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Chorus crossovers


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Hoping to get some help and insight for re-capping my Chorus.  In the process I want to take out the printed circuit boards and mount the components similar to a Heritage type arrangement on a separate board.  While I have the schematic, and believe I understand it, I am wondering if the existing PCBs are printed in a "zone" type arrangement, vs multiple layers and connections (see attached photo.).  It looks to me as each "zone" has a non-conductive boundary around it and then various wires are soldered into that common area to connect the required components.  So my questions thus far are these:

1)  Is this what is really going on with regard to the PCBs? (zoned areas)

2)  Is there a preferred type and gauge of wire I should use on the crossovers? 

3)  Has anyone else here done this for first generation Chorus before, and if so, would you have any pictures or tips to share, please?

 

Like I said, I believe I understand the schematic (although I wish I had a "road map")and have the skills and equipment to do the labor.  I just want to understand the current configuration better so I do not to mess this up!

I will be taking the old inductors and autotransformers off off the PCB's and plan on replacing the capacitors and resistors.  Once I have completed the first one, I will post another picture for review to make sure I didn't cross any wires!

Thank you for any advise or tips you might have!

 

YR

IMG_6126.JPG

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1 hour ago, Yankee Rebel said:

Hoping to get some help and insight for re-capping my Chorus.  In the process I want to take out the printed circuit boards and mount the components similar to a Heritage type arrangement on a separate board. 

 

why ?

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New to recapping crossovers... 

I've done Chorus, Chorus II, Forte, Forte II, Heresy, Quartet, KG... All of them... Best thing for you to do is contact Crites and buy a crossover kit.... You can either get a Dayton kit or a more expensive Sonicap kit. You will need at least a 40 watt soldering iron (pencil), a damp sponge, solder, solder wick and a hot glue gun. Take your time. Make sure when soldering new ones in you get a nice solder joint around the terminal

 

George, 

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I am doing this right now on Chorus II and Forte IIs (just received my last caps yesterday). 

 

No need to discard the printed board.  In fact, it will keep everything nice and organized.  I plan to remove the printed board, attach it to a piece of wood, and then add my new caps elsewhere on the board to keep it all nice and clean.   I will add jumpers from the speaker input plate to the board. 

 

I can take pics when I have it all laid out and done.  I did a pair of JBL L100Ts years ago.  I attached a picture to give you an idea of what I am talking about. The white and blue wires were added by me down to the caps.

 

FYI, I am using Jantez caps from Partsexpress and electrolytes for the woofer bypasss.

 

 

DSC01712.JPG

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2 hours ago, oldred said:

New to recapping crossovers... 

I've done Chorus, Chorus II, Forte, Forte II, Heresy, Quartet, KG... All of them... Best thing for you to do is contact Crites and buy a crossover kit.... You can either get a Dayton kit or a more expensive Sonicap kit. You will need at least a 40 watt soldering iron (pencil), a damp sponge, solder, solder wick and a hot glue gun. Take your time. Make sure when soldering new ones in you get a nice solder joint around the terminal

 

George, 

Thank you oldred.   I do have a great Weller soldering station and the components I need will be ordered this weekend.  I will work on my soldering joints!

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49 minutes ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

I am doing this right now on Chorus II and Forte IIs (just received my last caps yesterday). 

 

No need to discard the printed board.  In fact, it will keep everything nice and organized.  I plan to remove the printed board, attach it to a piece of wood, and then add my new caps elsewhere on the board to keep it all nice and clean.   I will add jumpers from the speaker input plate to the board. 

 

I can take pics when I have it all laid out and done.  I did a pair of JBL L100Ts years ago.  I attached a picture to give you an idea of what I am talking about. The white and blue wires were added by me down to the caps.

 

FYI, I am using Jantez caps from Partsexpress and electrolytes for the woofer bypasss.

 

 

DSC01712.JPG

Thanks for the alternative idea Tiger! I will think about how to un-sandwich the sandwiched boards to possibly achieve the results I am looking for.  Not sure if Chorus II had the same sandwiched configuration as shown in the Chorus I photo.

1485683105_ChorusICrossover2.jpeg.010496842bfbf0956881827e1aa7bbe4.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Yankee Rebel said:

Thanks for the alternative idea Tiger! I will think about how to un-sandwich the sandwiched boards to possibly achieve the results I am looking for.  Not sure if Chorus II had the same sandwiched configuration as shown in the Chorus I photo.

 

I just checked and the Chorus and Forte II are not sandwiched.  However, you can either leave them sandwiched and add jumpers as needed or if you want them to look really clean, 'unsandwich' them and mount all on a board.  I just checked and the boards that I have are 5.25" x 6.5".  Not sure if that is what you need, I just has some Baltic Birch scraps and made these.  You may need larger to accommodate the top inductor.  You also need to cut out some spacers to glue to the floor of the speaker and attach the wood plates to. 

 

Not sure how you are handling the caps, but the Jantzen Z Cap Standards from Partsexpress and highly rated and inexpensive.  I have used Clarity Caps in the past but decided to try these as they ranked as well in this test FWIW. 

 

https://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html

Search:  Standard Z-Cap 400VDC

 

Roy Delgato had stated that the large value caps that bypass the woofers can use electrolytes so I went with those from Partsexpress. 

 

 

I will post pics when I am done, but it may be a while.  I am working on a pair of JBL Century's right now.  Need to Google what "Presence' and 'Brilliance' mean so I get the L Pads right.  The drivers came out awfully pretty. 

 

IMG_3037.JPG

IMG_3038.JPG

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14 minutes ago, Yankee Rebel said:

Did you use the 1.8 uF and 6.8 uF Clarity instead of the 2.0 and 7.0 uF?

Really couldn't say now. Got the kit from Dean, who is on this forum. It was 2015.

Edited by billybob
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7DEEDF15-82EB-4829-AB7D-1B1611A65E58.thumb.jpeg.4d3243a9eb238d27d85d8dc5c259856f.jpeg

 

 

 

@tigerwoodKhornsis bang on with his mod in my books, aka IMHO.

 

This is one of the Chorus 2 crossovers I bought to play around with in some Cornwall cabinets. 

 

Same idea, I put them on breadboards to keep them safe, yet convenient to work and play with with.

 

For the sake of discussion, all of the fasteners are stainless steel or brass.

 

To secure the printed circuit board but keep it from being tightened down flat to the wood and possibly buckling and cracking I put nylon washers (spacers) between circuit board and the breadboard.

 

I did recap them too, but with cheap ones, and heard zero difference in the sound versus before and after.

 

As suggested, go for the good caps, and leave the leads long so you don’t heat up the capacitors making connections.  

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23 minutes ago, geoff. said:

7DEEDF15-82EB-4829-AB7D-1B1611A65E58.thumb.jpeg.4d3243a9eb238d27d85d8dc5c259856f.jpeg

 

 

 

@tigerwoodKhornsis bang on with his mod in my books, aka IMHO.

 

This is one of the Chorus 2 crossovers I bought to play around with in some Cornwall cabinets. 

 

Same idea, I put them on breadboards to keep them safe, yet convenient to work and play with with.

 

For the sake of discussion, all of the fasteners are stainless steel or brass.

 

To secure the printed circuit board but keep it from being tightened down flat to the wood and possibly buckling and cracking I put nylon washers (spacers) between circuit board and the breadboard.

 

I did recap them too, but with cheap ones, and heard zero difference in the sound versus before and after.

 

As suggested, go for the good caps, and leave the leads long so you don’t heat up the capacitors making connections.  

Only thing that I would add is to mount the caps on the wood part of the board if you replace with more expensive caps as they tend to be larger (see the JBL x-overs above). 

 

Why struggle to mount them to a printed circuit that was never designed to hold such a large cap? 

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On 1/7/2022 at 6:31 PM, Yankee Rebel said:

So my questions thus far are these:

1)  Is this what is really going on with regard to the PCBs? (zoned areas)

2)  Is there a preferred type and gauge of wire I should use on the crossovers? 

3)  Has anyone else here done this for first generation Chorus before, and if so, would you have any pictures or tips to share, please?

 

My questions remain...

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I would reconsider attempting to remove anything off the OEM PCB other than the autotransformers & caps*. There is a good chance some parts will be damaged beyond repair. The added cost of new inductors is worth the assurance that the OEM xovers are still on hand if need be. As for wire gauge, 16awg pure copper wire, no CCA (coper clad aluminum) would be fine JMO.

 

* You are most likely not wanting to re-use these though.

 

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2 hours ago, Yankee Rebel said:

My questions remain...

you're better off , sending the crossovers to @JEM Performance  , they are the klipsch USA crossover repair center , they only use Klipsch Original capacitors  for the optimal sound quality .

 

-2nd option is for you  to purchase klipsch capacitors which you .......or a technician can solder  -VIP , the capacitors MUST fit the crossover or it becomes a mess -do it right and you'll  have great sounding speakers for the next 30 years - .

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On 1/7/2022 at 6:31 PM, Yankee Rebel said:

In the process I want to take out the printed circuit boards and mount the components similar to a Heritage type arrangement on a separate board.

Good idea

On 1/7/2022 at 6:31 PM, Yankee Rebel said:

I will be taking the old inductors and autotransformers off off the PCB's and plan on replacing the capacitors and resistors.

Another good idea.  Since you have the skills and tools to do the work, there's certainly no need to send anything out for a rebuild.  Parts Express/Crites/Sonicraft all have good options for the parts you need.

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