Crossover and Wiring Upgrade

I agree with Tom.   Some of those SF x-overs are not that easy to get out as well.    Please no Franken Fabers

I should also say that once you start seriously looking for kits to build check out the Parts Express or diyaudio discussion forums.  Both filled with helpful people with first hand experience building.

Best,

Erik 

Ii have been rebuilding loudspeaker Xovers for over 20 years 

Tony Gee  from  Humble homemade hifi capacitor test

have a cook book of each brands rankings and sound and is roughly 90% accurate 

many time he doe’s not not have time for them to fully open up 

higher voltage say 800 v or foil types normally take longer .

Newer Sonus  Faber use Mundorf Evo Aluminum oil caps   Which are decent but you can do much better  and get a big improvement , the resistors too absolutely

mundorf supreme are prettygood , Path Audio are my favorite andi use Jantzen waxed paper Copperfoil inductors , open coil is very good after theCopper foils awg 14 for me ideal ,,Jantzen Alumen Z aluminum foil  not too pricy and muchbetter then Anythung Sonus Faber uses just the caps and resistors alone a solid 10% upgrade better in every respect ,and these are Aluminum foil type 

inside youcan read theUF or size on the capacitors ,

theresistorstoo should show how many ohms ,ifyou can’t read them ,leave them the caps are by far most important , the loudspeakerterminals WBT next gen excellent value , and the flat on the inside made for crimping slide on. WBT or Furutech 

VH audio sells both ,highpurity Copper then gold plated ,much better conductivity 

then solderehich is mostly tin ,for caps use Cardas solder excellent sound and has flux rosin built in flows nice , Donot use a solder pen spend $100+ on a good-solder station 

In the vintage car world, we break things into 3 categories:

- showroom stock

- personalized

- modified

The category that aligns with your Hifi world depends on your "what does it look like when it is finished?" answer.  Your personal commitment and resale value are major factors here.  The most popular car catagory is "personalized." When upgrades are completed, you keep all the old parts and bring it back to "showroom stock" if needed. Cutting sheet metal is an instant disqualifier of (reasonably) returning to original.  Thus is.whacking away at a chassis or speaker enclosure.

We’re with @audioman58 on the subject of "getting things out of the way that make it sound worse" mentality.  Our philosphy for the least intrusive, keep "everything" there that the factory put in the box" is to look at connection methods and connectivity.  Remove spades and lugs, direct silver solder, and bypass PC traces on the board with point-to-point wiring (if applicable).  We’ve also learned that cables have a profound effect on SQ -- even short runs of 12" -- or less.  You picked your amp --> speaker cables after intensive listening sessions and learned that various speaker cables sound "different." While there is a good chance that the internal cables are high quality, they may not align with your concept of what "high end" speaker cables should sound like.  So, replacing those cables with your concept of the ideal cable (or close to it) can be a game changer.

As a "modder", our goal is not to "paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa", but deliver the sound that is characteristically "as the designer intended" IF the designer would have had the time, budget, unburdened from in-field service considerations, applied "newer thinking", etc.

Good luck.

@audioman58 +1 So, lets say you're only changing out parts while keeping stock values. You're not creating some Frankenstein monster here, and you could add parts in small increments so as to only have one variable at a time, don't let the naysayers deter.  You should also understand exactly what you're trying to improve, going in there willy nilly and changing out parts not good. Generally, these boutique parts are going to improve resolution/transparency, may also affect tonal balance, timbre. You also need to be aware crossover changes may expose some new flaw elsewhere in system, synergy may prove to be problematic. Now, all this assuming you have experience with soldering, modifications. If not, practice with kits is a good idea.