Speaker crossover mod. Your advice?

Thanks, Al. I assumed the caps were uF, even though they are not marked as such. As this is my first attempt at a mod, I don't want to make a rookie mistake.

You are right that 1.8uF is a standard value, so connecting two caps in parallel might be an option. Do you know whether two caps can be connected in parallel to the crossover board, in light of the fact that the board has only one pair of holes for the stock 3.6uF cap? Do I simply place the leads from the two new caps into the same holes, so that each hole has two leads?

Bryon,

I was just reading the white paper linked on the Madisound webstite for the Clarity MR caps. It mentioned that intermediate values are available upon request. You might be able to order a 3.6micF from them. That may be the same case for the Mundorf M-Cap Supreme too, but between those two, I'd go with the MR.

You can ask Madisound or PartsConnexion about it. Also, you might send Mundorf and Clarity an email and see what they say. But if you can get a 3.6micF cap made, that would be the way to go.

John

John

Do I simply place the leads from the two new caps into the same holes, so that each hole has two leads?

I would guess, especially after looking at the pictures you provided, that two leads won't fit into one hole. But if you end up having to use two caps, I think it would be reasonable to first solder their leads together such that there is a short protrusion of one of the leads beyond the point where they join, and that protrusion could then be inserted into the hole.

Best regards,
-- Al

Thanks Al. I will keep that in mind, in the event I can't find or special order a 3.6uF cap.

John - Do you recommend Clarity MR for both tweeter caps? What about mixing caps from different manufacturers? Any rules of thumb here?

Also, do you think I should replace the resistor for the tweeter? If so, with what?

Bryon,

I don't have any experience with mixing caps from different brands. However, there's a lot of information in that Mundorf thread I mentioned. Those guys talk about mixing caps of different brands.

On 11/29/10 Undertow talks about his cap mix ratio a bit, but also mentions that there is no golden rule-of-thumb ratio.

On 2/1/11 Undertow responded to one of my questions, “I have used the Duelund, Clarity combo, but found that 100% Duelund or Clarity were better in my case overall. As for the bypass with the Silver oils and the Clarity MR's that is the best mid cost combo yet I have heard consistently, and very organic with good dynamics never any edge.” Also on that same date Face said that his experience was consistent with Undertow's.

My first choice in the various components we are talking about (capacitors, resistors, inductors) is Duelund. I used a Duelund VSF copper capacitor in my previous speaker project and loved it. The guys on the other thread have pretty much gone 100% Duelund CAST components, which is the blue riband of this arena. However, on my current project I don't have the budget to go with Duelund VSF copper, much less CAST. My goal with this project was to find the capacitor that those guys really liked before they went Duelund CAST, and that seemed to be the Clarity MR, so that's what I am going to try this time around. I also have access to a lot of tubes and will fine tune my system further once the crossover is in place.

I'm taking my crossover outboard this time and plan to use all Clarity MR caps and Duelund Cast resistors. I haven't decided on the inductors yet.

If you can get Clarity to build you a 3.6micF cap for you, I would do that and not worry about mixing caps.

Regardless of the caps you choose, I would recommend that you change out the resistors too and go with the Duelund Cast. If you don't have room for the Duelunds, I have used Mundorf M-Resist and thought they were fine.

Just another thought, if you have room for Duelund caps, I would not hesitate to go that route. CAST is the ultimate, but don't hesitate to use VSF. Write Frederik Carøe, he owns Duelund, and tell him that you need a 3.6micF cap and they will make it for you. Basically they make everything custom anyway, so it's no big deal. If you order it through PartsConnexion he'll just ask you to make sure they make a note on the order of the value you want. They may be able to adjust the size of the cap to fit in your space – and the same applies to the resistor, they'll make it shorter than their standard 5-inches if you require it.

John