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Anyone here tweak any Legacy Focus speakers?

I have a pair of the 1999 Legacy focus speakers with the older midranges and the 3-12" drivers per cabinet. The new speakers (so I am told) have a new crossover and new mids and of course 2-12" woofers per cabinet.
During my listening I am happy with the level of bass but not the bottom extension. When I play CD tracks I am only getting good output down to 30hz. I would like to change out the woofers for something that would drop in but perhaps offer lower bass output say 25hz or less. With the large cabinets 55" tall I would think they are big enough to house most any woofers.

Have any of you changed out woofers or mid range drivers to get better sound out of the Original Focus to get them up to par with the newer 20-20 or HD models?
128x128edonsmith
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
My "tweak" of Legacy speakers was a new version of the Whisper years ago which has capacity to be run in three modes; fully passive, hybrid with passive mid/treble and active x-over for bass, and fully active x-over. Amplification can range from one stereo amp to six channels. 

Along the way the speaker was outfitted with all 10 AWG Clarity Cable and upgraded Clarity Caps (No relation between companies), which made for nice name, the clarity upgrade. 

More fun stuff underway. Stay tuned to my writing at Dagogo.com 

audiom3
156 posts
 
I have OG Legacy Focus speakers and I’ll add something to this thread even though I moved on new Focus SEs. I had them for 4 years and spent a lot of time modifying/researching drivers. So what I can add is for those looking to replace worn/aged drivers. Nothing too fancy other than potentially putting in Raal ribbons.

Ribbon drivers (Technics): Originals can be bought directly from Legacy. However, you can get Raal 70-10 ribbons to fit with custom formed brackets (easy job for a machine shop).

Soft domes: Audax TW034X0. The metal plate these come with was different than the existing metal plate. Not just in size but also thickness. So the only solution was to have a machinist cut the top and bottom of the bracket flat so it would fit between the ribbon and the midbass drivers. These made a massive difference over the stock yellow painted soft domes. The biggest of any driver change.

7" midbass: CSS LDW7 can drop directly in place of the old yellow Eton drivers. Even the screw holes line up perfectly. I never installed these on my Focus but I stole the Etons from my Silverscreen center and then bought a pair of these to put in the Silverscreen. Much less ’boxy’ or closed-in sounding than with the Etons.

12" Woofers: I replaced all of mine with Eclipse W1238R. Another huge difference but I had the original Swan woofers in my Focus.

I didn’t mess with wiring or the x-overs. If I don’t sell mine, I may start that project one day. I’m sure the x-overs could use new caps at the very least.
dtximages
365 posts
 

Bump to this thread.  I just got my first pair of Focus speakers and wow am I impressed!  I would say almost too much bass!  I've moved them out about 4 ft from the rear wall to help.  My room also has a major upper bass node that can make things sound boomy at times. 

I wouldn't say I hear a boxy sound at all.  They image much better than I imagined and midrange seems excellent.  Maybe just too much of a bass hump.

I'm going to try Anthem ARC to correct for some as well as Isoacoustics Gaia feet. Even if nothing works, I'm still very happy with them. 

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