How good is the crossover in your loudspeakers?

The first time I watched one of Danny’s videos I agreed with a lot of his views on parts quality and general speaker principals.  He’s always struck me as calling it like he sees it.  He’s says positive things where applicable, and points out problems as he sees them.   I have no doubt that the problems he points out can ruffle the tail feathers of many who are fans of speakers he finds issue with, but I’ve known for a long time that speakers built to a price point by companies whose primary focus is profit have some subpar components and construction.  

His upgrades can be expensive, but so is a $20 cheeseburger...that’s the world we live in.  I’ve read a lot of raves from people who’ve tried his upgrades.  Upgrading low quality parts  is logical, and I’ve done it many times.  The difference in sound quality is a variable and is subjective, but it’s typically a step in the right direction, if cleaning  up the signal path of your system is an objective. 

Going along with what I mentioned before, the Kef Reference 1 Meta bookshelves are probably a fantastic opportunity for a crossover rethink based on the impedance plots. 

That speaker may do a lot better with a wider variety of amplifiers than it does now without any significant downgrades.  At least that’s my suspicion without having one to disassemble.

Anyone want to loan me theirs??

I had a system where I eliminated the passive crossovers and replaced them with a digital crossover, The biggest improvement I have heard over my 30 years doing this. Passive crossovers are using energy from the signal to create the crossover, I don't see how that can ever work accurately.

There are a few different things going on here. 

1. Most speakers comes crap crossovers. Even with higher end speakers, there are compromises with the crossovers. Any company will skimp on parts for profit. Putting in higher end parts of the same values will give you much better sound. As everything audio, there is a point of diminishing returns. Replacing a $1 cap, with a $20 cap will be a night and day difference. 

2. Danny has his own view of "perfect" sound. His goal is to always have a pan flat response. He tunes everything to get that.

3. Danny's kits re expensive, and offer mid-grade parts. He also rinse and repeats most of his kits. He is the place to purchase "No-rez" dampening, so it's in every kit. Along with his tube connectors for speaker wire.  Again, high priced stuff that is more mid-range. 

4. Yes, some of the stuff he is done, the manufacture has noticed and incorporated some of it in the later design. Why not? They get almost free R&D.

Almost any component we purchase some kind of compromise in it to reach a price point. Most of the time, replacing the lower end part with a higher end part will produce better results. This is why we purchase expensive power cables, speaker cables, etc...

I had ALK. create his extreme slope for my LaScala bass bins, with Altec 311-60 horns with Altec 902T drivers & Fostex T925A Top Mount Horn Super Tweeter. Before I eliminated the top end of the speakers, They did a better job then the original ''Klipsch" network. Cleaner & more open sound. With his attenuators, I can dial in almost any driver for the mids & highs.

Well worth the extra bucks.