Speaker re-wire and re-cap

[Macca]

No-one's pulling apart your efforts.

In addition to recommending a brand of capacitor you also advanced the maverick theory that reproducing frequencies beyond the range of human hearing can be of benefit to sound quality.

Only to be expected that some would argue the contrary.

I agree with you that the tweeter in question here is not really a super tweeter since there is no standard tweeter for it to be 'super' to. If that helps any

[struth]

others are entitled to their opinions. it just expands on your post. extra or different info isnt always critisism

[Opti-cal]

Personally I'm grateful for all the contributions, always am.

Also enjoying and learning from the debate.

Wire for them should be here next week so I'll report my findings after they've settled in a bit.

From experience I know that adding subs (below 50hz) has a significant audible (not necessarily measurable) effect on how the midrange from speakers sounds. Not exactly a stretch for the same to be true at the opposite frequency extreme.

As mentioned the ears are not the only 'sense' that receive and process sound waves to the brain, just the main and obvious ones.

[sailor]

Grant, sure people are entitled to their opinions but I do not appreciate someone changing what I wrote to alter my meaning! Changing nice to significant is not what I intended to say. (1st. line in my post No. 9)

Perhaps I don't understand the forum rules. The original poster clearly asked for advice on changing the caps and which ones to consider, not if it was necessary to change it. What comes back is that it will not matter, that it can't be heard etc.

After 30 posts it appears I'm the only one who directly addressed the question. What have the other posts been about? Some have made no sense. I don't understand why someone with nothing positive to add with regards to the OP's question actually bothers to post unless there is a pissing competition to see who can accumulate the most posts.

I feel I do two things well :
a/ skipper a boat, anywhere, anytime and in any weather
b/ design a speaker, particularly the crossover

I have not mentioned this before, did not want to appear to be bragging but I currently have one of my speaker designs being sold commercially in South Africa where I am from originally. The mandate was to design a small speaker to offer as an alternative to the way overpriced and in my opinion dynamically constipated LS3/5A. Mike the store owner, ex-customer of mine and friend claims 'they sound fantastic'. These little things take up residence amongst Eggleston Works, Vandersteen, Living Voice and Martin Logan and some others. This ramble is to convey that understandably many caps were auditioned and exhaustively compared as were resistors. I used drivers with smooth extended roll-off to keep XO components to a minimum and agonised over XO point going lower and lower until the 2 drive units XO'd at about 1700Hz gave me the accurate phase tracking that I was looking for around the chosen XO point. To my old ears the transition is seamless.

With consideration of the above I felt qualified to answer the OP's question.

[jahsavage]

Hi Opt-ical

I think you will be shocked by the difference changing the capacitor will make but to be happy you will have to buy a selection to determine what you prefer.
I also suggest you buy some acoustic foam since this may be useful if you have to re-balance the mid and tweeter. Oil and wax capacitors give a smoother sound, the lower Mundolf's offer lots of detail but can make the sound appear artificial.

Rewiring with quality wire can make a big difference but this will depend upon the quality of your drivers and the rest of your system.

I suggest you leave super tweeters for now since integrating them seamlessly is incredibly difficult. Initially you would be impressed by the sparkle it can add but this can easily turn to hardness and unevenness in the upper frequencies.

Happy experimenting.

[jahsavage]

and while I remember, get youself some crocodile clips so you can easily exchange capacitors. It may also find it interesting to get some values slightly above and below the existing value.

[Opti-cal]

and while I remember, get youself some crocodile clips so you can easily exchange capacitors. It may also find it interesting to get some values slightly above and below the existing value.

Hi Paul thanks for your comments and suggestions.

I've got some Jantzen Superior Z caps to stick in when my OCC wire arrives at some point this week.

Nice tip on the crocodile clips too. My preamp has the facility of screwing caps in via terminals to switch them in and out very quickly, great feature.

As I've said given the appearance of the current wiring there's no doubt it's going to be better, just how much, I'm looking forward to hearing.

Cheers.

[chartz]

Hi Chris,

The original Solen cap is perfectly fine, those don't age at all.

Solen is a serious company, and they produce real components, nothing like the snake oil caps some people advise you to buy.

I've used those for 40 years in my DIY efforts and to replace bipolar electrolytics - the ones that really need replacing - with zero trouble.

They are of truly excellent quality, and changing them won't do anything to the sound of your speakers. Don't believe the hype, leave them well alone!

There.

[Opti-cal]

Hi Chris,

The original Solen cap is perfectly fine, those don't age at all.

Solen is a serious company, and they produce real components, nothing like the snake oil caps some people advise you to buy.

I've used those for 40 years in my DIY efforts and to replace bipolar electrolytics - the ones that really need replacing - with zero trouble.

They are of truly excellent quality, and changing them won't do anything to the sound of your speakers. Don't believe the hype, leave them well alone!

There.

Hi Jacques,

thanks for the advice there, that sounds like solid, logical advice. I had assumed that the Jantzen's would be an upgrade which I may still try but I may just replace the wire and see what a difference that makes first.

Thanks again.

[Opti-cal]

Update - got enough wire to finish this time . . . . was literally 20cm short as I doubled up the gauge on all the connections so had to order more!

Old wiring:




New wiring: (bypassed those horrible little tags which connect the main driver leads). Secured new wire with tip ties to allow enough slack for the drivers to move to their maximum throw length. Tweeter tags remain.





Soldered in the old caps (took Chartz' advice) as I also wanted to hear the difference just changing the wire made to the speakers. I may solder the Jantzens in at a later date as I can just cut the wire and solder them on further up on fresh wire.



Reattached all wires into the new binding posts. They are only screwed down at the moment in case I have messed anything up (highly likely) or want to change the caps. If I'm 100% happy I'll solder them to the posts.



Viola . . . . Speakers look exactly the same bar the binding posts from the outside, haha. I'm hoping they will be significantly better on the inside now though!




Will update on how they sound tonight hopefully!