Upgraded RC-7 crossover W/pics

[InVeNtOr]

here is the RC-7 crossover i redone. i had to reuse the Clarity Cap SA caps. i also had to split the crossover in half because it no longer fit. this is one reason i went with Sonic Craft in my mains, much smaller and easier to work with. i used 12awg wire for power and 14awg wire for woofers and the tweeter. i made the small square platforms out of .5" mdf. i then used some teflon/plastic spikes to hold the board. i used velcro to keep the boards in place inside the speaker. i used Pulse X (400v) for the shunt caps and mills resistors. i used the 1.8 ohm resistor on this one too for the same reason as the mains. if you didn't read about it there, basically it blends with my set up more than adding in an additional 10 ohm resistor.

[InVeNtOr]

LF board. pretty simple. just changed out the 2 caps for pulse X.

[InVeNtOr]

HF board. kept the Clarity Cap SA's and Jantzen Superior Z caps alone. used the 1.8 ohm resistor, and of course changed out all the wire.

[InVeNtOr]

up close shot of the binding posts and lugs. there still is some silicon on these. i later took it off because it really won't do or help much. it just makes the entire crossover look sloppy in pics. the binding posts were all cut down to fit just right. they are also installed differently so i get more surface area for the lugs.

[InVeNtOr]

the gold disconnects i used. this pic also shows how i fanned out the wires and tinned them. bad mistake. the wire only fits into the tweeter if its in its orginal tight twisted manner. i later cut off the ends and just put bare wire in the tweeter.

[InVeNtOr]

RC-7 diagram. all values are correct.

RC-7 diagram.pdf

RC-7 diagram.pdf

[CECAA850]

Nice work again. Why wouldn't you make every effort to upgrade your front 3 speakers with the same parts? It seems you've paid close attention to detail but this puzzles me. You want your front 3 speakers to blend as seamlessly as possible, I'd have thought you'd use the same brand parts across the board.

[InVeNtOr]

Good question. Answer is simple but long.

If money was no object and u wanted the best performing speakers there would be all kinds of different parts. Also your center speaker would have different parts than your mains. The reason is because the center normally outputs dialogue. Most people like their mains laid back (to certain degrees), but if you lay back the center channel then your dialogue gets a touch muffled. Now for it also came down to money. Jeff (@ SC) said the mixing of parts might sound good. His advice was after 100hrs break in to do a listen test and see how they blended. So far it all blends in very nice, I can't hear a difference when it pans across the front. After 400hrs I'll do another test to make sure. The imaging of the mains is outstanding! I actually had to check it sounded so good. I thought for sure the sound came out of the center channel. The UMC at the time was giving me issues with the sound fields and I thought it had switched on me again.

So for now I am very happy with the results.

[CECAA850]

Sounds good, makes sense. I've found that a good way to check for timber matching is to play pink (or white) noise through the speakers and see if it sounds the same. It can be very revealing.

[Southern]

i also had to split the crossover in half because it no longer fit

I did the same when I modded my RC-7 crossover: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/135665/1374176.aspx#1374176

You have certainly been busy modding your crossovers and Emotiva gear. Hope you have a chance to sit back and enjoy all your hard work.

[InVeNtOr]

Yeah, I am enjoying it now. The real challenge was doing it with no metal. I had to figure out how to mount and secure the inductor and these crossovers. I had a couple of different designs before I settled on these.

Do u go out a buy a white noise disk? Can u use the tone the processor puts out? That would be interesting to find out if the clarity caps do actually blend in. My demo may hide it a little.

[CECAA850]

The Avia disc has it and your receivers calibration tones (noise) should normally work as well.

[InVeNtOr]

I was hoping you would say that. When I get some quiet time I will check it out. Little curious how it sounds. I assume you want the tone to sound the same across the front 3. I still want to come down! Do I need to make it down before summer is over?

[CECAA850]

You can come down anytime. Just give me a shout. I may make a quick trip to FL in the next month or so but we can work around that (long story). Yes, you want the front three to sound roughly the same. There's a slight difference in sound between the RC and RF just due to the size and driver difference but it is slight (even in stock form). I've got RB-35's in the back of my room. When I run test tones, you can definitely hear a tonal difference between the fronts and the rear. The RS's on the side are somewhere inbetween.