Millercarbon's Mega Moab Mod Meander


One of the all time great automotive engineers, Norbert Singer, was a key player in every one of the 16 Porsche LeMans victories from 1970 to 1998. His dominance was such that at one point Porsche had won LeMans more than all other marques combined. This was all accomplished by building on the already solid foundation of Porsche production models. The air cooled flat 12 in the 917 was really two flat sixes combined to make 12. This car so dominated motorsport the rules had to be changed to stop it!  

So Norbert Singer modified Porsche production technology to extract the absolute most for racing. His legacy is today’s Singer Vehicle Design https://singervehicledesign.com Norbert doesn’t make for a very good car name so they called it Singer. What is a Singer? It is a modified Porsche. It is in essence a hot rod. What Norbert Singer did was make the most hot rod racing Porsche. What Singer does is take that to the next level, capturing every aspect of Porsche right down to excellence of design and aesthetics.  

I am not anywhere near the level of Singer. But that is the spirit of what we are doing: taking an already world-class design and hot-rodding it to be even better. Well, better for me anyway- or so we hope!

The early modders started with substituting off the shelf parts to get more power or less weight. That is pretty much all we are doing here. Would be cool if some day people are doing this with a lot more sophisticated approach. Maybe they will. Maybe even I will. For now though we have the current crossover project.

My approach is pretty simple: better parts sound better.  

This lesson was learned back in the late 90’s with Linaeum Model 10 speakers. The designer had a new tweeter and told me how to modify the crossover for it. Simple mod, one cap, one resistor. Bought the parts from Radio Shack, put it together, sounded like crap. Absolute horrid crap! Called him up, he said those parts are crap. Said Musicap, Vishay. But they measure the same? Just do it. I did. It worked. Even though they measure exactly the same, the sound difference is off the charts.  

Even though they measure exactly the same. There is a lesson here. For those willing to learn.

So this is the essence of it: Eric Alexander has made a speaker the equivalent of a Porsche 911. Even better: an affordable Porsche 911! But after a while with my 911, after learning what makes it drive and feel the way it does, it was only natural to change the shocks and torsion bar and other items to bring out even more of what I like so much about the 911.  

That is what we are doing here. Hot-rodding a speaker. Thank you Rick for the metaphor!  

The parts are on order. Next week the fun begins!
128x128millercarbon
'79 SC. Being a PCA Driving Instructor allowed me to drive a lot of different Porsches. One time I drove a Targa so exactly like my SC the only differences being Targa, and my SC had the 75 Carrera wing and chin spoiler. That is how I learned two things: those two aero bits have a huge effect on handling even at 60-70mph, and it is not for nothing they call the Targa "flexible flyer"! Terrific car, but oh the body flex!

Totally agree, the SC was a home run. Those cars back then, they could go very fast but only if you really knew how to drive them. It was a huge thrill largely because of that sense of being right on the edge, at the same time as the car was saying it was made to be right on the edge. Fantastic!

I tried, but Eric I think is way too busy to be consulting with modders. Also an unusually large proportion of what makes Tekton so good is a technology hardly anyone but him seems to understand. Compared to him everyone else is simply using higher quality more expensive parts. His technology is so advanced he is able to beat them with off the shelf and MDF. So he is not about to go giving that away by telling anyone exactly how to do it.

On the other hand like Rick said, this is like Porsche making a car so terrific guys want to use it as a base for making something already incredibly good even better. So it is in a way flattering to be in that category. But at the same time I can understand. Porsche is not about to go telling everyone all their aero secrets. They are happy to see people personalize and modify but the good stuff they keep to themselves.

In any case I am not at all looking to design anything. This is nothing more than the speaker equivalent of better tires, shocks, and K&N. Okay maybe I chipped it. lol!
"The new Turbo gets more power AND glory out of a 3.7 flat 6 than Aston Martin squeezes out of a 4.0 twin turbo V8."

It all matters. Until you try.

By the way, 1979 Porsche 911 was a great car.

For 1979.

Tekton Moab, or any other model I suppose, is a great speaker.

For someone who likes it.


Had a 1995 turbo. Last air cooled. Quite a ride but scary fast at 140mph with the front end beginning to feel squirrelly. 
Today a 2019 GT2RS which is so stable and secure at any speed it makes you feel accomplished even when you’re not. Perhaps the finest car I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned quite a few. 
Good luck with your tinkering. I’m looking forward to hear your accomplishments. 
This should be a fun thread. I put high quality caps in a few vintage mid-fi amps and the result was unbelievable. For a couple hundred dollars these things awakened. Looking forward to your journey. 
That was one of my first too, caps and diodes in my Aronov integrated. More recently, caps and diodes in the Synergistic Active Shielding MPC. These all brought big improvements in detail and liquidity. So I am sure inductors, resistors and caps will do the same here.