In many cases, one need not even change components in a crossover to achieve better performance. That is, by laying out the existing parts in a more precise manner, it is very possible to lower noise, distortion, crosstalk between circuits, improve power transfer, improve transient response, reduce the number of connections, etc...
This is what i did to my Father's speakers and the difference is HIGHLY audible. Only changes made were to the wire feeding the drivers. We were able to go from 61 connections per crossover board down to 23 per board. This eliminated 60%+ of the "cluster" that was built into the signal path from the factory. While we also performed other cabinet modifications, my personal thoughts were that the crossover / wiring changes were most responsible for the drastic sonic improvements that we heard.
My Father invited over one of his friends to listen to his system, not telling him what was done. This person was very familiar with my Dad's system. As a point of reference, they both ran the same amp and had the same brand of speakers. The speakers that this gentleman have are actually two models up from what my Dad is running and retail for over $6k per pair.
After hearing the difference in peformance in my Father's system and being quite stunned, he asked what was changed. After my Father explained what was done and showed him the pictures, he asked if we could modify his speakers. Much like what Jonbok pointed out, it must be pretty dis-heartening to find out that your $6K+ investment bought you speakers that were far from optimized. Having proof right in front of you that your speakers sound quite poor compared to what they were capable of is NOT what you want to find out after shelling out that kind of money. Then again, one would hope that the manufacturer was intelligent enough to produce a proper design and impliment the existing parts in a more precise manner, but in most cases, they aren't and don't.
As in the above example, i'm not even talking about using higher grade / lower loss parts in some speakers. Like i said, we were able to achieve MUCH better results just laying out what was already there in a more precise manner. After looking at and playing with dozens of crossover circuits, i know that this specific situation is not unique either.
As a side note, even though the parts in the crossover had thousands of hours already on them, the sound of the speakers changed VERY noticeably. I used the Ayre Acoustics "Irrational But Efficacious" disc ( track 7 ) for 72 hours non-stop. After that, we ran the entire disc mixed with some other discs on repeat for 10 more days. One would never believe that these were the same speakers that we started off with, although the only components changed in the speakers were the wires. On top of that, the wiring that i used cost pennies per foot. As "cheap" as this cable was, it was still FAR superior to what was in there from the factory. Sean
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This is what i did to my Father's speakers and the difference is HIGHLY audible. Only changes made were to the wire feeding the drivers. We were able to go from 61 connections per crossover board down to 23 per board. This eliminated 60%+ of the "cluster" that was built into the signal path from the factory. While we also performed other cabinet modifications, my personal thoughts were that the crossover / wiring changes were most responsible for the drastic sonic improvements that we heard.
My Father invited over one of his friends to listen to his system, not telling him what was done. This person was very familiar with my Dad's system. As a point of reference, they both ran the same amp and had the same brand of speakers. The speakers that this gentleman have are actually two models up from what my Dad is running and retail for over $6k per pair.
After hearing the difference in peformance in my Father's system and being quite stunned, he asked what was changed. After my Father explained what was done and showed him the pictures, he asked if we could modify his speakers. Much like what Jonbok pointed out, it must be pretty dis-heartening to find out that your $6K+ investment bought you speakers that were far from optimized. Having proof right in front of you that your speakers sound quite poor compared to what they were capable of is NOT what you want to find out after shelling out that kind of money. Then again, one would hope that the manufacturer was intelligent enough to produce a proper design and impliment the existing parts in a more precise manner, but in most cases, they aren't and don't.
As in the above example, i'm not even talking about using higher grade / lower loss parts in some speakers. Like i said, we were able to achieve MUCH better results just laying out what was already there in a more precise manner. After looking at and playing with dozens of crossover circuits, i know that this specific situation is not unique either.
As a side note, even though the parts in the crossover had thousands of hours already on them, the sound of the speakers changed VERY noticeably. I used the Ayre Acoustics "Irrational But Efficacious" disc ( track 7 ) for 72 hours non-stop. After that, we ran the entire disc mixed with some other discs on repeat for 10 more days. One would never believe that these were the same speakers that we started off with, although the only components changed in the speakers were the wires. On top of that, the wiring that i used cost pennies per foot. As "cheap" as this cable was, it was still FAR superior to what was in there from the factory. Sean
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