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Hi there,

Good on you for having a go here.

 

When you say you used my last design I'm not really sure what you mean by that because the crossover you've posted is somewhat different to it.

 

Perhaps you might expand on what your objective is?

 

Cheers.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/30/2019 at 10:34 AM, Maz4bz said:

Sure! My design looks worse in hindsight, but here goes.

 

Taking the original XSIM and putting in the v0.23 values:2.5WayMazzV0.23.dxo


My changes/rationale: 
Tweeter (S1): L1 from 0.6 to 0.84 mH. The response seemed smoother from 1-2 kHz. Left R2=7 by accident, meant to indicate it as being variable from 1-10 for some high end control.


Top Woofer (S2) you can ignore, nothing I changed made it better :)

S3, I felt like L3 was knocking this woofer out a little early. 3.3 mH might be extreme, but I was trying to get a little more work out of it.  

 

Edited by DoctorGoose
missing words
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Hi there,

It seems you've reverted to an earlier version of the crossover that I would not recommend as it is less efficient because of the way to woofers are crossed. I don't seem to have actually posted the crossover I recommend that you work from  (last version 0.23) so I've attached it here to this post inclusive of all the latest measurement data as a better starting base to work from.....

 

 

2.5way crossover V0.23.dxo

V0.23.png

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  • 2 months later...

Maz4bc:

Thank you for sharing your journey with the 5.5’s. I have done similar upgrades to mine as well (bracing, Crites crossovers and tweeters and insulating the cabinet.

With everything that I have done to this point, I still cannot tame the tweeter in them. I do not have an electronics background, and was wondering if you could describe how to build the L-pad attenuators that you made? Specifically, what parts do I need, and how to assemble them. 
Any assistance that you give me would be appreciated.

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Hi there.

Maybe reread this...

 

 

and let me know what you'd like me to expand on specifically?

 

This is what I recommend, but it's entirely a personal taste matter how much attenuation you go with....

1673178486_5dbmodule.thumb.jpg.82a6aba18089b99dedbae9f0ae70c9f8.jpg

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14 hours ago, Maz4bz said:

Hi there.

Maybe reread this...

 

 

and let me know what you'd like me to expand on specifically?

 

This is what I recommend, but it's entirely a personal taste matter how much attenuation you go with....

1673178486_5dbmodule.thumb.jpg.82a6aba18089b99dedbae9f0ae70c9f8.jpg

Yes! I would like to attempt making 3, 4 and 5db attenuators. I have no knowledge of how to construct them, and was hoping that you could tell me what I need, and how to put them together. 

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11 hours ago, Maz4bz said:

See the post I linked for the schematic and calculator. Easy peasy!

I apologize, I did not see the links when I read this thread. Thank you for the help. One further question, did you input 100W into the calculator? I know that is the rating for the speaker, but wasn’t sure if that would be correct for this application. 

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Dear Maz:

 

   Like many others, I appreciate all the work that you put into your crossovers and your sharing the details.  I have a had a pair of KG 5.5's for about 28 years (!) that I bought new and have enjoyed through the years.  Lately, I was wondering if I might upgrade sound and also perhaps reduce the size of my speakers, so I tried KEF R3 Metas and MoFi Sourcepoint 8's and ending up sending them back, as well as B&W 703 S3's which also could not beat them to my ears.  One thing that the comparisons did reveal was that upper end intensity, which is *part* of what I like about them but maybe just too much.  At any rate, I would like to build your crossovers for my speakers.  My question is how you decided on what level of components to use.  From the photos you show, it looks like electrolytic capacitors and ferrite-core inductors.  HarryW talked about using film caps and air cores.  I know that there is a lot of controversy about to what extent the quality of such components (perhaps other than tolerance) matters for audio, with some swearing by it and others dismissing it (like audio cable quality!).  Did you consider that in making your choice or just go with what you had/could get easily?

 

Thanks very much,  John 

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Hi John,

Thanks for your question and very kind compliments!

 

TBH I'm no expert on the sound of different quality parts so I'd probably defer to others that are better experienced to answer this. There's so much written about the subject it's all a bit much for me to follow.

 

What I would say is about my objective with the KG5.5's -

  1. it was my opportunity to learn how I could deal with the overly hot top end that to my ears and preferences made listening a bit fatiguing after a while; and
  2. to achieve a better balance so that the bass potential of these terrific speakers could be realised. 

 

The other outcome I think the new crossover achieves is better off axis response by improving the integration between the woofers and tweeter, in part achieved by going with a 2.5 way crossover. This outcome makes the KG's sound better in more places in my room.

 

Thinking about my objectives in the context of your question then, my focus was on making some pretty gross changes to haul down the tweeter. From this perspective I didn't need to use expensive parts to achieve that.

 

The other consideration for me was validating a design, without spending lots on parts that might have gone to waste if I didn't achieve my objectives. So to answer that part of your question I just used what I had on hand and purchased basic parts where needed. I was so happy with what I got I simply left it there. 

 

TBH as a single dad, spending big on expensive parts that I didn't seem to be able to hear, and that would be hidden away in the cabinets never to be seen again, just wasn't much of a priority.  🤷‍♂️

 

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

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  • 1 month later...

Dear Maz:

 

   Thanks very much for your reply and advice.  I understand your reasoning.  I am here to report that I went ahead and built your 2.5 crossovers!  I bought parts from Dayton Audio (not far from where I live) and tried to balance cost with quality.  I did not have any stock of parts in hand so I needed to buy everything.  The build went pretty well; I screwed the plywood supports to the back wall of the speaker, above where the previous crossover sat.  I've included a photo here of the pairs of crossovers (each in two pieces) that I built with the comparatively tiny original crossover in the lower center.  I replaced the old 1990s foam (also shown in a photo) with new rockwool but only lined the top half as it had been previously.  I also replaced the original tweeter diaphragms with the Crites titaniums.  Thus far, I have not added additional bracing, since everything seems solid.  

 

    The sound is great.  The only difference from your latest 2.5 version was I left out R2 for now -- I was afraid that it might tone down the treble too much, and I am happy with the results.  The treble is tamed, the midrange is up and everything seems well balanced.  I am dealing with some bass boominess, but that is more about the speakers' location in the room  than about their build and I can just eq that in my DAC to help.

 

    Thanks again for your work and sharing this so that we can benefit from it!

 

John

 

crossovers_red.jpg

foam_red.jpg

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