glens

Lile I said, Jeff, you're fooling yourself. Just like when you say you can discern 16' 40" degrees phase angle difference. That just over 1/4 degree. No freakin' way!

Unless you wire a DPDT (break before make) switch as I described earlier, there's no way you'd be able to truly discern whether there's a difference re cap orientation in a crossover. Even in a low-level feed-through situation where the perceived quality of the sound (apart from picked-up-and-later-amplified noise) is in question, unless you can immediately ("live") switch between methods for A/B purposes, you're fooling yourself - it's virtually impossible to critically A/B with more than moments between the A and the B.

I'd start that search by considering the NAD C388 with optional BlueOS module. Probably end the search there as well...

When?

It looks to me like the naked-front box has a lighter band around its perimeter about as wide as the face trim on the other. If I were inclined, I'd offer 500 sans the bass-killing stands.

I was referring to the polarity of the leads hooked to the crossover from the amplifier. If a crossover cap can be discerned to sound differently wired in one way or the other (if!) it would have to be due to the polarity of the signal going through it. This can easily be confirmed by trying all four wiring (polarity) combinations. It would likely be fun to be a fly on the wall (with a six-pack of beer) watching the process of checking capacitor polarity: - "tack" a capacitor in place, listen to some music - "untack" the capacitor, swap ends and "retack" it in place - after those several minutes, listen to the music again, comparing what you're hearing now to what you heard "not now" - repeat until convinced one way sounded better than the other The process could be streamlined by wiring where the cap leads would go to the centers of a DPDT switch, the cap across one set of poles along with leads crossing to the other set of poles. At least that way you could merely flip the switch while listening so as to draw your conclusion. Hell, each cap should be permanently wired that way so you can make sure you're getting all the cap has to offer with different program material! (Make sure the switch is capable of properly handling the edges of a transient - might require something pretty massive what with all the Amps inside those edges.) Unless you try all four polarity combinations you'll never know what you might be missing. While I'm thinking about it, if a capacitor audibly handled the positive-going portion of an electrical waveform differently from the negative-going portion, I wouldn't consider it suitable for the purpose of handling an audio signal.

How do you know whether it'd sound even better with the caps reversed as well as the leads from the amp? Did you try all four combinations? Might be missing out on something if you didn't!

Why? This thread is good for any subject matter.

Looks like the trim is partially covering the ports?

Hard to say. First instinct would be a new set of tires on the touring Harley and a couple weeks off work to "break them in real good." That in a couple months, not just now

In what type of venue did you listen to both extensively? Did you not have the ability to experiment with placement(s) while doing so? My Fortes III are as close or closer to the wall behind them as in that photo, thus they protrude out into the room quite less. Not to say what you might prefer between the two actually set up in your room (or which I might prefer there) but based on my experience with my Fortes III I'd think they'd sound quite remarkable there.

Well, try it and see what you think!

Or go active crossover multi-amp. $$$

I'd think that further separating the lows from the mids (center-to-center) would be at least one step backward against the forward steps you're seeking. Could make for some undesirable radiation patterns at that crossover frequency. Unless you do all your listening with your head in just one location at any rate.

I'm certainly no authority in the matter but that's my understanding as well.

If I were to do something like that I'd surely cover the surface in front of the tweeter side-to-side and all the way forward with some fairly thick and loose-matted felt or equivalent, overhanging the edges ~1/8 inch to subdue reflections and especially diffractions from the edges. And I'd expect the best "focus" to be found with the tweeter diaphragm slight behind that of the midrange driver due to crossover phase shift.

Don't the leads on those caps glow when you throw some power to the speaker? Hahaha.

My way of saying that is "I care less and less about more and more."

While we're discussing high-level crossovers, I surmise that capacitor "microphonics," to the extent the phenomenon exists, is an entirely moot point. I do agree that it would be undesirable in situations where amplification follows the location of the capacitor. Much the same as wiring being susceptible to radio or other electromagnetic radiation (i.e. prior to amplification stages but not applicable to speaker leads or power leads from the wall to the electronics).

I'm curious about it, too, but maybe for a different reason. A 0.1uF cap has a reactance of 1500 ohms at 1 kHz, down to 100 ohms at 17 kHz. Even if the ESR of the cap-so-piggybacked (2 uF is 70 ohms and 4 ohms reactance at those same frequencies) is, well, I lost my train of thought. It was called to my attention that the dogs came in covered in snow... Obviously it would be ideal to have a capacitor that's just a capacitor (no resistance otherwise) but if you're talking about 0.anything ESR anyway, I don't get the allure of the bypass cap. Maybe some day it'll "come to me," but that's not the case today.

When I first saw this thread title I assumed it was going to be about how inexplicably a record withstands even just a few plays because due to the small contact area of the stylus, the pressure is greater than the vinyl can withstand. Or something along those lines. The almost hypnotic video of the spinning reflection was a nice diversion.

That's what I'm talkin' about - above & beyond the call of duty! The 8 uF cap exhibits 1/4 the reactance at each frequency as the 2 uF cap and the ESR at just a glance appears to follow a similar pattern. Interesting.

I "feel" what you're saying. At the least in order to lessen diffraction it seems there should be a generous radius on the outer edge of the hole. Continuing the horn flare would serve to increase the size and length of the horn - to benefit or detriment? Front-mounted, inset the depth of the flange would seem to be best for function.

Well, if you want to limit it to less-than-ridiculous lengths, then 14 ga. would be sufficient. In fact that's what I'd use to rewire the speaker but wasn't given that option.

How's that not reversible, can't you take your saw back out?