A previous discussion included a statement about crossover components.


The commentator stated something to the effect that some very high end speakers really cheaped out on the capacitors and resistors in their crossovers, and hinted that replacing them with high quality components might improve the sound quality of the speakers. My question is "Have you ever replaced the caps and resistors in your speakers crossovers, and to your ears did that result in better sound quality?" Also, what brands of caps and resistors do you consider to be "the best", and why?

peporter

Showing 1 response by jbhiller

@peporter , Yes, the quality of caps in the crossover network can and often does yield differences.

Sometimes changing them out doesn’t sound any better--just different. Other times, it can be pretty darn significant of an improvement.

My favorites are:

VCap ODAM

Clarity Caps (I think the top of the line ones can sound eerily big and have great sense of space)

Auricap XO

AMTRANS AMCY Golden Black

I’m no engineer, but...I highly recommend staying within the tolerances designed into the circuit. So, if you see a pretty run of the mill 5uF 200v Bennic cap in your network, you’d want to replace it with the exact same capacitance value and voltage rating. Don’t change the values unless you know what you’re doing or have incredible patience for experimentation. (Note: you can increase voltage rating but try to avoid decreasing it). 

Finally, sometimes the OEM will use some pretty decent if not great caps that are rebadged for the manufacturer. Manley comes to mind. I know they use some nice REL Caps that are not a cheap product, wrapped in a Manley labeled wrapper. Other times, manufacturers might use something more basic while wrapped in their own wrapper. It may be helpful to see if you can find out what brand(s) they used. I replaced the caps in my Cornwall IVs because they looked to be some fair but not great Dayton caps--so the upgrade was definitely worth it. Other times, maybe not so much.