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Changing caps in a Crites A4500 crossover? Anyone?


jimjimbo

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As Sonicaps have (most recently, anyway) sounded a bit bright to me, wondering if anyone has changed caps in Bob's A4500, with either a CT120/125tweeter change?.   (just a 13uf and a 4uf)  It's pretty simple, so my thought would be that a "better/different/" cap in both spots would yield a (greater/less/same) return?  I don't know......Either Khorn or La Scala.  And your semi-brief, HIGHLY non-technical impressions (if any)....Trust me, I'm not expecting miracles......

 

And.....no fighting......

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6 hours ago, jimjimbo said:

As Sonicaps have (most recently, anyway) sounded a bit bright to me, wondering if anyone has changed caps in Bob's A4500, with either a CT120/125tweeter change?.   (just a 13uf and a 4uf)  It's pretty simple, so my thought would be that a "better/different/" cap in both spots would yield a (greater/less/same) return?  I don't know......Either Khorn or La Scala.  And your semi-brief, HIGHLY non-technical impressions (if any)....Trust me, I'm not expecting miracles......

 

And.....no fighting......

 

Not a Bobs Crites design but yes I have changed Sonicaps to Jantzen Superior Z caps on my 3 way crossovers

A lot more control and better all around presentation 

 

 

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The Dayton poly caps at parts express that are 1% tolerance sound better than a Sonicap to me.  Bob recently posted his motivation for using them and it wasn't because of their sound quality.  It was more because of their consistent low ESR and the fact they have all the values he needs because he builds so many different networks.  A fair compromise.  So if you want sweeter sound change them out.  You will here a difference.

 

I recapped some old AA networks and used those Daytons.  I was very surprised how good they sounded for so low a cost.  But you have obviously seen there are many many more.  Enjoy.

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I purchased a pair of crossovers from Bob for my KPT-301 II's.  After listening to them for a while I e-mailed Bob about the sound as I felt they were a little too hot in the mids.  He had me change one resistor (with another value but still a sonicap) and change the tap for the midrange.  I believe it lowered the mid by 1.5 or 2 dB.  It doesn't sound like much but made a big difference in the overall sound.  I'm perfectly happy with them now.  As a matter of fact, I brought them to the Klipsch gathering 2 years ago and everyone loved the sound coming out of those butt ugly speakers.

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I have to agree with the original post of Sonics being harsh... in particular, harsh in terms of how the sound compares to the other "betterend" capacitors I have heard or owned.

 

Its not that sonic caps are bad or messure badly, as others seem to be obsessed with, but there are better sounding units available to be sure inho.

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"and no fighting"

 

Well, that's a thread killer. 

 

Use Jensen paper in oil capacitors or go with battery biased filters.

 

If the midrange sounds brutally forward to you - drop to Tap 3 and put a 15 ohm resistor in parallel with the K-55. 

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OK, so I sorta did this, kinda, if you squint real hard....

 

IMG_4590_zpsnimuhyj5.jpg

 

I left the AK-3 network on the woof, so it's some bastardized variant from hell. I got some oil motor caps from Allied and, I dunno, it sounds pretty groovy and smooth. Makes me want to try some real audio oil caps, but be that as it may, I do think the A/4500 mod took some mid nasties out.

 

I am in no hurry to change back to my dayton caps and AK-3, but I still might try the AK-3 with the different caps. I think the AK-3 sounds good, but so does this.  I can tell you that I got 6 of these monster motor start caps with shipping for a little over $50, so I'm chalking this up to cheap experimentation. I will someday have enough extra stuff around the house to be able to have a couple networks built up and a/b them, which is really what I need to do. 

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