Any one ever replace caps or modify there Xovers

""12-25-10: Shay123
The more u simplify the crossover, the better it will sound.""

with all respect to all Audiogon members, this statement is ridiculous and similar to statements like "reducing car power gear box from 6 to 1 gears significaly improoves car durability and performance" its true, but this car should be electromobile in kids circus park.

Shay123, that is awful advice. Manufactures are in the business to make money, do you believe they'd add all those extra parts if they weren't necessary?

As for bypasses, I only find them helpful when dealing with electrolytic caps of large values in shunt positions. In series with the mid or tweeter ruins spacial information and adds artificial artifacts, YMMV.

NOTE: I didn't actually say to go ahead and DO the mod.
Parts ain't parts. Caps have a resistive and inductive component.
Inductors? Resistive and perhaps capacitive as well.
Point being?
Changing parts is perhaps a little MORE complex than just matching values and warming up the old iron.
For higher end speakers.......they are 'voiced' which means that, theoretically, at least, parts are chosen for sonic goodness.....relative to the goals and design constraints.
I would gingerly approach crossover mods and be aware that more money doesn't necessarily mean better sound.
As a minor counterpoint to Shay, many designers and 'mod' guys will swear by the 'bypass' cap. Say...you need 20mfd. Well, get a couple 10s or even a single 20mfd cap. Maybe spend a bundle. BUT they will also throw a .01 across in parallel. Something about the HF passing thru more easily......and adding to the quality.
Just a thought.

I have been building and modifying speakers for about 20 years. One constant I have found is that most not all speaker manufacturers 'engineer' crossovers that are too complicated and use too many parts. This not only makes the speaker power hungry but dulls the sound as well. Listen to the woofer with no crossover connected and see if it doesnt sound better. With the midrange and tweeter u can probably get by with only 1 or at most 2 crossover components (an inductor and capacitor). Most of all, listen to each part substitution and see if it really makes a positive difference. I use Hovland and Mundorf speaker capacitors and Litz wire inductors when needed. If u match the drivers carefully enough u can get by with only 1 capacitor for the tweeter. The more u simplify the crossover, the better it will sound. If u are willing and able to take the drivers out of the cabinet and make changes to the crossover u will be able to tell for yourself if the modifications are worthwhile. I hope this helps. If u have any questions please email me back and I will try to answer your questions. Shay

Yes, by all means replace the caps, resistors or any parts that are of low quality. Would a $10,000 - $15,000 speaker use a $15 cap and other lower quality parts? Yes is the answer.

Simply read the value and replace! I did so on my Sound Lab speakers with amazing results. I purchased high quality paper in oil caps and some Ohmite planar resistors for $800 and absolutely transformed this speaker. Replaced original parts that cost $50 perhaps in total.

I have done the same with other speakers and greatly improved the sound.

Simply read the reviews on the sound quality and personality of the caps before purchasing. Purchase the ones that will get you what you want in terms of system sound.

You cannot go wrong with caps and resistors made by the top quality companies like Mundorf and others.

There are many options before replacing caps. Dampening materials, coating drivers with dope to make them stifffer, using dynamat (spelling) on the driver baskets and x-overs inside the cabs, and polyfil inside the cabs. Very inexpensive and worth while. Caps are caps, each has a benefit and each has a negative. 10uf caps can get up there in price and the sizes vary significantly. Mundorf oils are cha-ching $$$$$. The benefits to me are slight when compared to other options. Finding a better componemt that mates with your speakers is much more beneficial. For instance, try a preamp that is designed as direct heated or transformer coupled. I would be that the improvement realized with this would be five to ten times better then replacing caps. You should also take a listen to different speakers. Go hear the Nola Metros for example.

Happy Listening.

In two Focal threads, member "johnsonwu" comments about the benefits of replacing original equipment x-over caps with higher quality caps… but some members said that wasn’t such a good idea … which I think "4est" is saying in his comment “they'll never be Nautilus though".

Are you guys saying higher quality caps will only change the sound of the speakers for the better?

I am with Magfan and Fishboat. It is worth trying if you really like your speakers, they'll never be Nautilus though.

Might be a dumb question..but is the schematic absolutely necessary? Couldn't you just replace the old 10 uF cap with a better 10 uF cap and not have any issues?

UH? Can't you just LOOK at it and draw the Sketch-o-matic?
The DCR for the inductor can be measured.....amp off and lift one leg.
The problem would be the inductor value. That, too, can be measured.

Start tracing wires.....and maybe take a few photos.

There probably are dozens of us who have replaced x-over parts; I've done it to maybe a dozen speakers.

General advice is to replace lo-quality parts with hi-quality ones, but that advice is as useless as your question is general. Get to the x-overs, trace schematics, etc. Then we can help.

And we'd need a budget, too, as there's little sense to recommend you buy $300 of parts if you've have more like $100 in mind. BTW, $100 might be a good budget for the tweeter caps. My tweeter filters have about a grand worth of Teflon-film caps in them, but no one ever called me sensible. :-)