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Type A Rebuild Input Needed


Drugolf

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I am rebuilding a set of Speakerlab K's from the bottom up.  All new exterior (visible) wood etc.  These will sport new Crites CT120 tweeters, Atlas PD-5VH drivers (same as the K-55V) on the H350 horn, and W1504S woofers.

 

The original Speakerlab crossovers were trash so I have purchased a couple old Klipsch Type A crossovers to use since with the C120's the AA version is not required.  The idea of course is to only replace the caps for now and I thought I would see what you all might suggest.

I recently replaced all the caps on a pair of AA's for some LaScalas with Sonicaps but want to try something different with these.  So far I am thinking using the Audiocap Thetas for the tweeters but beyond that I am still looking around.  As Speakerlabs, and not Klipsch I need to probably be a little bit more cost conscious.

 

What you think?

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@Drugolf  There's definitely tons of capacitor choices but will be hard for many to comment on the comparison of them as they don't really get swapped out much "just to see".  On the "from scratch" build I did on the Type AA's I built for my Belle clones, using new K-33 woofers, Crites A-55-G mids and CT-120 tweeters, I used Audyn Plus caps from Parts Express with good results.  In the past, I've probably used mostly Solen and Dayton caps in the last 30 years (esp Solen).  Sure there are better caps depending on what a person is good with spending, but, my ears will hear minimal difference as I have tinnitus and a not much hearing past 11-kHz or so.   @Deang uses lots of great high end capacitors and has probably tinkered with more caps than most in the Type A and AA crossovers.

 

So you're going to use the older autoformers and coils on the new crossovers, I take it?  The Erse Super Q coils are highly recommended (from Parts Express) and is what I used on the low pass.  

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K-33s are also 4 ohms, so no difference there. 

Your SKs will sound better is you use a quasi Type AA.  The AA has eq for the tweeter and I dont know it your tweeter needs any, so I'd recommend crossing the tweeter at 4500 with a 3rd order Butterworth and putting at least a 1st order band pass on the PD-5 (400 to 4500 Hz) to reduce its 9 kHz response "bounce".  The Type A woofer inductor is fine, but a larger gauge inductor could be better.  Also try it with no woofer inductor. 

 

The higher order tweeter high-pass will make a minor improvement in time/phase alignment. 

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On 3/15/2019 at 11:22 AM, Drugolf said:

As Speakerlabs, and not Klipsch I need to probably be a little bit more cost conscious. 

 

A lot of folks on here have had the SKs and they have been fine, but that would also depend a lot on how well they were made. Some folks here have also poured excessive amounts of money into various Klipsch models, so it all depends on what you are happy with.

 

Bruce

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20 hours ago, JohnA said:

The blend of squawker to tweeter is better with a Type AA.  The tweeter carries less midrange with a Type AA so there should be less measurable distortion. 

 

Okay, so I can go ahead and add a 2nd 2.2 Arizona and the coil back in easily enough. I am assuming that is all I need to do. ? Just gotta source em.

 

I actually pulled some recapped AA crossovers from LaScalas to do my initial test on the K horns.

 

9 hours ago, Deang said:

Thanks John, I meant to come back in and clarify and forgot.

 

Imaging is better too.

 

In all my reading of related searches on this I thought I had mostly seen it recommended that once the tweeter was upgraded to the Crites tweeter, the belief was the A version would be all that was needed.  I guess that was only based on the protection circuit aspect of the AA.

Edited by Drugolf
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While it's true the new tweeter is more robust and can easily handle being run first order, many of us who have spent a lot time going back forth, eventually decide that less overlap between the midrange and tweeter sounds better. 

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2 hours ago, Deang said:

While it's true the new tweeter is more robust and can easily handle being run first order, many of us who have spent a lot time going back forth, eventually decide that less overlap between the midrange and tweeter sounds better. 

I'm on it!  Ordered the 2 additional Arizona's last night.  Just need the inductors.  I know I have one of the original klipsch AA coils.....

 

Hey Deang, I was going to order some of the bus wire from Jameco but I really dont need that much and it would be cool to avoid the wait and shipping cost.  Off the top of your head what would be an easy otherwise option for the small amount i need.?

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