Need help with crossover design
It's been about 25 years since I built a crossover. Back then all I used was the advertised impedance of the driver and plugged that and my crossover frequencies into a formula. I've been doing some looking around and see that there is lots of talk about Thiele parameters, free air parameters, V(as), etc. Is there now a better method for building crossovers using these or are these parameters primarily for speaker enclosures?
-I'm planning on building 2nd order, 12 dB rolloff crossovers. What does everyone here use for designing crossovers?
-Is it best to measure the impedance of each driver using a digital meter (DC resistance?) and use that reading for designing the crossover or if the speaker is labeled an 8 ohm, use 8 ohms in the formula?
-Where does everyone get their capacitors, coils and resistors?
-Which are the better types to get? Coils - air core? Resistors - non-inductive Mills? Capacitors - Film or foil capacitors?
In another pair of speakers I'm building I have original LX5, N2400 and N7000 crossovers. Are these out of date as far as quality in concerned? Am I better off building new crossovers or should I be considering rebuilding these or just use them as they are?
Sorry for all the questions. The more I search, the more questions I come up with. I think I need a little guidance.
Thanks,
Eric M.