modifying and recapping ditton 44's

[walpurgis]

lol you never know! although any spare cash is going in the holiday fund at the moment

Holidays before Hi-Fi? Your priorities are just so wrong!

[struth]

What's a holiday??

[karma67]

hmmm http://wonderful-places.net/wp-conte...ay-Visayas.jpg
its a tough decision!

[walpurgis]

Hmm. If it's got flies, open drains, beggars and blokes with high pitched voices who wave their hands about, I ain't going there.



(It'll remind me too much of here )

[DarrenHW]

Nice one J, what do you think of the difference in the Mid compared to the Alcaps?

Been busy myself:



significant improvement to be had by externalising IMHO.

[karma67]

we should rename this thread DITTON PORN! lol or at least ditton 44 modifications,so people have an easy reference,unless its only us that does this? lol.
Those inductors look very nice,where did you get the done?
Re the mid caps its had to say as getting rid of the standard bell wire has really made the bass come alive so i guess its had the same effect else where,i would defo try it through and see what you think,it will be a lot easier now your x-overs are on the outside to experiment.
Im liking the sound very much now,so much in fact its stopped me trawling ebay for speakers

[DarrenHW]

we should rename this thread DITTON PRON! lol or at least ditton 44 modifications,so people have an easy reference,unless its only us that does this? lol.

I don't know whether there is still a following for modding 44's, but I think your chosen title is appropriate. As was pointed out to me at the weekend I can't really call my speakers 44's anymore as only the bass driver and crossover section is original, Triggers Broom MKII!

Those inductors look very nice,where did you get the done?

The inductors are Jantzen from Europe Audio, I've had to change them as the MD500 and SEAS 19TFF1 require different values to the stock 44 inductors.

Re the mid caps its had to say as getting rid of the standard bell wire has really made the bass come alive so i guess its had the same effect else where,i would defo try it through and see what you think,it will be a lot easier now your x-overs are on the outside to experiment.

Yes, rewiring is a huge improvement, I understand how it's then difficult to assess what has made what change to SQ.

Im liking the sound very much now,so much in fact its stopped me trawling ebay for speakers

I'd suggest you keep an eye open for a pair of Beovox 5700, I still need to rework mine so that they have a fair innings against the 44's but in stock form they're pretty good sounding speakers and if you did prefer the 44's you can take the MD500's out, stick them in your 44's and bring them up to 66 level. I think all of the complaints I had about the 44's have been down to the D5, the MD500, is more detailed, natural, smoother and images so much better. I never did get the image I wanted from the 44's, with the MD500 installed, imagining is a different, far more cohesive matter.

I'm glad you've had positive results using Ken's x-over, I'm going to give the speakers a week or so to bed in and then try the Mundorfs, if I still prefer the Poly's after that I'll fully populating the Mid with Ansars, which as you point out is a 5 minute job now, wish I'd done this months ago .

[karma67]

I'm glad you've had positive results using Ken's x-over, I'm going to give the speakers a week or so to bed in and then try the Mundorfs, if I still prefer the Poly's after that I'll fully populating the Mid with Ansars, which as you point out is a 5 minute job now, wish I'd done this months ago .

cool,well a few days in and im still very pleased with the results,im tempted to try mundorfs in place of the alcaps else where,although the size may be an issue using the stock pcb board.
could you post some pictures of your external crossover showing the layout please,as you've had success i think this is the next step forward for me,also i was looking at the jantzen inductors and they do a few different ones with the same value using different gauge wire,is it just a case of measuring the ditton gauge and buying the same?

my last upgrade in the new year is to make new cabinets with exotic veneer,keeping them simple and just copying the original cabinets.when i get round too it if you are interested i could make you a pair too as it would be not too much more work to make another pair. i'll keep you posted on that as and when.

[DarrenHW]

cool,well a few days in and im still very pleased with the results,im tempted to try mundorfs in place of the alcaps else where,although the size may be an issue using the stock pcb board.

Glad you're pleased with the Mundorfs, I also considered using them in the LF but quite awkward with the values available, where did you get yours, HiFi Collective?

could you post some pictures of your external crossover showing the layout please,as you've had success i think this is the next step forward for me,

Clicking on the photo I posted above should take you to my Photobucket account, go left or right and you should see more photo's, let me know if not. I based the inductor layout on this (http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/coils.htm), the LF is still original and could do with some further work.

also i was looking at the jantzen inductors and they do a few different ones with the same value using different gauge wire,is it just a case of measuring the ditton gauge and buying the same?

You need to match the resistance to the Celestion originals, I've got 2 pairs of inductors here so if you are seriously looking to replace them I can measure these, which combined with your results should give a pretty good average to get you in the ball park. However with the exception of L2 your inductors are air core so I don't know whether they'd be any benefit in replacing these, you need to speak to someone more knowledgeable than me!

my last upgrade in the new year is to make new cabinets with exotic veneer,keeping them simple and just copying the original cabinets.when i get round too it if you are interested i could make you a pair too as it would be not too much more work to make another pair. i'll keep you posted on that as and when.

Thank you Jamie, that is a very kind offer However, I think 66 clones is where I'm going and I don't need much of an excuse to get my routers out!

[karma67]

yes i got them from HiFi Collective,
maybe i'll leave the inductors alone then,thats another thing they must have tweeked from blackies to woddies along with the woofer dust caps.