Modifying Crossovers
I just read a post about changing resistors and caps in the new Borresen X3 speakers. I am curious why there is interest in changing the components in a brand new speaker. I also am curious if it would make them better than why didn’t the designers put a better component in the first place. Just a thought and scratching my head. Have a great day.
@nrenter Good post. BTW, the new crossovers I'm making are going to be external with a plexiglass top. As for "is it worth it? I'll have about $3k in this upgrade by the time I'm done. I don't expect it to be a religious experience. But I think I'll get more out of it than I got out of my $4k streamer upgrade. Probably less than I got out of my $12K DAC upgrade. Definitely I've spent $3k at times on amps that turned out not to be an upgrade. Jerry |
Several years ago, when I had an obsession with vintage Pioneer equipment, I stumbled onto a set of Pioneer HPM-200 speakers (in pretty good condition) and wanted to see how much performance I would squeeze out of them. I commissioned a gentleman to reverse-engineer the crossover circuit and rebuild it with premium parts. The sonic results were amazing (and the measured performance was impressive, particularly given this is a complicated speaker designed in the 70’s). My whole restoration is documented over at AudioKarma.org. Combined with a minty (and restored) Pioneer SX-1250, a Realistic LAB-500 turntable, and a TEAC R2R, those speakers round out a very cool vintage system. Soon, I’ll want to part with it all, and I’ll probably never get out of it what I put into it, but the parts upgrades did make a difference. |
@carlsbad2 Jerry , Your crossover is beautiful and your intent on mounting it externally should provide and extra level of improvement that I can't figure out why we aren't seeing speaker manufacturers doing it . I wish that the crossovers in my speakers were as simply designed as yours , the woofer board alone have more components than your entire crossover board . I am just one capacitor away on the mid range from finishing my crossover upgrades. It's been a lot of work that few can or are willing to undertake but I'll say it been well worth the expense and effort with more than a 2% increase in sound quality , after all each of our components are built to meet a price point . Rob
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@vair68robert My internal crossovers are on 2 boards and to replace them interally with bigger components would have taken at least 3 boards. I appreciate the simplicity but am no expert at designing crossovers. I'm going with the same values as the original design. Sounds like you are too. Enjoy.
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@carlsbad2 - your crossovers look very nice - much neater than mine. I was pretty tight on space with the caps I ended up using.
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