Snell (or closer to AN?) J Mk2's speakers fully rebuilt
Snell (or closer to AN?) J Mk2's speakers fully rebuilt
So this will be divisive! As this is a sales thread, please refrain from hearsay comments on never touching a Snell's internal configurations unless personally having heard the differences - I'm saying this as I've seen other threads and some views of never doing what I've done to these.
Some on this forum have heard this exact pair vs a stock pair and know what the differences are, and I welcome their comments.
As I've heard both within minutes of each other I'll explain the differences as experienced by myself.
So, I bought a used pair of Snell J's from a dealer that already had the bass drivers replaced with Audio Note versions (previous owner may not have wanted a refoam or did a bad job - who knows). Tweeters and all else was stock at the time.
Hooking them up they sounded dull but I've since learnt this can be mostly rectified by cleaning the tweeter diaphragms and recoating them.
However, I also thought the electrolytic caps are likely out of spec by now so I opted to put new caps in, and better ones at that. You will see both before and after photos of the cross-overs.
So this pair now sports:
New Audio Note bass drivers
New Audio Note tweeters (copper voice coil)
Rewired with Jantzen solid core copper speaker cable (I've opened up two different pairs of Snell J's and the wire they originally used was a 600v mains cable by Monster).
Crossover: as you will see in the photos, in line to the tweeter is a Jantzen Superes resistor into a Modwright film in oil singular cap (replaces the cheaper 3x film caps and variable resistor - yes I measured).
Balance is a mix of Jantzen, Mundorf and Clarity Cap capacitors for the larger values in place of the original small electrolytic caps. Resistors is now a mix of Duelund and Jantzen.
Inductors are the originals.
Grill holes filled and repainted a mute green called 'fossil' with a gloss top coat with gold flecks. Makes the speakers look a lot smaller than the black options. And better looking.
The Snell finish was never remarkable, so while these look more pleasing to the eye, they are not perfectly finished either. Currently sitting on some plastic/rubber dome feet.
How they sound? Awesome of course, but vs the stock Snell J's I have heard:
Less bass bloat, tighter lower frequencies (I'd put this down to the aged caps influencing the crossover).
More transparent and detailed (due to better components).
They sound remarkable in new form and are easy to place in the corners. Very musical with no frequency being emphasised - as you would expect from AN or Snell. In a nut shell you get the Snell appeal but much more detail retrieval in this form. Lots of sparkle, air and stage depth.
A lot of speaker for a mere £800 collected from Gloucester. No offers ��
Priced for a quick sale - change of system.
I may take a trade in with a small foot print awesome power amp. (Small foot print to be clear - Bel Canto type size).
http://i66.tinypic.com/313r3h1.jpg
http://i64.tinypic.com/34srvox.jpg
http://i64.tinypic.com/73mexi.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/302nakx.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/2z3v37m.jpg
http://i65.tinypic.com/sqh2kj.jpg
http://i65.tinypic.com/viipts.jpg
