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A new thread on an old topic? AL Crossover upgrades


Ed Wolinski

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Excellent information on my first post here. Now for another trip to the well of knowledge: AL crossovers (I have them in the LSI's). Looks to me (I am no electrical engineer) like it is basically 2 AA crossovers built into one. Why? Everything on the AL looks to be a doubled duplicate of the AA. I have already emailed JEM for info on recap kits and I need to go get more non -ferrous screws for the double inductors (lol).   ---Actually, I am seriously considering bolting all of the inductors down with nylon--- all ferrous/electrical transfer issues would be eliminated --- Please provide any thoughts on upgrades, modifications, good, bad, etc. 

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The AL crossover has a bad reputation on this forum, not actually deserved in my opinion. I enjoyed listening to my AL crossovers for decades without an issue. Most do consider the AA better sounding. All those other parts are just notch filters flattening out the signal. Apparently at the time it was introduced a flat frequency response was the in thing in all the magazines promoting products. 

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3 hours ago, Ed Wolinski said:

Ok. So given the fact that these ALs are 40 years old it would be prudent to recap them with a kit from JEM? 

Probably still within spec's but most here think film caps should be replaced but technically I doubt any of the caps have actually failed. Guarantee to sound different if replaced but whether you like the new sound is debatable. Keep old caps to be safe if you decide to replace. 

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1 hour ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

I got an ad from Partsexpress the other day where they have K33 replacements for $100 delivered. 

Here's the WinISD model of the GRS K33E-4, real Klipsch K33E, Crites CW1526 and CW1526C; all in a 137 liter closed box (which yields Qtc=0.7071 for the Klipsch) and all driven by 2.0 Volts.

 

SPL.png

TF.png

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You can also get them at https://reconingspeakers.com/products-page/klipsch-k-33-e-woofer-121501/

 

As for the network, just think of it as preventive maintenance. Even if the capacitors are mostly okay, and many are - they are aging out. Best just to get it over with. This makes more sense then measuring every 40 year old capacitor and trying to decide if you should change it or not.

 

The upgrade path is to go to the AL-3, but since you are selling these  ...

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On 1/25/2023 at 1:39 PM, Ed Wolinski said:

I have to locate a 15” woofer for one of the LSI’s; replaced the tweet diaphragms last night.  Need to find a line on obtaining the correct woofer before I can proceed. 


Ed, I think a (former) forum member has exactly what you need, at a sweet price on eBay right now. Search K-43 for your LSIs.

 

I bought one of his about a month ago.

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On the upgrade to AL-3 path, the AL uses a different autoformer than the AL-3, so it’s gonna be tricky/more costly to get the approved parts.

 

I would be leaning towards something that may bring out the highs better, a mythological thing hither-to-unknown to the people of this area…

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Speaker off of eBay has been ordered. Thank you for the heads up. Regarding the AL, I will need to get both up and running before I piddle about with the AL. JEM tells me that his AL kit is 125$. Seems reasonable for 2 cabinets...I might just have to settle for a good used mudshark that I can use for a parts donor. 

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On 1/26/2023 at 4:22 PM, geoff. said:

On the upgrade to AL-3 path, the AL uses a different autoformer than the AL-3, so it’s gonna be tricky/more costly to get the approved parts.

 

I would be leaning towards something that may bring out the highs better, a mythological thing hither-to-unknown to the people of this area…

 

There was a thread on using the AL parts to build a Type A.  I have it in my server.  I can try to look for it later. 

 

So we have it in one place, what is the issue with the AL?  Was it trying for a really flat response?

 

How does the AL-3 improve this? 

 

 

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