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Replacing driver screws with brass screws

There was some discussion about this on Millercarbon's thread about the Moab speakers, and I wanted to pursue the subject further without interfering with his thread.
As I stated there, I have heard about this practice for quite a few years, but never tried it because it seemed like one of those lunatic fringe ideas; and even though I actually really enjoy trying tweaks, and have found many of them effective, I just was not prepared for what this one did for the music coming out of my speakers. 
Specifically, it improved the detail in ambient trails, focus in general, complex harmonics in voices and stringed instruments, and instrumental separation. It is not subtle, and it is immediately noticeable.
So, I am curious to know how many of you out there have tried this, and what your experience has been.
Thanks, John  
128x128roxy54

Showing 3 responses by clearthinker

clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.  Small amounts of other metals are often added.  Crucially the proportions of all the contituents is variable.  So the content of brass is not fixed as for say iron.

Point no.1       Not all brass is the same, so why expect the same results?


Brass is non-magnetic (if there is no iron in the mix).  Speaker drivers have big powerful magnets in them.  In the case of a smallish speaker the fixing screws will be within a few inches of the magnet and within its magnetic field.

Point no.2     Clearly the lack of magnetism in the fixing screws will have a real and MEASURABLE effect on the action of the magnet on the driving coil, as compared with steel/iron fixing screws.


clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
What about gold-plated brass screws?
Remember the first Krells?  KSA50 and KSA100.  They have these fixing the front panel to the chassis.

Now I had always thought they were there as decoration????


clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
In a properly designed speaker, the drivers will not be fixed to the cabinet with wood screws.  Obviously these will work loose very quickly because of the vibrations of the driver.
They should be fixed with bolts running right through the cabinet wall and held in place by locked nuts that cannot unscrew.
They should be torqued up very tightly to ensure that the cabinet wall and gasket material are compressed as far as possible to minimise any looseness that may be caused by future compression.
Gasket should be as thin as possible to minimise variable compression.
Not rocket science, just sensible and simple engineering.
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