B&W 803D crossover caps

dhl93449

There is nothing wrong with this xover in the quality of it’s parts, look elsewhere for your upper midrange brightness.

As for the suggestion of by-pass caps, don’t! The only time to use by-pass caps is with power supply caps (decoupling), never with a cap in series with the signal or in xovers (coupling), as the two different time constants of the caps will have a smearing effect in that region that they are working in and actually degrade the sound, always use one good quality cap, and that is what B&W have done here.

https://img.usaudiomart.com/uploads/large/934237-bowers-amp-wilkins-bampw-803-diamond-803d-mf-crosso...

Cheers George

I don't want to bypass caps ;) , I read the cheap 47nF MKP is in series (a "coupling cap") with the midrange driver, while the 10nF Supreme Silver Gold Oil (in the D2, without oil in the D series) is in parallel (a "bypassing cap") with the driver.

My project is to put a 47nF Supreme EVO Oil instead of the MKP and a 10nF Supreme Silver Gold Oil instead of the same model but without oil in mounted in the 803D, and to replace the 4.7nF Supreme Silver Gold in series with the tweeter with a 4.7nF Supreme Silver Gold Oil.

I read above 803D2 have a 51nF (instead of 47nF) Supreme Silver Gold Oil on the tweeter, maybe that's why D2 series is smoother than the D (which tweeter cap is without oil), but even more forward in the treble range.

There's no cheap caps on the mid xover I just linked to, Mundorf and M-Cap!!! and no 47nF there is a very good quality 47uF.
 
One good cap of the correct value that B&W worked out that's it, if you look at the 802D MkII photo I linked to of the mid, they have already used very good caps, I have no doubt the tweeter would be just as good if not better. 

Cheers George

georgehifi:

I don't think I suggested there is a quality issue with the parts in the crossover, but a cheaper MKP version will not sound the same as a Silver/Gold/Oil. That is why they make the SGO in the first place. Do you even have 803Ds or have listened to them?

Replacing that MKP 47 uFd with a SGO did make a significant difference in sound quality. Neither capacitor sounds "bad", but the SGO sounds better, and isn't that what we all strive for? If every manufacturer had the tuning of their product perfect out of the box, then there would be no upgrade market then, would there?

Since my original post I have added a few more mods. I now believe the upper midrange harshness that sometimes is present is sourced from the FST midrange driver. There is a mod that the 800/802 series had (a heavy cast iron weight attached to the back of the FST driver) that is absent from the 803 series. When I asked B&W tech support why the 800s have this but the 803D does not, they told me the weight will not fit in the 803 cabinet, but it will fit in the marlan cabinet on the 800/802. So not entirely believing their story, I ordered two to see if I could fit them. I had to remove a small pc of 1" of foam at the back of the cabinet (so tech support was correct) and the drivers and weights fit fine. You have to make another threaded tension rod (I used 6mm stainless threaded rod) and obtain a couple of 6mm SS nylok nuts; one set to attached the rod to the FST driver, and another set to hold the weight snugly against the back of the driver. Don't forget there is a rubber gasket placed between the weight and driver. You may also need loktite between the threaded rod and the FST driver to keep things tight and to prevent loosening. This mod also worked quite well in smoothing the upper midrange even further.

What I would really like to get a hold of next is the latest version D3 midrange driver. They are completely different from the older FST and from what I understand, have addressed many of the problems of the earlier version. But, they are not available on the B&W parts website yet (maybe the never will be).  

biggy79

I don't think george reads your posts carefully. You are correct, there is a 'bypassing" cap (ie one parallel to the FST driver) in the crossover network. It is a Mundorf silver gold or silver gold oil, depending on what product you have or version of crossover. It is an upgrade (at least according to Mundorf, who makes these capacitors) over the any MKP version, which is in series with the FST driver.

The EVO versions are the only ones that will fit (47 uFd) as a substitute for that MKP 47 uFd. They will improve the sound considerably, although at very high cost. I do not understand, from a sound quality perspective, why B&W would use an MKP version instead of an EVO (either oil or SGO). From a COST perspective, perfectly understandable.

Don't forget the series coupling resistors in the MR CR network. The service manual shows a couple of values being used (and mine had even different values). Plus or minus 0.5 ohms in this coupling resistor can make a significant difference in the 800-1.2 KHz region.

The changes from 47 to 51 uFd in the D2 may not have anything to do with "smoothness", but a shift in crossover frequencies due to driver changes from previous versions. 

With respect to the "woofer" caps (there are two MKP 100 uFd in PARALLEL with the four drivers), remember these are there to roll off the bass drivers at higher frequencies. I don't think Mundorf makes 100 uFd SGO caps, and as these are there to attenuate signals across the woofers, their impact on sound quality is minimized (unless you have an lower midrange peaking problem). My tests with pink noise do not show any such peaking (nor do I hear one), so I leave these alone. I have heard of people "bypassing" these with lower value (like 1-10 uFd) SGO type caps, but I doubt if you gain much, because the frequencies (and impedance) needed to impact bass drivers. For example, a 10 uFd cap will be lower than 4 ohms at frequencies above about 4 KHz. That is quite a bit higher than the 200 Hz cross over frequency for the bass drivers, so these bypass caps will have little to no impact on the bass drivers at or below the crossover frequencies. 

george- download a version of the service manual from B&W and check out the crossover schematics before you comment.

There are various differences in the tweeters in the 800/802/803 series products. Whether some sound "better" than others may be a matter of personal taste or sensitivity.