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upgrading speaker crossovers

I have a pair of PSB Stratus Gold'is and I am thinking of upgrading the crossovers, I am going to try this before I think about buying new speakers., which are in the area of $10000. The crossover in a speaker consists of 1-2.5mf 440vac film and 1- 6mf 440vac film by RC. then I have 4 100mf 100vac electrolytics. Why are the elecrolytics there, is this because of cost? I would much rather put in polys in their place, which will cost me $30.00 each. So my question is are the elecrolytics there because of cost issues if so can I change them to ploys?

My equipment consists of conrad johnson PV14l tubed preamp and a conrad johnson MF2500 amp. Both are right now at cj to be upgraded, the preamp is also getting teflon caps. I also have a pair of Mirage M1;s that I have upgraded with SI tweeters and Woofers. Must have gotten the last ones from them because now they will not even talk to you about the speaker when you call.

Anyway any advise on upgrading the crossovers would be greatly appreciated.
jchristilles
alexismaster
35 posts
 
The supremes need a lot of time for break in... The first time they sound hard and poor detailed. They change completely after a long time burn in.
I asked directly by manifacture in cologne, they need about 200 hours, to sound right. You can shorten this time with excellent results using the astonishing isotek cd enhancer. It works incredible good.
Ciao
magfan
1,583 posts
 
Timlub is correct about inductors.
However, replacing an iron core with an aircore is not a bad idea, especially in the woofer end of the circuit.
At the same time, it is a Very good idea to match the DC resistance of new to old.
My inductor design for my Maggies is within 5% of 'stock' while going from 16ga to 14ga. This buys power handling, reduces any chance of saturation to near zero while not messing with driver balance or crossover frequency.

The advantage is that aircore doesn't saturate like an iron core does. This will be of most use to those who like it loud....no....louder.
jchristilles OP
9 posts
 
The two film caps I replaced were small in size and said RC on them. There were only two films per crossover, the rest are electrolytic caps and to change them over to film would be a hastle since the electrolytics are Radials and the fims are axial, very tight. Still breaking in the new caps and now that I have my new turntable I am spinning vinyl again!

Still thinking if I should change the electrolytics or not.
face
516 posts
 
Still thinking if I should change the electrolytics or not.
I would. Unless you have a very large value, not enough space, or are on a strict budget, they don't belong in speaker crossovers.
jchristilles OP
9 posts
 
The electrolytics in question are 100mfd caps and are radial caps, the film caps are axial and are much bigger, so I dont know if I have the room to fit them. I can always take another look to see if it is possible to change them and if I can come up with a way to make them fit.
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