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Reference 3a Dulcet upgrades

I recently had some upgrades done to my 5-year-old Reference 3a Dulcet speakers and I'm amazed at the improvement with so little cost involved. For some reason, the manufacturer doesn't advertize this, but the President, Tash Goka, told me it was okay to spread the news. You have the option to send your speakers directly to the factory in Ontario or if you have a little soldering experience and incredible patience, they'll send you the parts for DIY( this is the route I took). The upgrades include a new copper Farady ring which is easily and quickly placed behind the phase plug of the mid/woofer driver. This ring smooths out a 4500khz dip in the frequency response as well as improves the dynamics and range of the driver. With this Farady ring in place, I also installed a 2.2uf Duelund VSF copper cap on the tweeter( other options are Mundorf Silver/gold oil or much more expensive Duelund Cast), replacing the factory aluminum paper-in-oil 4.56 uf cap. They also sent me a couple of runs of new UPOCC solid copper wiring to replace the internal wiring in the cabinets. This was the toughest and most time-consuming part( 4 hours) since the speaker cabinets are so small that it requires amazing dexterity and patience to get in there and properly place and solder the wire to the right locations. The wire takes a long time to break in and the Duelunds take up to 300 hours to smooth out and show their full glory. But it is all worth it. The mids are more open and transparent, the highs are amazingly more extended and delicately natural. And the bass is also deeper and more taut. I am considering trying some Acoustic Zen Satori internal wiring since that is what my speaker cables are, but I'm going to let everything gel together another week or so before I do this. In the meantime, for a reasonable cost, all of these upgrades make an already great mini-monitor even greater. Highly recommended for those who own older Dulcet speakers.
sherod
8 responses Add your response
rbc
18 posts
 
This is really a good news, thanks for sharing this to us.

I'm gonna contact the company for this upgrade.

BTW, what instruments do you use with the speakers?
sherod OP
1,690 posts
 
VAC Musicbloc mono amps, Audio Horizons TP 2.0n preamp, various makes of cabling and sources.
trelja
3,223 posts
 
Thanks for initiating this thread.

Always great to see a company that is committed to supporting their customers! Even better when the company is one that produces a line of such top notch loudspeakers.
sherod OP
1,690 posts
 
The Reference 3a speaker line is really great for those who want purity of sound. I have been experimenting with different wire for the internals of my Dulcet mini-monitors and have found my dream wire, a new pure copper litz design from Marigo. This wire is absolutely amazing. It made Van Den Hul, Neotech UPOCC, and even the new solid core OCC wire now used by Reference 3a sound clogged and veiled by comparison. One of the rare times in my audiophile life that I've had a "jaw-dropping" experience. This wire is very expensive, but worth it's weight in gold.
sherod OP
1,690 posts
 
Update on Dulcet speakers:
I was informed by the President of Reference 3a that the new Dulcet speakers have further improvements and upgrades other than the upgrades I mentioned which I installed myself. Unfortunately for the DIY type, these new upgrades can only be done at the factory. Based on the improvements Tash said I would experience with these new upgrades, I took my mid/woofers out, carefully packed them and shipped them back to Reference 3a for the upgrades. The upgrades include:
1. VC Gap/Air isolation
2. new voice coils
3. cone lamination
4. Edge hole
5. AVM treatment

Tash returned the newly rebuilt and upgraded woofers in less than a week. Extremely fast shipping. Even though the new woofers need some time to break-in, the new sound is absolutely glorious. Better in every respect: imaging, transparency, speed, palpability, flatter frequency response, better dynamics. Music sounds like it is now much closer to the real thing, like more veils have been removed, and the sound was already magnificent before the upgrades. I am very pleased with the results and the upgrades were priced very fairly and overall a great bargain. Again, for those who have older versions of the Dulcet, and you have been happy with their performance, I highly recommend taking advantage of these upgrades. Bravo, Reference 3A and thank you Tash, Diane, and the crew for your excellent communication and impeccable service.
sherod OP
1,690 posts
 
Just one more tidbit to add. I have been experimenting with various speaker cables on my Dulcet, both single run with various jumpers and with biwired versions. I have come to my own personal conclusion that the Dulcet sounds so much better in the bi-wired mode. I read in a post on another forum that another Dulcet owner called Tash Goka( President of Divergent Technology) and Tash told him that the Dulcet, as well as the Decapo, sound best bi-wired. He also said that Tash suggested staying away from cables with built-in passive networks in them. YMMV.
cityboy
6 posts
 
I wanted to also share my praise for the excellent customer service and product rendered by Tash Goka the owner of Divergent Technology. I too recently upgraded my reference 3a monitors, not the Dulcet but their other great monitor, the mm de copa. My upgrade was a kit provided by Reference 3a. It includes, matched tweeters, better internal wiring, capacitors, and the faraday ring. I chose to upgrade the capacitors provided in the kit to mundorf supreme silver and oil capacitors. The mundorf capacitors were also provided by Reference 3A. In addition they provided me with brass screws for the drivers and tweeters. I installed the kit this weekend and though Tash cautioned that it takes a while for new internal wires and the capacitor to burn in the listening experience is even better at first listen.
Not only was the product delivered in a timely manner but during the installation when I had a question, Tash responded to an email sent on a weekend, later that same day.

I would like to echo what was said earlier in this series of responses "It is Always great to see a company that is committed to supporting their customers! Even better when the company is one that produces a line of such top notch loudspeakers."
rbc
18 posts
 
Sherod, do you ever considered adding a sub with the Dulcet?
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