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ALK forte II x over v2.0 remake


Alexander

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This is a second time around making this crossover for my forte II's. First attempt I had made a few mistakes so one of the to boards did not working correctly. Have since made a few other crossovers and now have better test gear so I thought I would re visit this. Did do a few changes as one can see over ALK's original layout, these boards will be mounted outside of the encloses and will allow bi amping if I want to try it later.  

alkf2v2.jpg

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12 hours ago, carlthess40 said:

Wish I had the know how to do this stuff. How much I. Parts do you think it would be for a set of heresy I crossovers. I k ow mine are old and the OEM from Klipsch
I just do t ha e to coin for bobs great crossovers that are a tried and true crossover

Thank you for the kind words.

It is not as hard as you might think. There are a few tools you would need of course like soldiering iron, drill, hand tools and a means to test components is nice thing to have too. As for the cost, what crossover do you have in your Heresy's? To make your own clone of the Crites/OEM style it wouldn't be too expensive when reusing the autotransformer from your original crossover.

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Here is the first x over finished and installed. First impression is an openness, clarity & all around effortless when compared to the other speaker. The other speak has a sense of muffled sound next to the new x over. Will build the second board(s) probably tomorrow but that is if the toilet-bowl is a wash-out. :)

f2a.JPG

f2b.JPG

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1 hour ago, Alexander said:

The other speak has a sense of muffled sound next to the new x over.

 

So what’s in the other speaker? I find the comment interesting, since ALK designs sound like they have a sock stuffed in the squawker. 

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23 hours ago, jjptkd said:

Damn, that is a whole lot of crossover! Looks nice, would be very curious to hear those in action.

Thanks, still running the xo through it's paces. Brothers in Arms cd is my go-to standard and have been enjoying it. And oddity (to me) is there seems to be a bit of phase difference between the two x overs. I would expect that not to show up if they were both replaced at the same time but maybe I am wrong. After an hour or so of listening I do not notice it nearly as much.

A couple other Cd's I like to listen to are Christofori's Dream & The Planets - London Symphony

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23 hours ago, Deang said:

 

So what’s in the other speaker? I find the comment interesting, since ALK designs sound like they have a sock stuffed in the squawker. 

A Solen capped, self made  copy of the OEM crossover. No socks here :) Maybe I am just too def & dumb to know to know the difference :) 

ft2800_jpg_4e8ef93c943aa570054a90f5fed4e86d.jpg

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My personal experience is that the early Klipsch designs open up very fast, and sound very lively and dynamic compared to Al’s designs - which tend not to open up until you dump a good amount of power into them. 

 

Nice work btw, better than what I usually see. :-)

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On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 3:40 PM, Deang said:

My personal experience is that the early Klipsch designs open up very fast, and sound very lively and dynamic compared to Al’s designs - which tend not to open up until you dump a good amount of power into them. 

 

Nice work btw, better than what I usually see. :-)

Deang, can't say I hear any negatives to the ALK vs OEM at this point, have you listened to this xo/speaker combo first hand before? Will be installing the "other side" in the next day or so now that it is finished. Curious as to what a good amount of [power might be. I am by no means a "blaster" if you will but do put a bit of volume to the Denon avr-x3200w. If it weren't such a pain to gather up the Emotive stuff I would have it up right now, but the 80lbs per mono block are just too much for my back right now being alone. :( 

 

And thanks for the kind words :)

 

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After many hours of comparing the ALK & OEM networks I find myself liking the ALK design better. The caveat is there is a phase difference some how that is a bit  fatiguing, I contribute the reason is we are still using two different networks but when the second network is installed we would except this to go away, we will see.

 

At low volumes the OEM does sound a bit better, but we are talking very low and not what one might consider a normal listening level.

You lose the speaker location with the ALK network, you know it is over there but the sound can not be nailed down to a single place. A good example was "Ride across the river" track on Brothers in Arms that made this very evident. This 3D effect was a lot like my Martin Logan reQuest's.

 

Now this brings up a question, I broke the Cardinal rule of using some components other than on ALK's parts list. So how much is his design vs the slight cap upgrades, if there is any difference at all. I guess I will leave that for someone else to sort out if they want to know.

 

Sorry if I haven't used the "proper terminology" to describe my take on the network to all you old time vets out there :)

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You won’t know exactly what you have until you get the second network done and installed. 

 

You used good parts, you’re fine. The only real requirements for his networks are +/-5% on the capacitors and the Litz air core inductors in the high pass. 

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28 minutes ago, Deang said:

You won’t know exactly what you have until you get the second network done and installed. 

 

You used good parts, you’re fine. The only real requirements for his networks are +/-5% on the capacitors and the Litz air core inductors in the high pass. 

Thanks for the vote of confidence Deang :) The second network is finished, maybe will install tonight.

alkhmpo.JPG

alklpo.JPG

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After a few days of listening to the networks together the phase thing is gone as expected. The low end is very tight with no lingering, detail is better across the board. There were details in music I had forgotten/not noticed since my Martin Logins. There also is a bit of added brightness that I need to get used to but part of this might also that my room is a little on the hard side and have been  planning to work on that already. ll in all I do like the new sound.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
On 2/5/2018 at 1:40 PM, Deang said:

My personal experience is that the early Klipsch designs open up very fast, and sound very lively and dynamic compared to Al’s designs - which tend not to open up until you dump a good amount of power into them. 

 

Nice work btw, better than what I usually see. 🙂

I know, old thread, but new to me!  Iam about to order parts to make my forte II ALK style X over. Dean , what would you do differently with that design to remedy that effect?

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