custom Crossover building service??

I can't believe we go through this every time someone wants to upgrade their crossovers!

First, moving to better parts can and sometimes, dramatically, upgrade the sound. The danger area is in altering the topology of what has been built by the designer, but even then, I have seen some REALLY highly regarded loudspeakers use nothing but "by the book" values and schemes. Some audiophile loudspeakers are flat out embarrassing in the parts they use.

My one caveat is that in my experience, some of the expensive caps actually produce results that are not for everyone. They can provide a lot more detail and clarity, but at the expense of making the sound cold, bleached, and sometimes even fatiguing. My recommendations for caps are Solen, SCR, NorthCreek, and Wonder DynamiCaps - all of these caps will retain a nice richness in the sound, balanced by a wealth of detail and clarity.

Good resistors almost without question better the treble, often beyond even what a tweeter upgrade will accomplish.

Inductors using larger gauge and better copper do a whole lot. Dynamics and slam are what a lot of people talk about, but from my perspective, the sound just plain opens up. I have ALWAYS heard an improvement with an inductor upgrade, and recommend it highly.

If you are scared, get a dog, but if you feel your crossover is not so great, don't be afraid to make it better.

Upgrade the parts quality do not change the values.Are there any parts values you can determine...resistors are the cheapest and most bang for your buck...Ohmite non-inductive wire wound available from North Creek Music Systems.Tom

Theaudiotweak...I think that in some cases changing the design of the crossover, (break frequencies, slopes) can yield better performance, but you need to know what you are doing, and be prepared to tweek in your new design. The original designer probably didn't get what he really wanted. He did the best he could within a budget.

It happens that I am even now in the midst of replacing the very simple crossover in MG1.6. In addition to using top quality inductor and capacitor I have chosen to change the filter break frequencies very slightly. In a nutshell, I will roll the LF panel off (electrically) at 205 Hz instead of 180Hz, and shift the HF pannel up by 100 Hz. My reasoning is that the speakers were surely designed for full range use, whereas I cross them over to a subwoofer system. Accordingly, I feel that the LF panel can handle slightly higher sounds without problem. Giving my theory a try makes the whole exercise more interesting, and it would be really easy to go back to the original L and C values if appropriate.

I did not to want screw up the time arrival balance of the 5 drivers in my Dunlavy SC4's. I elected to change the mechanical and material makeup of the crossover only, all the values remained the same even as the crossover grew out of the enclosure and into its own separate chassis. The crossover components, chassis, and all ten, 10 ga. Sonoran cables wired directly to each driver weigh in at over 65 lbs each. The chassis is of 2024 aircraft aluminium, and of course direct coupled using Audiopoints.All interior walls of the Dunlavy speaker cabinet have been coated with Cascade VBloc, a water soluble product that is drawn into and seals the wood. All hardware was replaced with brass..nonferrous fasteners. The speaker cabinet resides on a Sistrum SP101 platform and leveled left to right as well as verticaly to achieve proper wavelaunch and arrival at the listening position. Tom

I neglected to also give AuriCaps my recommendation in terms of capacitors.