. It buries both Ashly and dbx in sound quality. I have an upgraded version with Analog Devices opamps. This thing does exactly what it's supposed to do -- split the signal into high and low -- and nothing else. XM-1 has no knobs. It only has one trimpot, which can be replaced with metal-film resistors if so desired. It is pretty much as simple as it gets. For 2-way stereo, it only costs 50 bucks! You just CANNOT beat that! One can build ones own power supply for less than 25 dollars, although I did go overboard and used the unnecessarily high-quality components for my power supply. Add a few cute metal casings and screw mountings and you got almost perfect channel separation. I used my left-over Kimber 4TC for short connections and power connections and used Belden twinaxial (forgot the #) for long interconnect. Admittedly, my audio system has more wires and plugs than even my computer, but I LIKE the wires! (It confuses other people)

I had my Ashly and dbx to play around with (they have lots of knobs) so I knew exactly what I needed and XM-1s were as good as it got. For others, XM-9 would be an awesome choice.

Audio Research LS-15 -> XM-1's -> Bryston 3B-ST's -> Magnepan MG 1.6's (modified) == heaven.

Oh, and I sold Ashly for not even half the price. I'm keeping dbx in case I want to make myself a sub-woofer. I can use it to get a low-sum.

Similar Products Used:

dbx 223XL, Ashly XR1001

Adds no sound of its own, design intent is first rate, parts quality for the deluxe version

none

I enjoyed the kit version in the deluxe mode. I was able to use my own higher quality wiring, tailored the input impedances to 100K, higher performance op amps, far cheaper and less noise than the tube crossover. The dampening capabilities are great at the crossover points, 24db / octave slopes, plug in modules are a plus, for whatever crossover points desired. Highly recommended than any other types for assuring build quality yourself and tailered to your liking. Phil and Leo at Marchand will answer and help with any issues, they also sell passive preamps and power amps, first rate company.

Similar Products Used:

Marchand XM-26 tube crossover

Very simple engineering. Solid built

None

I used the XM9 to biamp an AR 312HO using a Carver for the lower frequencies and an Adcom for the mid+hi band. Without going to the advantages of bi-amplification (Read Rod Elliott article: Benefits of Biamping on the Internet), I would strongly advise anyone who wants to improve the sound quality of their current system to consider it before going into the search for the elusive perfect interconnect that will carry your listening enjoyment to the next level. Having said this, let me tell you now about the XM9. If you are looking for simplicity of design, this is as bare as it gets. The circuitry could fit into a case three times smaller, with still room to spare. This is very good if you consider that the less electronics between your source and your amp, the better. So what does the XM9 do for you? Not much, but it does it very well. The task is really simple: to separate the HI and LOW before they reach your amps. Well, it sounds simple but if you add "without coloration", then things start getting a little more complex. Because coloration can also be in the form of phase shift (which is why you don't want the passive network to start with), a phase coherent design like the XM9 makes a lot of sense. In short this unit does what it does and just gets out of the way. And then there is Phil Marchand. Wouldn't it be nice to send an email to Bob Carver or whoever designer whose name is on the face plate of your equipment and get an answer to your question sometimes? With Phil you get an answer every time, from the main man himself, the same day. Consider this, we exchanged about nine messages on a sale for less than $500. Now that is customer service.