scalawag Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 I've always appreciated the engineering and audio/sonic wizardry as put out by the Klipsch and B&K Type AA x-overs in my La Scalas, if not so much the aesthetics. As the boards are normally mounted inside the cabs, appearance is not really an issue. But I recently got the urge to bring them up topside just for my own personal viewing enjoyment and decided a "makeover" was in order to give the x-over boards a bit more visual appeal. I acquired a pair of hand-made "cutting" boards, mounted the x-over elements in their most suitable locations, drilled the appropriate holes, and finally made the wire connections mostly underneath to tidy up the looks. While I can't claim to be a craftsman compared to others of you on this Forum, I thought the project turned out pretty decent. Here are pics for your judgement - thanks for reading. Happy listening! 7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundbound Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted March 29, 2022 Share Posted March 29, 2022 The klipsch AA usually calls for a non- Magnetic screw on the inductor - you may want to double check if your klipsch xo's shipped with the correct non-magnetic screws . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalawag Posted March 29, 2022 Author Share Posted March 29, 2022 You, sir, are exactly right !! Hard to believe, but the original Klipsch AA-s in my LS-s came with standard metal screws, ie magnetic, holding down that inductor, which I have since changed over to brass screws (hard to notice in the pic). The B&K (B Crites) x-overs, however, were received with the proper non-mag screws in place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chassell Posted March 29, 2022 Share Posted March 29, 2022 7 hours ago, scalawag said: Hard to believe, but the original Klipsch AA-s in my LS-s came with standard metal screws, ie magnetic, holding down that inductor So did the AAs in my '78 LSIs and I don't think it's uncommon. Always a good thing to check. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted March 29, 2022 Share Posted March 29, 2022 16 hours ago, scalawag said: I've always appreciated the engineering and audio/sonic wizardry as put out by the Klipsch and B&K Type AA x-overs in my La Scalas, if not so much the aesthetics. As the boards are normally mounted inside the cabs, appearance is not really an issue. But I recently got the urge to bring them up topside just for my own personal viewing enjoyment and decided a "makeover" was in order to give the x-over boards a bit more visual appeal. I acquired a pair of hand-made "cutting" boards, mounted the x-over elements in their most suitable locations, drilled the appropriate holes, and finally made the wire connections mostly underneath to tidy up the looks. While I can't claim to be a craftsman compared to others of you on this Forum, I thought the project turned out pretty decent. Here are pics for your judgement - thanks for reading. Happy listening! If you are going to go to so much loving effort, try to hear what it sounds like when you unscrew one of the two diodes and thus interrupt the diodes connected in parallel. In my case, I hear more pleasant silky highs that sound less brittle. Unless you have SPL of a discotheque. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalawag Posted March 29, 2022 Author Share Posted March 29, 2022 Hmm. I have the CT-120 tweeters mounted to Dave's wood MAHLs and to my ears they already sound smoother compared to the K77s. Would I realize any additional audio "enhancement" by performing the mod you suggest? Searching this Forum the consensus is that there would be no harm in bypassing the diodes with the BC tweeters I am using, but I suppose I could confirm this by emailing B Crites.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted March 29, 2022 Share Posted March 29, 2022 5 minutes ago, scalawag said: Hmm. I have the CT-120 tweeters mounted to Dave's wood MAHLs and to my ears they already sound smoother compared to the K77s. Would I realize any additional audio "enhancement" by performing the mod you suggest? Searching this Forum the consensus is that there would be no harm in bypassing the diodes with the BC tweeters I am using, but I suppose I could confirm this by emailing B Crites.... There might be a very slight "enhancement" as a result of taking the zener's out of the circuit, but they certainly aren't needed considering the drivers you are now using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefDC Posted March 29, 2022 Share Posted March 29, 2022 It is absolutely beautiful. There is no need to change IMO, but an idea 😈 would be to give every wire its own hole (except the diodes if you decide keep them after the remarks above) that way all the wires exit perpendicular from their source like the capacitors But again, it is absolutely beautiful. Best regards ... jef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 18 hours ago, scalawag said: Hmm. I have the CT-120 tweeters mounted to Dave's wood MAHLs and to my ears they already sound smoother compared to the K77s. Would I realize any additional audio "enhancement" by performing the mod you suggest? Searching this Forum the consensus is that there would be no harm in bypassing the diodes with the BC tweeters I am using, but I suppose I could confirm this by emailing B Crites.... Just give it a try with a record you know very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svberger Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 18 hours ago, scalawag said: Hmm. I have the CT-120 tweeters mounted to Dave's wood MAHLs and to my ears they already sound smoother compared to the K77s. Would I realize any additional audio "enhancement" by performing the mod you suggest? Searching this Forum the consensus is that there would be no harm in bypassing the diodes with the BC tweeters I am using, but I suppose I could confirm this by emailing B Crites.... I noticed a not insignificant difference when I disconnected the diodes. Much smoother to my ears. FWIW when I got new crossovers from Crites for my '77 LS's, I ordered the A's without the speaker protection diodes based on their recommendation. I let the crossovers break in with the Sonicaps, and I like them well enough, but the other day I swapped back in the originals with the oil caps, and I still like them better. To each their own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalawag Posted March 30, 2022 Author Share Posted March 30, 2022 Interesting that you say that. After completing the first B&K board, I connected it to one LS and took an original 46-year old board out of storage and connected it to the other LS just for comparison. Took a good listen to each side separately, and to my mild surprise, the KWP board still sounded pretty decent. 'Course, my ears aren't nearly what they used to be, which might explain what I heard or didn't hear. Which is reason enough for me to deliberate whether taking out the diodes will result in any noticeable differences to my ears. Thanks for your comment, and to other posters as well. Happy listening ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Wires are sexy. What have you done? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalawag Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 On 3/31/2022 at 12:30 PM, Crankysoldermeister said: Wires are sexy. What have you done? Ok, for you I added some wires to the "refresh." Do you see them? 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 Yes. That's a very elegant solution to doing the common connections on the terminal block. Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curious_George Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 On 3/30/2022 at 3:21 PM, scalawag said: Interesting that you say that. After completing the first B&K board, I connected it to one LS and took an original 46-year old board out of storage and connected it to the other LS just for comparison. Took a good listen to each side separately, and to my mild surprise, the KWP board still sounded pretty decent. 'Course, my ears aren't nearly what they used to be, which might explain what I heard or didn't hear. Which is reason enough for me to deliberate whether taking out the diodes will result in any noticeable differences to my ears. Thanks for your comment, and to other posters as well. Happy listening ! You will not hear a difference taking the Zeners out unless you drive your speakers at higher levels where the Zeners would normally start to shunt the drive signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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