Oh, and by the way, the floor is carpet on concrete. Thus I thought the spikes would be good to get down to the solid foundation beneath the fluffy carpet.
Upgrading / tweaks - crossover, wiring, support
Hi all,
I own an old pair of B&W DM6 loudspeakers that have had a crossover rebuild to allow for triamplification - separate amplification of high, mid, and bass.
Since my system has since evolved considerably, was wandering whether it would be a good path to take if I upgrade the internal stuff of the speaker rather than change to a better speaker. I don't think I will change the design of the crossover itself, but things like changing the compoents to better quality ones, the internal wiring to better copper or even silver, better damping of the cabinet, better coupling to the ground and sturdier support, etc, etc.
I actually like these speakers very much, and I have bought my power amps to take advantage of the triamp capabilities that have been implemented into this DM6 pair. Currently, I am driving the high with Audion Golden Nights, the mid with Cary CAD-300se, and the bass with EAR 509mkII. With these driving the DM6's, they are pretty good.
I feel that with a few cost frienlier tweaks rather than a completely new set of higher spec'd speakers, I could improve the sound considerably.
My first thought would be to remove the stock cast alloy legs and sit the speaker directly onto a heavy plinth or base coupled using spikes of some sort, and have the plinth coupled to the floor again with spikes. Plinths need to be about 125mm thick + spike height to keep the speakers more or less the same height as stock. I'm cosidering whether the plinths should be in the form of a "sandbox" where the speaker would be sitting on the top platform wich is resting only on sand, or solid timbre lamination. Timbre used would be White Canadian Oak. Or I could cast it from concrete. Or would a sturdy timbre frame (or steel tube/angle frame) structure be a better option? With the spike coupling the plinths to the ground, was thinking of turning them myself out of stainless steel and buying the spikes to couple the speaker to the plinth - BDR cones or similar.
With the crossover, how much improvment would I get by replacing the resistors and capacitors with high grade audio ones? I'm not sure what the original ones are but I have photos of the entire circuit if one would care to ID some bits for me. For those that have modded crossover components, what volatge caps would suit crossovers? Would V-cap OIMP/Teflons or Mundorf M-caps be good for a solid bass with tansparent mids and pristine highs? And reistors?
Now with internal wiring of speakers - where does one start with an endless sea of cable and prices!?!?! And what about silver vs copper for internal wiring? 0.5mm diameter silver Audio Note wire and Mundorf Silver/Gold wire is available for ok pricing, but wouldn't that be toooo thin considering the size of speaker cables these days?
I plan to get started on the plints soonish, so any feedback and opinions will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.
David
I own an old pair of B&W DM6 loudspeakers that have had a crossover rebuild to allow for triamplification - separate amplification of high, mid, and bass.
Since my system has since evolved considerably, was wandering whether it would be a good path to take if I upgrade the internal stuff of the speaker rather than change to a better speaker. I don't think I will change the design of the crossover itself, but things like changing the compoents to better quality ones, the internal wiring to better copper or even silver, better damping of the cabinet, better coupling to the ground and sturdier support, etc, etc.
I actually like these speakers very much, and I have bought my power amps to take advantage of the triamp capabilities that have been implemented into this DM6 pair. Currently, I am driving the high with Audion Golden Nights, the mid with Cary CAD-300se, and the bass with EAR 509mkII. With these driving the DM6's, they are pretty good.
I feel that with a few cost frienlier tweaks rather than a completely new set of higher spec'd speakers, I could improve the sound considerably.
My first thought would be to remove the stock cast alloy legs and sit the speaker directly onto a heavy plinth or base coupled using spikes of some sort, and have the plinth coupled to the floor again with spikes. Plinths need to be about 125mm thick + spike height to keep the speakers more or less the same height as stock. I'm cosidering whether the plinths should be in the form of a "sandbox" where the speaker would be sitting on the top platform wich is resting only on sand, or solid timbre lamination. Timbre used would be White Canadian Oak. Or I could cast it from concrete. Or would a sturdy timbre frame (or steel tube/angle frame) structure be a better option? With the spike coupling the plinths to the ground, was thinking of turning them myself out of stainless steel and buying the spikes to couple the speaker to the plinth - BDR cones or similar.
With the crossover, how much improvment would I get by replacing the resistors and capacitors with high grade audio ones? I'm not sure what the original ones are but I have photos of the entire circuit if one would care to ID some bits for me. For those that have modded crossover components, what volatge caps would suit crossovers? Would V-cap OIMP/Teflons or Mundorf M-caps be good for a solid bass with tansparent mids and pristine highs? And reistors?
Now with internal wiring of speakers - where does one start with an endless sea of cable and prices!?!?! And what about silver vs copper for internal wiring? 0.5mm diameter silver Audio Note wire and Mundorf Silver/Gold wire is available for ok pricing, but wouldn't that be toooo thin considering the size of speaker cables these days?
I plan to get started on the plints soonish, so any feedback and opinions will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.
David