Klipsch RF-7 MK1 - Upgrade suggestion in a Nut shell!!

[Deang]

Unless you build on new boards, it's important you use parts that allow you to get things back together again. Some people flip the PCBs, putting the low pass board on the bottom and the high pass on the top, which allows for using larger capacitors.

 

Jantzen Crosscap for the 18uF is fine.

 

Anyone on your side of the planet carry AudioCap PPT Theta.

[junaidot]

1 hour ago, Deang said:

Unless you build on new boards, it's important you use parts that allow you to get things back together again. Some people flip the PCBs, putting the low pass board on the bottom and the high pass on the top, which allows for using larger capacitors.

 

Jantzen Crosscap for the 18uF is fine.

 

Anyone on your side of the planet carry AudioCap PPT Theta.

@Deang

Thanks for the swift response.

Do you really mean that the added performance gotten from using Jantzen Superior which is like 8x more expensive than Jantzen Crosscap is not worth it, so I may therefore go with JANTZEN CROSSCAP?

I actually meant to use Jantzen Superior Z  for the 18uf
but for the 12uf & 5uf, is it then ok to use  Jantzen Crosscap? but there is challenges with getting exact 5uf, I can only get 5.1uf of the Jantzen Crosscap

Anybody else with experience using this combination?

[Dr_jitsu]

Warning, incoming question from dumb guy!

OK...so the reference series is widely regarded as very "sharp" sounding. In fact I own 9 of them. That is why the general advice is they make great HT speakers, but for music, not so much.

Now the top of the line RF-7's are less tinny sounding, but still a bit sharp for pure music listening.


I take that this mod is to make the RF 7 a perfect music speaker, yes?

[junaidot]

4 minutes ago, Dr_jitsu said:

Warning, incoming question from dumb guy!

OK...so the reference series is widely regarded as very "sharp" sounding. In fact I own 9 of them. That is why the general advice is they make great HT speakers, but for music, not so much.

Now the top of the line RF-7's are less tinny sounding, but still a bit sharp for pure music listening.


I take that this mod is to make the RF 7 a perfect music speaker, yes?

Yes,
To make it alround, I understand using 1.8 resistor instead 2ohm will reduce sharpness somewhat.
Totally open to all advice from someone who owns 9 (waoo).

I am all ears................

[Dr_jitsu]

13 minutes ago, junaidot said:

Yes,
To make it alround, I understand using 1.8 resistor instead 2ohm will reduce sharpness somewhat.
Totally open to all advice from someone who owns 9 (waoo).

I am all ears................

You got me. I love these speakers, as is, but 90% of my listening is HT. This mod would def make for a great 2 channel stereo. I am actually looking at downsizing to 5.2. My other speakers are the lessor 82's and 62s'. I do have the monster RC 64 center.

I had 9 Klipsch and 6 18 inch subs...needless to say, it was way more than I needed.

 

[junaidot]

38 minutes ago, junaidot said:

@Deang

Thanks for the swift response.

Do you really mean that the added performance gotten from using Jantzen Superior which is like 8x more expensive than Jantzen Crosscap is not worth it, so I may therefore go with JANTZEN CROSSCAP?

I actually meant to use Jantzen Superior Z  for the 18uf
but for the 12uf & 5uf, is it then ok to use  Jantzen Crosscap? but there is challenges with getting exact 5uf, I can only get 5.1uf of the Jantzen Crosscap

Anybody else with experience using this combination?

Does anybody have clue/experience in this combination:?

Jantzen Superior Z which is like 8x more expensive than Jantzen Crosscap to replace the 2x   18uf caps (one on LF the other on HF)

12uf & 5uf on LF  to use  Jantzen Crosscap? but there is challenges with getting exact 5uf, I can only get 5.1uf of the Jantzen Crosscap

[Deang]

Should be 16uF on the low frequency board. I normally just leave it alone. Use a Solen if you really want to change it.

 

18uF on the high frequency board can be a Jantzen CrossCap or Solen.

 

The 5 and 12 are in series with the horn. Most will say it doesn't matter what you use here but I don't agree.

 

Parallel a 10 ohm resistor with the 2 ohm resistor next to the 18uF capacitor on the HF board. 

[billybob]

Dayton and Clarity 2 more brands.

Dean I see is helping. Cool!

[junaidot]

20 hours ago, Deang said:

Should be 16uF on the low frequency board. I normally just leave it alone. Use a Solen if you really want to change it.

 

18uF on the high frequency board can be a Jantzen CrossCap or Solen.

 

The 5 and 12 are in series with the horn. Most will say it doesn't matter what you use here but I don't agree.

 

Parallel a 10 ohm resistor with the 2 ohm resistor next to the 18uF capacitor on the HF board. 

I appreciate very much the explanations. I talked to a friend today who is Electrical engineer (not into Audio though) who explained nicely to me the reason why Deang's repeated advice to use 2ohms and 10ohms in parallel is of better advantage to using single 1.8ohms in an attempt to reduce the ohms. Not only will it reduce the ohms to 1.66 [10*2/ (10+2)]. But the reliability is much more robust (pls allow me to use a lay language here) and will handle what it has to handle with more easy and accuracy. Makes complete sense.
 

Now, I intend to use 2 highly rated resistors (mondurf mresist classic, 2 and 10 ohms) in parallel there. First reason is for the size/less space they occupy and 2nd reason is that if there is more reliability to attain I dont want to miss it, especially not for the little extra cost. Do I make sense?

@Deang,

• Since SOLEN is not available here locally but Mondurf, Jantzen etc any other suggestion of COMPATIBLE Caps for the Low Frequency (LF) board?
• I will surely use Jantzen Crosscap on High frequency as suggested, That is settled!
• I will not touch the Coils but I surely want to also change the 5uf and 12uf (reason is that if there is more reliability to attain I dont want to miss it, especially not for the little extra cost), Any suggestion pls on most compatible for this area. I saw that Jantzen Crosscap is NP like the original caps
  
   

[junaidot]

In case someone thinks GONE WITH THE WIND!😄 I've been busy with source of Income lately!

Now to push project to finalisation below are my choices:

1. I surely want to buy my items here in EU
2. I want to stick more to JANTZEN and Clarity (CSA) products
3. I understood Clarity (CSA) are one of the least critical and due to size thus I want to use them for my HF (5uf & 12uf), only that the 5uf have to now be 5.1uf due to availability, which I understood, the 0.1uf will not make much difference
4. Where necessary I intend to Flip the PCB to make this possible
5. for The Capacitors in Parallel 16uf and 18uf, I will use JANTZEN CROSS CAP
6. However, The series on HF (5uf and 12uf) are Non-Polarised (NP) can this work. sorry this is a little bit beyond my knowledge. I read somewhere that it doesnt matter as long as you then make sure +/- are facing correct direction
7. As regards resistor I will use (Jantzen Superes) 2x 1ohm 1x 2ohm and 1x 10ohm  to achieve the "Deang" prescribed solution for Horn. -    
8. I would have loved to use Mundorf Mresist  for the 2ohm/10ohm combi but due to non availability of 2ohms (which I find strange) and I do not want to use single 1.8 which gives higher ohms than suggested 1.66
9. I will leave the coils and Core for now

I need your response PLEASE In the first place as regards item 6 NON POLARISED (NP) CAPS

ANY OTHER SUGGESTION IS ALSO VERY MUCH WELCOME.
Thanks in Advance

Edited December 13, 2021 by junaidot

[junaidot]

Its done! At least I finished one speaker and able to compare:

 

Pleasant to listen to not harsh compared to the original one (I did put 2/10ohm Transistor in parallel). I used Jantzen Superes transistors all round.

photos say it all.
 

How long does it take for the Clarity "CSA" caps to burn in? I played it the night long and could hear it getting much better. However I expected a bit more than Im experiencing now. Thus any suggestion for improvement is very much welcome:
State now:

2x Clarity CSA (5/12uf) in serie HF
1 Clarity CSA 18uf in parallel with 16uf (Jantzen Cross Cap)

[junaidot]

I would like to try anything that will bring more wao experience.
Having said that I could hear quite clean music coming out.................

 

[MicroMara]

@junaidot  well done , of course you´ll hear a difference between the origin and the modified immediatly, but the burn in period will take many more hours of continuse operation. Approx. 150 to 200 hours , they´ll open up .Be patience.  As I alleady mentioned by the beginning in this thread , you can´t riddle a horse from behind so it´s not a suprise that you´re expected more.  If you wanna more , go back to my advise I´ve allready given  🙂

[junaidot]

2 minutes ago, MicroMara said:

@junaidot  well done , of course you´ll hear a difference between the origin and the modified immediatly, but the burn in period will take many more hours of continuse operation. Approx. 150 to 200 hours , they´ll open up .Be patience.  As I alleady mentioned by the beginning in this thread , you can´t riddle a horse from behind so it´s not a suprise that you´re expected more.  If you wanna more , go back to my advise I´ve allready given  🙂

Thx MicroMara.

I made little mistake during my ordering; ordered 2x "1ohm resistors) instead of 4😄 Now have to wait for the other 2 to arrive.

what do u think of my component combination?

Update will follow soon

 

[OO1]

1 hour ago, junaidot said:

Its done! At least I finished one speaker and able to compare:

 

Pleasant to listen to not harsh compared to the original one (I did put 2/10ohm Transistor in parallel). I used Jantzen Superes transistors all round.

photos say it all.
 

How long does it take for the Clarity "CSA" caps to burn in? I played it the night long and could hear it getting much better. However I expected a bit more than Im experiencing now. Thus any suggestion for improvement is very much welcome:
State now:

2x Clarity CSA (5/12uf) in serie HF
1 Clarity CSA 18uf in parallel with 16uf (Jantzen Cross Cap)

The capacitors sound is not changing , it's a MYTH , your ears are getting used  to the sound , and as you pile on the hours , The Hearing adapts

[MicroMara]

Hard to say as I don´t have any experience with  Clarity caps, but they´ve got a brilliant reputation, so why not, Jantzen is fine .

[billybob]

Mr. Dean used Clarity for my capacitor kit. Sounded nice on my Chorus.

[junaidot]

Now gradually to the next stage:

 

What do I stand to gain changing the Core/Inductions?
Any personal experience/s?

[MicroMara]

1 hour ago, junaidot said:

Now gradually to the next stage:

 

What do I stand to gain changing the Core/Inductions?
Any personal experience/s?

sometimes I can´t follow your minds ...Do you mean the coils on the board themselves

[junaidot]

3 minutes ago, MicroMara said:

sometimes I can´t follow your minds ...Do you mean the coils on the board themselves

Perdon me! I may be speaking in lay man's language.
Yes, indeed COILS