Heresy 1 | Replacing the Woofer

[karlti]

Hi All,

 

 

As a friend of mine is a "Highend" guy, he can provide me with some speaker for test...

 

Up to know i tested & compared the "Fyne F501" (F501 - FYNE AUDIO) and the "Pylon Sapphire 25" (https://www.pylonaudio.com/) with my good old Heresy 1 originals  on a "FONEL Class A Hybrid" amp and an "ONIX DNA-50" amp.

 

my subjective result is: Both speaker do not come close to the Heresys!

Although the Pylon has a very pleasing character, that the Fynes lack, the richness in details and the fie tonal structure of my beloved klipsches are not beaten!

 

The only thing is the bass perf from the Klipsch.....
i read through Claude's fantastic posting about the "Super Heresy" and i am really excited....

 

I am really tempted to replace the woofer by the "Eminence Delta Pro-12A".....

 

So my questions are:

 

- Will i get a 'Bass Boost" when i simply replace the original woofer with the eminence?

- Or have i do modify the crossover too?

  (if i have to modify, can i get some specifics?)

 

I cannot find the "flared port" tubes, suggested by Claude  here in Germany....

- So does a plain PVC 4" x 4"  tube do the trick too?

 

 

Then, i also plan to replace the original caps on the "E" crossover

 

- should go with Crites set & the Sonicap caps?

- Or the "Dayton Audio DMPC-2.0 2.0uF" that Claude mentions (which are impressively inexpensive)?

 

sometimes the high frequencies on my Heresies are a littel bit unpleasingly piercing esp. with the "Fonel" amp, which otherwise is so great in clarity, details & openness i never heard of...
(but the low end, the bass is a little bit weak-ish)

  

- will replacing the caps probably change something in that respect?

 

here a pic of my setup with the fynes & the onix amp & Yamaha CD & streamer stuff.
( check esp. the custom risers for the klipsch  )

 

Thank you in advance,

Karl Tietze

 

[Oicu812]

Here are my opinions based upon me doing a Super Heresy upgrade (and we both know what most opinions are worth!):

 

1.  Yes, you will get a bass boost swapping in the Eminence Pro 12A, and the port seems to help in that as well.  I left one of my boxes unported for an A/B test and you could tell a difference, especially if the ported speaker was near a wall or corner.  The woofer upgrade does work well for me, in my particular room.

 

2.  Bass boost won't have anything to do with the crossover changes.  No extra power is heading for the Pro 12A either before or after performing the x-over alterations.  The crossover changes are to "harmonize" the upper portion of the woofer frequencies into the lower end of the squawker, and then the same to the tweeter.  I feel that Claude's crossover changes are well thought out and executed.  To explain this concept a bit further, the amplified signal is fed into the speaker and the positive connection goes into an inductor, and then straight into the woofer.  The purpose of the inductor is to roll off the higher frequencies (plus the side effect of eliminating any possible DC current getting through).

 

3.  You can use anything for the port material, as long as it is the same internal diameter, length, and most likely structural rigidity.  Others might say something else.

 

4.  I really can't answer the question about capacitors, because I am not one of the guys with extra critical sound discernment.  Some claim to hear the difference between lower and higher priced caps, some don't.  Some people also claim to hear differences in speaker cables.  I don't remember ever seeing empirical evidence to this, where a double blind test was conducted, maybe someone else has.  I went for the inexpensive caps, and they work fine for me.

 

5.  Replacing failing caps will most definitely change the sound, usually moving the ball back toward the original line of scrimmage ( Closer to how the speakers sounded when new...).

 

As far as tweeters go, I didn't do anything more than the adjustments on the autoformer to them.  In a recent hearing test, I couldn't hear much above 10 - 11khz, so upgrading those would have done nothing for me personally, due to tinnitus.

 

I have simplified some of this, and the more knowledgeable members may weigh in and elucidate further.  @karlti