tweaking cross over speaker


I would like to know if someone have experience whit upgrading inductor and capacitor in a speaker crossover.

My objective is to keep the SAME value but install better quality capacitor and higher gauge for inductor.
128x128thenis
Installing larger gauge inductors will lower the DC resistance of them. Series resistance in the inductors are part of any serious crossovers design, so changing it is not recommended.

Peter
Thenis, Look me up and send me an email at home with all of the speaker information that you have. I will look your speakers up and give you solid changes that you can make. PBN Audio is absolutely correct about resistance, but I have had a coil winder for years and have resistance charts, we should be able to sub some without problems. Either way, send me what you can and I'll see how I can help, Tim
Hi Thenis, Caps are an easy change. The biggest difference will be made by changing any cap that is in the positive lead. These caps will be in the crossover circuit directly and not compensation circuitry. Any film cap should be an improvement over electrolytic. Grades in asending order are Mylar, polycarb, metalized polyprop, polyprop, poly styrene, paper & oil, teflon. Most companies today use Metalized poly propylene, the higher the voltage capability the better, these are generally a very nice improvement over electrolytics or mylar. It really depends wether the caps are series or parallel wired in the crossover to know how much difference the parts will make.
As mentioned earlier, switching coils or inductors is a little more tricky. Sometimes, a coil is wound in a smaller gauge to use its resistance in place of a resistor to cut the parts count in a crossover. If you can keep your resistance matched, it is typically much better (at least in tweeter & mid circuits)to replace iron ferite or steel core with air core, but resistance typically needs to be taken in consideration, it does depend on the coils use. I hope this all makes sense. To go much past this, I really suggest you buy a book on speaker building or find someone that has some real experience that you trust to guide you along the journey.
Good Luck,
Tim
Are the current inductors air or iron core?
Iron core has some theoretical problems....saturation at high levels and such.

To get an aircore to match, you'll need to know the DCR of the inductor to be replaced. THAN, spend some time looking at what's available. A small difference in DCR will not make a big difference.
For example: My Maggies have an iron core inductor in the lo pass on the 'woofer'. It has a DCR of 0.4 ohms. The panel itself? 4.1 ohms. So, since they are in series, the total resistance is 4.5 ohms. So far ok? Well, what happens if I go to a 0.2 ohm aircore inductor? Total DCR for the driver drops to 4.3 ohms, the crossover point shifts and the balance between the hi and lo drivers changes...the lows are now a little louder.

Consider your changes carefully. Parts ain't parts.