2. speakers
  3. 1050144226

"Parts upgrade" on crossovers -Any experiences?

I remeber upgrading the crossovers of a pair of B&W DM12's with esoteric resistors, caps and wiring (about 10 years ago). In the end I got a different speaker. The bottom end seemed improved and the highs were more delicate and smoother, but the midrange had lost some of the magic. I could not deal with the decreased midrange quality so I re-soldered most of the parts back to the crossovers but left the upgraded wire (the wire in there looked like tined copper and was tied with a Molex connector to the board!). I changed the parts since I felt that early 80's speakers could only benefit from higher quality parts and was worried that the cap values might be out of spec. I am currently using a pair of KEF 101 and I've been thinking about upgrading crossovers with Solen Caps, maybe some Caddok Resistors and Cardas or Kimber wire. The KEFs sound great but if I can get more out of them, I might give it a try. Anyone do similar upgrades with an increase in ALL aspects of your speakers performance...or have BAD results...or find the end result a mixed bag of better here, but worse there (like me)? Also, any input on what parts / brands to use and which not to use? Are Solen caps good choices (or are there others that work much better for this application)? Resisters Brands?
I am purposely leavig out the issue of active crossovers (don't want to find 4 identical monoblocks to run my speakers).
one_audiophile

Showing 4 responses by one_audiophile

one_audiophile OP
21 posts
 
After reading these replies, I think that I will leave my crossovers alone. Sean and Rives have convincing arguments ( I've heard in the past about "breaking in" the caps and talk about the system aproach to crossover tuning ). I was just wondering if I was one of the few that had tried components upgrades with some NEGATIVE results. Thanks Albertporter for sharing your Snell experience (at least you got the Snells back to how they were). I will simply be happy with my current sound.
one_audiophile OP
21 posts
 
Tireguy, thanks for the reply. I know the KEFs have matched drivers and crossovers. I might at the minimum replace the push button connectors with quality binding post and the wire that goes from the board the the new binding posts. So far I am very happy with the sound (after all, KEF supplied most of the drivers for the Rogers and Spendor BBC monitors). I might try to make me a board adhearing to the factory schematic (and bypassing the overload protection circuit). This way I can simply keep the stock xovers intact and be able to put the KEFs back to how they cam. I'll check out audioasylum.com's tweaks section.
one_audiophile OP
21 posts
 
Sean, nice damping mod. I have used "Dyanmat" in the past (mostly automotive applications). I don't know why it never occured to me trying the stuff on mids / woofer baskets. Years ago I experimented with Altec Voice of the Theater speakers and remember adding foam insulation on the back of the horns to reduce ringing...and it helped. I think I'll try it.
one_audiophile OP
21 posts
 
Sean, I used "foam in a can" type. and it was VERY messy and hard to work with. Once I do the damping sheet mod, I will post my findings. :)
More to discover