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B&W DM-12

Wanted to get an opinion on this early B&W monitor. I still think it is an excellent monitor with very low coloaration and excellent imaging if plac correctly. It has two drawbacks. First , it can be a bit bright on certain recordings and secondly it has those old guillitine spring loaded speaker terminals. I thought I might be able to solve both problems by changing the terminals to biwire terminals I previously bought from Parts Express so that not only would I have better and more secure terminals but I should be able to use better and perhaps a bit darker speaker wire like MIT Terminator 2 Bi-Wire which I previously bought. Is it worth the drilling and the pain to do this. Speakers are cosmetically and functionally near perfect. Any feedback appreciated. Audio44
audio44

Showing 1 response by tobias

tobias
1,534 posts
 
Bypassing or replacing the spring terminals wouldn't hurt. I had DM14s (the
contemporaneous two-woofer model) and I did it on them. It helped--just
not a lot. On the DM14 there are other obstacles to music placed between the
input terminals and the drivers: cheap internal wiring, automobile-grade
connectors, average-quality crossover components (now aging) and the
overload protection which is part of the crossover circuitry.

The wires inside can be changed but there's a connector soldered onto the
PCB which is difficult to bypass.

Cutting the overload protection out of the crossover circuit--it does affect the
sound--would be a high-cost-and-effort job. I don't know anyone who has
done it. I don't want to discourage you from trying mods if you really want
to--you always learn something--but for myself I would enjoy the DM12s for
what they are and save upgrade money for new speakers.
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