Crossover Redo on my Amrita Audio Floorstanders
Hello all, I have a pair of Amrita Audio Reference Standard speakers. Research shows they were likely built in 1993 or so. I would like to redo the crossovers. The speakers measure 15"x16"x49" and they contain a 13.5" cast frame woofer, 2 Dynaudio 6.5" midranges and a Vifa metal dome tweeter. Is the best way to do this to just buy the exact same value parts (capacitors, resistors and inductors) and just choose the middle of the road choices? I don't want to skimp on the redo but I want to increase the quality of the existing crossovers. I set a budget of $500.00 on the component list. I came in at just slightly under that on the Parts Express website. How would I know if the measured values of the components chosen at the factory in 1993 are the exact numbers that I should use? These speakers are too large to ship to Danny Ritchie so I thought I would throw this question out there for your opinions. I am new to this but I have a friend who is able to solder and assemble everything. Unless there are other recommendations. I'm all ears. Thanks, Dan
It will be good to hear what more knowledgeable members advise. I have done it a few times in the past using better grade stuff with the same values. Also, don't forget to upgrade the internal wiring while you're in there. Parts Express will give you advice on what to use. Amrita is a rare thing to see these days. I remember their adds when they were in business. Good Luck! |
Clarity cap CMR’s and Mills resistors or Path can be a nice option maybe start off on tweeter section. There are a lot of nice caps out there. just need to know if you like the Juniper or Vcap sound or what’s in between. Do the best you can with your budget. Sometimes you can find used caps with your values needed, no break in needed most of the time. Those CMR’s took a long time to settle down. I tried Sonic caps there were okay but I would try others.
A good quality copper internal wire is always nice. On one set of speakers I ran external crossover. Not sure it made a difference because never heard upgraded crossover inside the speaker. |
Can you still read the values printed on the crossover parts? Unless you can find a schematic, that's likely your best option. If they're not legible, my educated "guess" is that the measurable crossover values should still be pretty close to original since they're in a passive circuit. If you measure the parts from both speakers you'll double your sampling number....if the parts are very close to each other, I'd think that'd be a pretty good starting point. I'd opt for non-inductive wire wound resistors vs typical sand cast. Air core inductors are preferable to iron core IMO. Try to get the DC resistance of the inductors as close as possible to the originals....a few tenths of an ohm change shouldn't make much difference, but close is good....obviously you want the inductive value to be as close as possible. Good quality caps should help too. Sonicap, Clarity Cap, Mundorf, Solen...there are dozens to choose from, and all have their fans. Caps in particular can take a while to burn in, so be patient. It'd be a good time to replace any ferro fluid if the Vifa tweeters originally had it. Might as well upgrade the connectors to pure copper, and the wire if there's not something good in there already. Dunno if this will help, but I found a discussion of the Amrita Audio speakers at DIYAudio.com https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/crossovers-for-amrita-towers.291004/ |
