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DIY Replacing Components in Crossovers

I have a couple pair of old speakers that I'm thinking about tinkering around with by replacing existing capacitors and/or resistors with different brands just to get a taste of how different higher quality parts affect the speaker's sound. I don't have any interest in redesigning the crossover networks, only to replace existing parts with better quality parts with the same values to see what kind of results I get. Soldering and the mechanics of replacing the parts isn't an issue for me but I just don't have much experience with the sonics of individual parts. Have any of you done this before? What has worked for you? All things being equal, do you hear much difference replacing crossover parts with better quality components? Any stories to tell? Thanks for looking.

 

arch2

Showing 3 responses by arch2

arch2 OP
308 posts
 

Thanks Erik. Does Mundorf have a particular sound to them? Curious about "not to replace caps in parallel with the drivers." Is that less bang for the buck doing that?

arch2 OP
308 posts
 

Great advice guys. Very much appreciated!

MC thanks for the links. I'll give that a study this evening. I wouldn't mind playing around with the inductors as well but I didn't see any values for those on the existing parts. I was simply going to do a one for one replacement for the parts that have their values identified and stick with it for the new part. Yeah, modifying the design of a crossover is way way out of my league. BTW your Melody integrated looks an awful lot like my old Mystery IA21 integrated amplifier I used to have. Wish I never got rid of it. 

Erik, based on your comments it sounds like even replacing parts one for one may be an issue for caps in parallel with the drivers. Your description of verifying the values with a computer program makes my palms sweat a little.

Thanks again guys.

 

arch2 OP
308 posts
 

Thanks for the responses guys. I’m going to do baby steps and start with replacing capacitors and resistors just to get a feel for the sound changes with each upgraded part. I’m not going to go crazy with parts expense but decent enough to get a feel for sound vs price. I’ll probably make that my project after Xmas. 

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