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My Chorus II recap results


chuckears

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Did it.  Have some skill if you wish to attempt it all on your onesie... I took my time and had the usual frustrations with little silly things. The autoformer loves to be in the way every time you turn the board over - I didn't really wish to de-solder either it or the hook-up to the terminal cup.

I've only performed it on one speaker thus far, and can't claim to hear a difference - not nearly as much as when I Crites-ed my Fortes several years ago. I chose to go factory with this re-cap, since I wasn't familiar with the Chorus II "sound" (that, and the $500-plus cost of the Crites boards is currently a little off-putting).

A before-and-after comparison of frequency sweeps using ARC Genesis doesn't show much change either... my guess is that the original caps were still within spec. I at least have the satisfaction of knowing it's doable, and that these caps should be good for quite a while.  Not sure it was worth taking up most of a morning of a day off, but now I know.

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I switched to Crites for my Chorus IIs simply because one of my crossovers stopped working. The sonic difference was not so pronounced, but using 10awg copper wiring gave me a pleasant little boost in presence and gain. Try it on your second speaker.

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2 minutes ago, Deang said:

You realize he‘s using PCB’s, and if he tries to wire 10 AWG into them, he will lift the foil and ruin his board. 

Oops.... my Crites replacements were plain ol' boards. Didn't realize the danger to PCBs.

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3 hours ago, chuckears said:

It would sure be nice if the company could source some radials to take the place of the two originals on this board, but it is what it is...


I traded two emails with Erse last night and then nothing from them today. The eBay seller 001 mentioned has them, but in very small quantities. If there was a significant amount of demand/work, it might be worth meeting those high MOQ’s.

 

I’m glad you took your time. A lot of people make a mess out of these projects. Nice job!

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3 hours ago, chuckears said:

Did it.  Have some skill if you wish to attempt it all on your onesie... I took my time and had the usual frustrations with little silly things. The autoformer loves to be in the way every time you turn the board over - I didn't really wish to de-solder either it or the hook-up to the terminal cup.

I've only performed it on one speaker thus far, and can't claim to hear a difference - not nearly as much as when I Crites-ed my Fortes several years ago. I chose to go factory with this re-cap, since I wasn't familiar with the Chorus II "sound" (that, and the $500-plus cost of the Crites boards is currently a little off-putting).

A before-and-after comparison of frequency sweeps using ARC Genesis doesn't show much change either... my guess is that the original caps were still within spec. I at least have the satisfaction of knowing it's doable, and that these caps should be good for quite a while.  Not sure it was worth taking up most of a morning of a day off, but now I know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

@chuckears, my experience with recapping a pair of Chorus 2 crossovers was pretty much inline with yours. 
 

I could not tell a noticeable difference one way or the other either. Mine was a few years back using retarded cheap (at the time… everything is doubled or tripled now) Erse and Bennic polyester caps before the JEM phenomenon was what all the new kids were into.

 

Had the same “meh” moment with a pair of B-3 crossovers similarly recapped.

 

In both cases I chocked it up to the stock capacitors likely still operating in spec.

 

A pair of AAs with the “cans” however, was another story all-together, DAY AND NIGHT. Up until that point I could not understand why anyone liked the AA crossovers. Tried them in La Scalas with the AL and AL-3 stock and each time was let down. It was as if the tweeters were missing until the recap.

 

Already had a pair of Chorus 2s but got the crossovers cheap off eBay as an experimental pair, likely from someone who went the Crites route as I didn't get a terminal cup, and just like you I remember dreading dealing with that delicate autoformer. To make sure I didn’t dig myself deeper into a hole I “breadboarded” them.

 

 

 

 

 

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Yeah, I think I prefer that method over the way I did it. That lead is probably easier to get into hole than the wire. The zip tie is a good idea too. Very nice.

 

Polyester/Mylars are basically the same. They may be pedestrian, but they’re the right part. Something we never covered or discussed, was the possibility that since their ESR is so high, they probably add EQ to the filter (since ESR changes with frequency).

 

Interesting to me that no one so far claims to hear a difference between these things and the cans. 

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I posted this on the Klipsch Vintage Fans Page on Facebook in Lee’s thread. 
 

“I’ve been measuring all of these old capacitors since I’ve started doing this for Klipsch, and it pains me to say it - but Trey has mostly been right about this. 1 in 6 cans are sweating/seeping (you can smell the oil), but measure okay. The measured ESR and DF I’m getting is within acceptable range on these. As for some of the other stuff I’ve done, I’m not finding anything weird. Even the electrolytics are measuring okay. So, this whole “all the old caps are bad” thing is largely a myth. Polyesters measure higher in ESR than polypropylenes. A certain someone should have been measuring new polyesters for the baseline, not picking outliers from what they were pulling off of old networks.”

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All of that bare wire coming out of the autoformer and going directly into the PCB bugs me; with the compact spacing, it has a lot of stuff it has to be bent around to avoid touching other metal parts - a mounting screw, the stupid iron core of the large inductor it sits perpendicular to, the actual frame of the autoformer itself... I wonder why the leads going to the board aren't covered with heat-shrink, or if it would be a worthwhile endeavor when re-working these?

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