The old Snell's claim to fame was the degree to which everything was matched. Unless you are aware of a problem my suggestion would be to leave well enough alone. Tampering with the crossover might devalue them for resale. Of course one could also argue that there are better parts and applications available now. I'd leave them alone.
upgrading speaker crossovers & tuning
I recently picked up a pair of Snell type A's (orginals) in near perfect condition. The foams were recently upgraded.
I have them hooked up to 60 watts of tube power while I search for the preamp & power that will drive them for real.
At this point the speakers sound fine (barring the lack of the right power), but I'm considering having the crossovers upgraded. I found a gent out on the east coast that has redone one pair of Type A crossovers with apparently very good results. (see bottom of webpage --> http://classicloudspeakerservices.com/gallery.html#crossover)
There is one point I'm sticking on & I hope someone here can help me out. It's said that Peter Snell 'tuned' each set of speakers prior to them being available for sale. I hear this is still the practice today.
One description of the tuning I've run across is: "A highly specialised set up process, which matches the crossover to the drivers in a way that not only aligns the drivers in the frequency and time domain, but also affects the dispersion."
My question is whether the crossover upgrades will basically negate the tuning that Snell did. Is this 'tuning' marketing hype or something real that shouldn't be lost? As I said, the speakers currently sound very nice, but I have to believe the capacitors and resistors might be weak just from age alone on top of being obsolete in design.
If the tuning is lost by the upgrade, can I get it back? I'm told there are variable resistors in the crossover that may be the tuning mechanism & that the upgrade doesn't touch these. Would this maintain the tuning in spite of the upgrade?
Lots of questions I know...
thanks
I have them hooked up to 60 watts of tube power while I search for the preamp & power that will drive them for real.
At this point the speakers sound fine (barring the lack of the right power), but I'm considering having the crossovers upgraded. I found a gent out on the east coast that has redone one pair of Type A crossovers with apparently very good results. (see bottom of webpage --> http://classicloudspeakerservices.com/gallery.html#crossover)
There is one point I'm sticking on & I hope someone here can help me out. It's said that Peter Snell 'tuned' each set of speakers prior to them being available for sale. I hear this is still the practice today.
One description of the tuning I've run across is: "A highly specialised set up process, which matches the crossover to the drivers in a way that not only aligns the drivers in the frequency and time domain, but also affects the dispersion."
My question is whether the crossover upgrades will basically negate the tuning that Snell did. Is this 'tuning' marketing hype or something real that shouldn't be lost? As I said, the speakers currently sound very nice, but I have to believe the capacitors and resistors might be weak just from age alone on top of being obsolete in design.
If the tuning is lost by the upgrade, can I get it back? I'm told there are variable resistors in the crossover that may be the tuning mechanism & that the upgrade doesn't touch these. Would this maintain the tuning in spite of the upgrade?
Lots of questions I know...
thanks