Will I notice improvement with crossover mods?

I also agree with the resistor thing. What I will add is that the refinement jumps up surprisingly. The grain and hash can be relieved with a mod that is about as inexpensive as things get.

I am anxious to hear the reactions of the crossover mods.

However, instead of raisin the issue of the coils, I would like to caution that capacitors often need a long time to break in. Sometimes, there will be a lot of disappointment, but after a month, the sound is great. Please have patience.

Congratulations!

I am glad you went for the DynamiCaps and Axon/Solen. You are getting great value there. The bigger coils are important in opening up the sound and what you noticing in the bass. The resistors remove the grain and edge from the sound, and leave a detailed, airy, silky sound.

If you are happy now, that is a great sign. Things will only continue to improve over the next couple of months. I think the first 25 hours are when a lot happens. The sound should open up and become more dynamic/exciting. You will most notice this in detail and high frequency extension. I take it you also replaced the speaker's internal cabling, and that needs a while to open up.

I think what you will hear and feel is a gradual, very subtle improvement that seems to manifest itself in late night sessions where you just look up and are getting great sound. During these times of great happiness, your memory might go back to the speaker mods, and then you will again feel how much it was worth it.

I'm rolling on the floor, Eldartford - good one! Yes, they sure are expensive...

Gregm, I was going to suggest the same thing. Although, the Hiquphons are smaller than most, and will not drop right in.

I would suggest the Vifa Ring Radiator. At $65 it is a steal, our speaker designer at Fried likes it better than the much more expensive ScanSpeak Revelator at the same company. I have the Revelator now in my Coincidents, but will say upon hearing the RingRadiator, it sounds very special.

Eldartford, while I don't know if a bigger coil, with its lower DCR, "measures" better, I do know that they seem to do magical things with the sound. Most people focus on the slam a bigger or better coil can produce, but the thing I hear even above that is that the sound just plain "opens up" when upgrades their inductors. It is beyond significant, and sometimes can be breathtaking.

I am one of the biggest proponent of loudspeaker crossover improvements on Audiogon, but like spices in cooking, care needs to be exercised.

Finding good resistors, such as Mills or Ohmite, will always pay dividends in the treble. You really cannot go wrong here, as getting a good resistor, as opposed to those used in almost all speakers, will smooth out the response while allowing more information to flow through at the same time. The effects are such that it is the best upgrade you can make valuewise to a crossover.

Likewise, better coils always improve things. The key is to go to coils with better copper and a larger guage. The impact and slam jumps up, but what I hear and is not normally noted is that the sound just plain opens up. It's hard to describe, but it feels as if you have just gotten a much better loudspeaker.

Now capacitors, here we can understand why many people will advise you to just leave well enough alone. You have to be very careful with your choice in capacitors, as the wrong one will ruin the sound of your loudspeakers. The biggest danger is that many of the "good" capacitors can bleach out the sound and turn it harsh. They can lay bare and bring out a lot of the nasties in a system. Capacitors should always be used to balance things. Going for a better cap can often bring about the opposite of improvements.

My advice when it comes to caps is to analyze what kind of sound you are getting from the speakers now, and which direction you go in. If you are trying to back a speaker off from being upfront, most West Coast caps are not the place to look. As an everyday cap, which will almost never get you in trouble Solen/SCR/AXON caps are wonderful. Above that, AuriCaps, DynamiCaps, and North Creek's caps are superior, depending on the sound you are aiming for, but the costs jump up considerably.

I have never heard of Mundorf prior to here on Audiogon this weekend, but it seems as if they have their followers here in this thread. Maybe they are also that good?

GOOD LUCK!

Well, I am not one to usually say "I told you so", but in this case, that tweeter NEEDED to go. Personally, I am of the opinion that the tweeter change should have happened prior to the crossover mods, but Sean will probably disagree. Fair enough...

As the Hales have a really good cabinet and woofer, with your crossover mods and tweeter upgrade, you now have a speaker that competes on a VERY high level, at a cost that would NEVER allow you to play in that ballpark otherwise.

All I can say to everyone is that if you have a pair of 7 - 15 year old speakers with this kind of potential and do not follow in Mitch's footsteps but "upgrade" instead, you are going to cost yourself A LOT more money and get LESS performance in the end.