Is it good to upgrade the crossovers in your speakers?


A confessed audiophile, threw this Forum I have contracted “Tweakitus”.
QSA fuses, SRA Platforms, Townshend Podiums, NPS Q45T, ad nauseam.

The latest bug in my bonnet is upgrading the crossovers in my speakers.

I asked my speaker designer about part quality. He did mention that caps, for example, can cost as much as $800 each. And that he has gone up to $50 ones.

Like all things “Hi Fi”, cost does not necessarily dictate quality. And I doubt that I would opt for 2 $800 caps. But there must be a sweet spot for crossover components? Any ideas?

mglik

Showing 1 response by beetlemania

I replaced *everything* in my Thiel CS2.4s except the cabinets and drivers. Sounds much better than original. But it was a lot of work and expense. And fraught with the possibility that I would screw it up. Important to match values of original parts (well, ok to increase voltage of caps or wattage of resistors) and make sure that total series resistance is close as possible to original circuit.

As for capacitor life, electrolytics start to degrade after, maybe, 10 years and should probably be replaced by, say, the 20 year mark. But film caps are very stable, essentially lifetime caps.