lammers Posted February 20, 2000 Share Posted February 20, 2000 I am starting this again as my new crossovers will be finished tomorrow. They are the AL3's with a single 3.3uf cap in the tweeter branch. The rest of the xover is stock and the autoformer was retained. The inductors are Goertz foil air core, all caps on tweet and mid are Hovland Musicaps, Solen fast caps on the woofer. 14AWG silver plated multistranded copper wire was used.I had a local guitar amp builder assemble them. I was not confident enough to do it. They are going to be placed outside the speaker enclosure in Baltic Birch boxes to minimize vibration. The rubber is about to meet the road. Hope I don't have a blow out! I would like to post a photo and need how to advice. Remember, I am using 8 watt amps and am willing to leave the tweeter 'unprotected'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted February 20, 2000 Share Posted February 20, 2000 With 6db per octave on the tweeter, watch that volume. I think that tubes generally don't do extreme things like solid states when they clip. Peter Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lammers Posted February 20, 2000 Author Share Posted February 20, 2000 Hi Peter, Filmofreddy said PWK had 'em like this for years. At 104dbw I seriously doubt I will puff a tweet. Also, I may put a very low uf paper in oil bypass cap on the tweet. It is supposed to be 3.5uf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted February 20, 2000 Share Posted February 20, 2000 Lammers, Was that like the 'A' network that the schematics were for? I did notice that the 'A' did not have any choke on the mid so that would help eat some of the highs away from the tweeter. Just figured that the nicer/cleaner it sounds, the louder it goes... Check and see if the sound stays coherent at crossover from the mid to tweeter due to timing issues between the drivers distances. Actually, I liked Filmofreddy's idea of the time delay on the tweeter. I bet that did really clean things up at crossover. Peter Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Koch Posted February 20, 2000 Share Posted February 20, 2000 Les, I've removed the entire tweeter protection network of my AK-3 crossover inductors, caps, etc. Replaced it with a simple arrangement of two Hovland caps 2.0uf and 1.5uf wired in parallel giving a value of 3.5uf. Not sure if this is for everyone, but I like the way it sounds and the simplicity. The Hovland caps required about 30 hours of burn in and in my system produce a cleaner more detailed sound. As for the tweeter protection I've had it cranked up pretty good and the tweeters are still alive. Good luck! Can't wait to hear all about it. Walt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lammers Posted February 20, 2000 Author Share Posted February 20, 2000 Peter, The xover will be the AL3, with the tweeter branch having only the 3.3uf cap. The squawker has a 5MH choke and 13uf caps, woofer 4MH choke and 68uf caps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted February 20, 2000 Share Posted February 20, 2000 Lammers, I was just talking about the sparse crossover that was type A and going back to simplicity. All they had for the tweeter was a 2uf cap and no choke on the squawker. Has nobody that has done this mod thought there was any blurriness in the crossover area? I would think you would want a steep slope to keep the two different time domains of the tweeter and squawker from interfering with each other over a wide range. Wish I could hear the outcome since maybe the steep slopes are actually what cause me to notice the time alignment issues in the first place. They might blend better with the 6db cross. Peter Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lammers Posted February 21, 2000 Author Share Posted February 21, 2000 Peter, I will let you know soon. I removed the stock xover from the cabinet and placed them on sorbothane on top of the cabinet. The result was an immediate increase in detail and clarity. It is NOT SUBTLE,vibration inside the cabinet affects the sound. Listening is more accurate than theory.Do yourself a favor. Rewire your La Scalas with your favorite spaghetti, leave the wires long enough to set the xover on top of the speaker, isolate it from vibration,put on some adult pampers and see for yourself. It is like AMAZING!!!!!!! I am going to put mine in birch boxes. JUST DO IT!!!!!!! Not being super technical, the large slope on the tweet branch may emphasize the time alignment delta. Walt Koch went to a 3.5uf single cap on his Khorn tweet branch and loves it. I am picking up my xovers today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lammers Posted February 21, 2000 Author Share Posted February 21, 2000 The xovers are cooking,the difference between stock and Goertz inductors, Hovland, and Solen caps is incredible. I will let them burn in for about 30 hours. I have Patricia Barber, Companion CD going. It is a live jazz album that has an excellent performance and exceptional sonics. You can see and fell as YOU ARE THERE. It was worth it. Removing the xover from the cabinet and isolating it from vibration along with the upgraded components equals sonic bliss. This is the way to find out how good your system sounds. You get goosebumps and do not want to go to work. I am finished. The point of diminishing returns has been reached. Yeah, the Sonic Finish Line for me! If you do this you will not be sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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