Problem Solvers Needed-Got my New XOs installed and am worried....

Two categories of audio "improvement" have 95% of all the total audio misrepresentation attached to them. Wires and capacitors. I mainly fiddle with older Klipsch and new speakers I build for myself and have found a couple of things to be true in my world. A conductor of proper size works just fine and the 12 zip cord I use handles 600 seat theater setups with complete fidelity and no loss. Capacitors do get old and the ESR generally is what drifts out of spec over time. I recap all those crossovers now using Audyn red label or Dayton 1% polypropylene caps. Now there are a ton of people who swear by various expensive caps, especially those who sell them and fru fru fancy crossover builds, but the reality is they are adding distortion to flavor things in a way they like. I use neutral good measuring caps and add flavor other ways if I must.

  If you liked them when you first got them years ago then caps would be my first suspect for degraded sound today.

Hi chorus, some good info supplied and also some not so good. There appears to be a means of adjusting the overall balance of sound with jumpers and something there might be the cause of your problem. What is not the cause is break-in. Initially the components may sound a little off but will not be responsible for lack of top end, something else is.

I agree with the suggestions to contact the supplier. If you were supplied a bag of parts he should provide after sales assistance. Measuring 1 ohm is wrong with a Tannoy. I suspect an error.

An XO rebuilt should immediately sound better than before if properly done and then will improve a little over time. Generally this involves not changing the circuit's component values, simply replacing the parts. I have upgraded many XOs from a variety of speakers and the results have always been great.

I can get as technical as you like but without before and after schematics it's guesswork.

erik squires warns against capacitor ESR (equivalent series resistance) and says it can significantly alter the sound.  Take no notice as this is a non-issue. ESR comes into play at radio frequencies not audio. What the cap does in an XO is to set the frequency, it is capacitive reactance that is important and the formula for this does not take into consideration any resistance. Xc = 1/2 Pi fc

As you can see: There is no R in the equation. Linkwitz, Dickerson and D'appolito know what they are doing.

The above person also said go to Troels Graveson for info. I suggest you read up on XO design from the 3 gentlemen I mentioned who are true experts in the field. In fact Linkwitz is famous for his contribution to the well known Linkwitz-Riley XO. Graveson does not acknowledge inductor orientation which from experience makes a difference. Lots of top end speakers don't seem to bother because mounting them the correct way is awkward and therefore expensive to do properly. I have worked on some B &W speakers with coils all over the place.

To end off, unless the XO was incorrectly assembled, the guy who sold you the XO should refund you or endeavor to help with your problem. I wish you luck.

I have been traveling for the past two weeks and left my problem at home. To answer a couple questions:

-Yes I loved the sound prior to the XO upgrade attempt.
-No I was not having any issues
-Yes I marked each left and right side parts.
-No I have not done any tweeter testing but when I get back I will.
-Yes I plan to take one speaker to my local guru who can tell me
what could be incorrectly connected

Unless my friend can make the speakers sound good again
using the parts I was sold, I plan to follow the advice given
above about returning to the existing XOs and simply upgrading
them where it makes sense.

I will have some updates in another week or so.

Thanks!

A good crossover design would involve more than looking at the speaker specifications and box dimensions, etc. and would involve more than actual measurement of the speaker--you would expect there to be some iterative process involving listening to the result and making changes.

Also, it makes no sense to remove driver controls.  In properly setting up a speaker system, it is extremely helpful to  utilize BOTH speaker placement and control setting to find the best sound for your particular room, your particular speaker location, your sitting position and your taste.  You are severely handicapped by a lack of such controls and you may have to resort to more compromises in the ideal speaker location to compensate for a problem that could be ameliorated by controls.  I know that there are some "purists" who hate L-pads and such controls, but, if you must insist on removing such items, first set up the speaker for ideal performance, then measure the resistance value of the L-pad at its preferred position before removing and replacing such control with a resistor.  

@chorus - So the first guy, the one who designed the crossover, did he or didn’t he actually have your model speakers to measure, adjust electrical values, and listen to during the design process?