ninjai18

aha! that will greatly impact the guidance people give you. you many not need to replace every component to achieve your stated goal. or there may not be much that can even be done with that speaker platform to attain the results you want. but at least we know what your goal is.. I have read that many people upgraded their RF-7's to sound smoother and more natural by just switching out a few cheap parts in their crossover network, I can't imagine the RF-3 would be all that different. I can't find the thread, but I read a few years ago a guy did just what I want to do with his RF-3's and noticed a huge difference and spent very little money on the upgrades.

Joking aside, I'm just a tired parent of two very young kids. I enjoy the DIY aspect when I have time and energy to experiment, which isn't often. Kids are also not cheap, so that's why I can't pay someone to do it for me or buy new speakers or amps. I just need a list of reasonably priced parts and a little guidance to get a less shrill sound with a smoother tweeter/woofer transition.

My dad knows Krav Maga dude....

No offense buddy, but you are being needlessly aggressive and creating a problem where there is none. I am asking for links to the parts, which have not been provided. There is NO harm in me asking for them. So please just cool it.

why? there's no reason not to discuss..i'm in line for a pair of cornwall crossovers with jupiter caps, wax impregnated this and that, high quality craftsmanship, a fair amount of cash involved ... and there's a very real possibility that they won't sound any better than the franken-xovers i currently have in place. i don't hate anything about my current setup, but I had my heart set on this upgrade before I fell into a battery biased rework of my originals. I had the cash and so I want to find out for myself if there's any difference. Since mine sit on top of the cabinet, at the very least they will look better. So, one could argue that I probably shouldn't have bothered with upgrading either - but at least I know why I'm doing it. My only suggestion is that you do some leg work with whatever information is given to you and don't expect to be spoon fed. I'm not forcing anyone to provide links to a few parts I need to upgrade them, I am asking politely. Is it really that big of a deal to ask for people to help me find the parts I need...? I am trying to avoid ordering the wrong parts, I really see absolutely no harm in this. It may even help others in upgrading their RF-3's. I have thought about doing it for a long time, it's a cheap upgrade and only a few parts.

Hmm, I'd love an answer to this as well. Was the crossover different?

that schematic is for an RF3 not an RF3 ll I remember reading the only real difference between the two is that the RF-3 ii were upgraded to use Monster speaker wire internally. It don't think they changed any crossover specs or drivers.

I am dead set on upgrading the crossovers. I want to DIY it, but just need a parts list.

If it helps, I found the crossover schematic. https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/144465-crossover-schematic-for-rf3/ I would also like to do the same crossover upgrades to my RC-3 ii center and RS-3 ii surrounds.

Which type of capacitors should I get? There are several different kinds. Which Mills resistor on this page should I choose? http://www.parts-express.com/cat/audio-grade-non-inductive-resistors/301 - What are the wattage and ohms ratings for the Mills resistors you are suggesting? Am I replacing the current resistors, or adding the Mills resistor in addition to the one that's already there to attenuate the high end? Any chance on a direct link to the caps and resistors? Thank you for helping me out, and I do understand it can be frustrating. I really do appreciate the time you're taking to in order to help a fellow Klipsch fanatic. P.S. I would never blame you if something went wrong.

I don't mind trying my hand at it, I've done lots of DIY stuff over the years. It's worth the risk to me. I'm just looking for a good starting point to get me going so I avoid as many headaches as I can.

Any chance you might link me to the exact parts I need? I am new and need a bit of hand holding, if ya don't mind. Also, what all do I need to do the mod, and where on the crossover network do I solder on the new parts? What would be really awesome is if you wouldn't mind circling the parts that could use upgrading on the crossover network. Thanks for all your guy's help!

Any other insight on my last question or anyone able to comment further on upgrading/modding these speakers?

Good GOD, the new line is breathtaking. My favorite looking speakers by far. WOW!

LOL, "man up"...? Oh boy, you're one of those... Okay tough guy, I'm asking for someone who ALREADY OWNS THEM to post pics of the internals. F**k off if you don't like me asking.

I was just looking, the MFW-15 actually has the same frequency response on the low end as these. The 15-16 hz is in-room extension. The Klipsch ought to be the same way. That sub actually has 50 watts less power as well. Anyway, all I know is that two of these things shake the hell out of my house. There's a couple of things I don't like but the perceived lack of output down low isn't even on the radar. Based on output alone at 20-30 hz, if I had to choose between two of these and my two sealed Ultimax 18's (which weigh nearly 130 pounds each) with an iNuke 6000 on them, I'd probably have to pick these. This is what confuses me, how on earth could they compete with 18" Ultimax subs with the iNuke 6000?? That is a VERY powerful setup. If that's true, these will be my next subs!! Again, I would really REALLY like to see pics of the internal bracing, can anyone hook us up with some pics? Pretty please!!

Why did you even bring up SVS in the first place then? They don't even make a 15, and their closest thing costs $2,000 which doesn't exactly fit your similarly priced criteria. You're bringing this stuff up, not me. The PSA XV15SE is actually ported and its a whopping 8 pounds heavier. That's hardly enough data to deduct that it must be braced significantly better. Like you said: 8 pounds isn't much different. You said XS15se, not the XV.

Surely you realize that a very similarly priced SVS PB-2000 weighs 10 pounds lighter than the Klipsch and a PSA XS15se with the same size driver is 8 pounds lighter. Considering the typical street price, these both cost more than the Klipsch. It's not the cross bracing that makes other offerings significantly heavier anyway. There are drivers alone that weigh more than this entire sub/cabinet/amp all put together. Cross bracing is cheap and light. Driver weight can vary wildly and changes the total weight much more than any braces. Ever think that maybe you should match the amp with the driver instead of blindly running up the numbers for bragging rights? This driver is pretty efficient and the amp flexes these subs nicely. Doubling the amp's power while doing nothing else would probably do more harm than good. You need to go back to subwoofer design 101. The area of a sub's port alone has nothing to do with its tuning frequency. Larger ones can simply move more air without huffing. When you do that though you have to make the port longer to maintain the tuning frequency, which adds to the cost and weight. As long as its not huffing, there's really no need to make the port opening larger. These don't huff. I am actually aware of all of those points. But my point still stands, that if it's only 5lbs heavier than the SW-115 (which had terrible bracing, and a trusted member of AVSforum verified it), which is very troubling. That means they haven't added much heft to the driver or the bracing. 5lbs is nothing in the subwoofer world. I am not trying to be controversial or offend anyone. I am asking questions that SHOULD be asked. I look up pictures of the internals, driver, amp specs, port size, ect before making ANY subwoofer purchase, and so should everyone else. Asking these questions is a GOOD THING. It makes us all more informed customers. I should especially ask these questions when Klipsch hasn't produced a single note worthy subwoofer since the RSW and RT series subwoofers. I am a long LONG time lover of Klipsch speakers, and am just asking honest questions. Also, your SVS and PSA comparison to the Klipsch makes no sense and holds no water. The SVS is a 12" subwoofer, and the PSA is sealed.

An enclosure that size, that is also ported and a 15" driver, should ALWAYS have cross bracing. No excuses.

Can someone at Klipsch provide some insight to the questions I'm asking? Pretty please!

In the works ;-) Where's that video?

Why is the 15" model only 75lbs? This worries me, when you consider similar priced subs from the likes of HSU, SVS, Rythmik, PSA ect ALL have internal full cross bracing on their subs, and are considerably heavier. The SW-115 was about 70lbs, and it had a flimsy enclosure with terrible internal bracing. It had NO cross braces in it. Does the new one have cross bracing? Full cabinet bracing? Please PLEASE do not hit me with "it doesn't need it" - everyone who knows anything about subs knows that is total nonsense - a well braced subwoofer cabinet will ALWAYS sound better than one with flimsy bracing. And also, why not up the amp power? 800 watts of dynamic power really isn't that much, it should be 800 watts RMS, not dynamic. Why not extend down to 15-16hz and give the sub a larger port..? That port opening is awfully short looking. It should have a port closer to the size of an mfw-15. I really just don't understand some of the design decisions... :/ I don't mean to "nit-pick", but to us bass heads, these details are really important, especially if you are spending nearly a grand on a single sub. If it truly is a bad-*** sub as you are claiming it is, why not show pics of driver magnet and the inside of the enclosure? That would do a lot to alleviate some concerns prospective buyers have.

Here is the RF-3 ii crossover, looks like a pretty small crossover network, I'd love to upgrade it to something much beefier. There's no cross bracing in the bottom half of the cabinets, I imagine it would help adding some...

That makes sense. How do I know if I need added bracing?

Would doing all the mods be helpful? I can't imagine better bracing would hurt.