Guest davidness Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Here are a few pics of my just completed RF-7/RC-7 updated crossovers. Thanks to the inspiration from DeanG and David "The InVeNtOR". A few quick notes: -Binding posts are much beefier and are soldered to the internal wiring. -I used all AudioCap Theta PPC's, Jensen Caps, and Mills resistors. -Watch the height of the RC-7. It now touches the back of the horn when reassembled. -Does it sound better? I believe it does. It sounded great before the modes. It sounds great after the mods. -Would I do it again? Yes*. *but... I would recommend most people send theirs to DeanG and not attempt this themselves; not because it is terribly hard, it's not, but because, in the end, you're not going to save as much money as you might think by doing them yourself (I probably spent well over $500 to do mine myself). Dean's components are as good as they need to be without going overboard, and you know they'll be properly tested and have good tolerances. And you know it'll be done right. And, when you go to sell them the "Updated by DeanG" (you really should have some little brass plaques made up) carries some cred. ("Updated by David Ness" doesn't have quite the same caché). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 LF& HF boards swap position when reassembled to make room for the large caps on the HF board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Zip ties are required to keep everything together in addition to the hot-melt glue. After my first assembly, and some spirited playing, the caps came loose. (Actually, it might have been that one time I accidentally tipped the RF-7 over on it's face! Yikes! Luckily, the grill wasn't on, and nothing was laying on the floor! Whew!) The caps have a very slick surface that the hot-melt glue had a hard time adhering to. Luckily I caught the problem before any of the fragile cap leads broke. I re-hot-glued, and used a zip tie as a safety net. Postscript: After writing this, I came across a post by DeanG that specifically addresses this issue. He recommends using some fine sandpaper to scuff up the surfaces of the caps that will hot-glued. Yeah, that would have been a good thing to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Original binding post next to the new, replacement ones (ordered from eBay from Shanghai, China. $45 for 10 pairs). Here's a tip: This type of posts comes very close to touching connections on the underside of the board mounted above it. I used a grinder to take off a few mm, leaving just a little of the 'tab'. This gave me more than enough clearance, Clarence. Also, soldering can be difficult until I developed a technique: Remove all the plastic parts of the post (thanks InVeNtOR). Gently clamp it in a vise leaving the solder "well" up. Use a soldering TORCH to heat the post. Once heated, insert silver solder until the well is mostly full (but not too full). Insert a pre-tinned, stripped lead of your new wire into the pool of melted solder in the well and hold steady until the well of solder solidifies. The technique proved to make the task very fast and easy. Using a soldering iron (useless) or a soldering gun (nearly useless) was very difficult, as so much heat had to be applied that the insulation from your wire leads would start to melt away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 The RC-7 is a little more complex, and I had to parallel-stack three caps to come up to the (almost) correct value. This almost caused problems, as the stack became so tall it barely fits (the capacitor stack touches the backside horn tweeter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Another look at the RC-7 network. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 LOL, good job. You probably decreased the cabinet volume on the RC-7 enough to change the tuning frequency with those monster parts!![] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaskar Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 Looks nice. I want mine done but the waiting a week factor is tough. Know of anyone selling these already made up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 Know of anyone selling these already made up? Perfect Question! Pefect Answer?: YES! InVeNtOR has a set I believe. He and DeanG were the inspiration for my project. See his FOR SALE thread here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 You did a very nice job on those David! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 You did a very nice job on those David!Now that David, is one heck of a compliment. They look great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 You did a very nice job on those David!Now that David, is one heck of a compliment. They look great! Thank you all. Yes, the DeanG compliment, considering his experience with 3rd party updates to RF/RC-7 crossovers, means a great deal to me (as does everyone else's compliments, too, of course). I was very happy with the way they turned out, plus I now have a (very) little soldering experience, so I'll be better prepared for the next project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 good job! i never saw this tread. figures, i never go in this section. i am one of those people who post everything in 2 sections and i bet it drives other crazy! lol good technique on the binding posts. i didn't think of that. i got a new product in, it's silver solder paste. kinda neat. what i like about it is, it is 10X stronger than regualr tin solder. it does has 2% sivler solder, but that really doesn't matter to me. i used silver solder on my last crossover and i really couldn't tell. you were right, those where big suckers! spoke to Jeff about those caps. he said if the 7's sounded "Good" before and not harsh, you may have had a few caps out of wack. he said when he spoke to Bob Crites about klipsch's caps, it's not heard of that the caps are "bad." not saying anything bad, anything made by "Man" can break. anyways, great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 David, did you ever get a working cartridge for your TT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 David, did you ever get a working cartridge for your TT? I already had a Shure M97xE and a Shure M44G (I think that's the model) that work properly. The Shure V15 Type III that I bought from a forum member is still not working. It has significantly reduced output, especially high frequencies, coming from the right channel. My next step is to find a forum member that has a good, working V15 Type III. I will send them my cartridge, and ask that they test to see if the problem is my cartridge (probably), or my stylus. Once I know what the culprit is, I can look around to find/buy a replacement part. I would really like to find someone also equipped to inspect my stylus under extreme magnification for a proper opinion of the stylus/diamond condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 Sounds like you have a plan as well as something to use in the meantime. I felt bad about your last experience and was going to offer to send you something to use while you got it all straight. Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidness Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 ...was going to offer to send you something to use while you got it all straight. Thanks for the thought, but I'm okay. One day I'll skip ahead a bit and purchase a Tercel II w/cream and a nice Moving Coil, just to see what all the fuss is about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 The RC-7 is a little more complex, and I had to parallel-stack three caps to come up to the (almost) correct value. This almost caused problems, as the stack became so tall it barely fits (the capacitor stack touches the backside horn tweeter). When I modified my RC-7 x-over I mounted the HF section on the back of the enclosure next to the x-over cup. http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/135665/1374176.aspx#1374176 Since I replaced the caps on the LF section there was no way I could stack both boards and have room for the horn tweeter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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