RFC Monitor Gold Custom Crossovers

[walpurgis]

They do look good. Paul turns out nice looking products.

[montesquieu]

I tried going active with my 12in MGs, but it didn't work for me. Yes there was more detail to be had but the coherence was lost - good Tannoy passive crossover were just more musical and 'together'. Maybe it was the introduction of powered opamps into the equation (between a valve pre and valve power amps) that caused the issue for me. When I was having the solid state crossovers built I thought if active was the way to go then I might explore having some valve active crossovers done (if it was possible to find a circut - the notch filter in Tannoys makes it impossible to use off the shelf devices). But going back to passive and a single power amp just worked better.

I tried several ways of doing it including running identical power amps into both tweeter and woofer, and also trying a 2A3 SET into the tweeter and KT88 into the bass driver. Neither sounded as 'right' as the passive crossover to my ears.

I also tried going active using a digital crossover (Berhinder DCX24/96) but that was no improvement either.

[mikeyb]

Keeping an eye on this thread as this might be an option for my Berkeleys once I get them up and running.

Just have to decide which way to go and of course cost is a factor.

[WESTLOWER]

I'm in Paul's orderly queue for external crossovers for the Tannoy 12" MGs....exciting

[mikeyb]

I'm in Paul's orderly queue for external crossovers for the Tannoy 12" MGs....exciting

Nice one, I'm thinking that route too as I have the space for them now

[walpurgis]

I'm not sure why there's such a need for folk to want new crossovers for their Tannoys. It's not sensible to automatically think a change will be an upgrade. Tannoy were not stupid and spent a great deal of research and time on their crossover designs.

The crossovers in mine are forty years old and this is the best sounding pair of Tannoys I've had in my system in that time and that's twenty two pairs! Including Monitor Golds and HPD's.

Should I suspect the sound is suffering at any time, I'll service and recap the crossovers myself. I've already rebuilt the drivers.

[walpurgis]

the notch filter in Tannoys makes it impossible to use off the shelf devices

A passive notch filter can be used after the active crossover.

[anthonyTD]

They do look good. Paul turns out nice looking products.

[montesquieu]

A passive notch filter can be used after the active crossover.

Then it's not off the shelf is it?

I'm not sure why there's such a need for folk to want new crossovers for their Tannoys. It's not sensible to automatically think a change will be an upgrade. Tannoy were not stupid and spent a great deal of research and time on their crossover designs.

Agree it's far from automatic - there are quite a few dodgy circuits out there doing the rounds that will certainly make things worse. (Some of them published on the Hans's Tannoy site)

However a well done set of new crossovers can also make things better, from better quality inductors improving bass response, to better resistors improving treble clarity and allowing more detail through. The point is not to change the character of the sound but to improve its quality. You might not feel the need yourself but I wouldn't by any means dismiss it as an approach.

[Edward]

Apologies for stepping into this thread. I don't have Tannoys or a need for new XOs. Just interested.

Maybe I'm being too simple about this but why the need to design new XOs? Surely an easier way is to simply grab the original schematic that Tannoy had and make a new XO with modern parts based on that schematic? If Tannoy did not publish the schematics then simply copy from an existing XO?

I suspect I'm missing something simple here and will soon be informed.