Deang Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 So what do you do in your spare time? This is my third set. As always, stipped down to the last screw and built back up. Complete restoration with a handful of physical and cosmetic improvements. Grills are done, but I listen to them like this. I may not eBay these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregorius Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Dean, Are these Dahlquist 10's? How do they sound compared to Klipsch? Do you like them? Just curious, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 Baltic Birch plywood sanded and then rubbed out with two different shades of Watco's Danish Oil. This premium plywood adds some much needed rigidity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 The bassbins are usually in very bad shape when I get them. So, lots of sanding and patching and sanding and patching. Then two coats of primer, one coat of flat black, then three coats of textured, semi-gloss enamel. The masonite ring is lightly sanded, and small amounts of ebony stain are applied until it's black. It takes forever because I don't want the liquid to compromise the masonite. Steel wool gets it a little glossy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 Crossover from hell. I wrap the caps in electrical tape because of my lack of depth perception, and it protects the caps if I inadvertanly make contact with the soldering iron. I have building boards from scratch and using RelCap Multicaps -- but money was short and so I used what I had -- which was the original Regar upgrade kit I bought before rebuilding the first set. I only ordered the kit so I could find out the new values they were using. They are basically Solens. The MultiCaps definitely sound better -- but, these are still breaking in (if you believe in such a thing). You can't really tell, but I replaced the vinyl on rear of the bass bins. Not as painful as one might think. Heat guns are marvelous for removing the old vinyl -- and putting on the new stuff is a breeze if you have a steady hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregorius Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Dean, You should go into business. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 Here is a picture of the first set I completed using the MultiCaps and Northcreek wire. The boards were built from scratch. I will probably go back and revisit the crossovers on this set when I have a little money again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfz28 Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Nice work there Dean, what do you power those speakers with?Are they very efficient? I have built a tempest sonotube in the past year, and have just completed a restoration on a AR-XA TURNTABLE, the turntable was built sometime in the 60s.It has a walnut base and was in great shape and well taken care of.I really need to try and build or buy me a nice entertainment center or stereo rack for my system, I keep getting more stuff and need a better place to put it all.I also made a nice solid oak cabnit for my scott 299a it really looks good. I need to buy me a digital camera so I can post some pictures, but everytime I get a little money ahead something comes up and its gone, it sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 Change of subject here. I had just enough money to get the parts I needed to one new crossover for the RF-7's. The same as the first with the exception of the following: Replaced the Auricap metallized polypropylenes in the tweeter circuit with RelCap Theta film and foils, and used a 10 AWG Northcreek Music coil instead of a 14 AWG Solen. I will remove some of the thick acoustic foam out of the RF-7's, and replace it with something thinner to help compensate for the much lower DCR of the large coil (lowering the DCR of the bass coil changes the tuning point of the cabinet a little). The boards are not going in the speakers, but will sit on the floor on top of Deflex. Internal speaker wiring was handmade using the 22 AWG five nine silver I had from the cables I bought last year. Two strands for the tweeter, four strands for the woofer positive side. I'm using copper for the negative side. 2nd board will have to wait until next month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregorius Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Nice! Are you trying to become the ALK of the RF&? Have a nice weekend, I'm bailing out Regards, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 Klipsch PCB's with original inductors for scale. The biggest cap on the PCBs was about the same size as the smallest value on the new board. I have a theory as to why the higher voltage, bigger caps sound better, and it may not be related to the material used in the cap. I have Craig checking out my theory with his scope. I'm not saying anything about this until I talk to Craig again for fear of being written off as moron (too late -- I know If I'm wrong -- then we are left with the question of why all of these various cap types sound somewhat different -- in spite of spec'ing out virtually the same. My next project is sure to get me run off of the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tillmbil Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Dean, quite an incredible display of speaker work. I fear of doing the mods listed for the Cornwalls under "Secret Cornwalls", wish someone had taken pictures like you. Great job, hope the sound is as good as the look. Seems your talents may be wasted in some other area. Congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invidiosulus Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Dean, My commoners brain is trying to figure out if the silver/+ copper/- would make a difference if switched the other way. I thought that since an amplifier puts out AC that half of the time the current would be flowing to the speaker from the amp on the silver and the other half of the time it would be flowing to the speaker from the amp on the silver wire. Would the excursion be effected by the fact that one half of the speaker lead had a lower resistance? I do believe that different wires can have varying sounds. I tried some solid core copper as speaker wire with my heresy's Just some thoughts I had. Nice looking work by the way. Peace, Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 14, 2003 Author Share Posted June 14, 2003 Mark, I know you and Craig talked about this, but him and me had a discussion on the phone about it -- and I just finally told Craig that if anyone would know how to explain it -- you could. That would be this thing about + and - as it relates to AC. My understanding was pretty much the same as Josh's from the post above. After Craig talked to you, and then relayed the information back to me -- I just decided to use copper for my return path back to the amp. So, looking at Josh's comment -- what is the correct way of looking at this? Is negative just a return path for ground, or does the signal in fact reverse and push the other way? I understand what makes my speaker push out -- but how the hell does it know to suck in? I thought is was like when I switch the wires on a battery when I'm testing drivers. Wire on positive end and the driver pushes out - wires reversed and the driver pulls in. Yeesh, wierd stuff. The Cap thing: To me, it's all becoming very confusing. I know Leo likes to keep his voltage specs down too on the caps. So, is it all marketing BS to brainwash the non-engineering types like me? If the lower VDC caps are superior electrically speaking, then should'nt a 50VDC electrolytic or 100VDC polyester or mylar, sound better than a 200VDC film/foil, or 400 or 630VDC metallized polypropylene? Do they only sound better to me because I think they should? If so, then it's not fair that my brain be allowed to play these tricks on me. My idea about the whole thing was centered on the idea that caps might be microphonic. I asked Craig to grab some caps and tap on them while hooked up to the scope. My thinking was that maybe these bigger caps sound better in speakers not because of their specific material -- but from their additional protection from mechanical vibration. Of course it's silly -- for then why wouldn't a resistor or inductor be subject to the same problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 14, 2003 Author Share Posted June 14, 2003 bumped for mdeneen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stovebolt6 Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Dean, This is what has been keeping me busy! Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 14, 2003 Author Share Posted June 14, 2003 Very nice work -- looks like some huge lenses are going to mounted into those corners. By the end of summer I'll be getting my baptism is cabinet building. Lord help me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stovebolt6 Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 It is sort of a Cornwall/K-Horn inspired VOTT. The cabinet will be tuned to 40hz. Fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 14, 2003 Author Share Posted June 14, 2003 THAT is some very nice work, right up with Clipped & Shorns monstrosity. Yeah, "fun" -- who are you kidding. It always sounds "fun" -- until you're sweating and bleeding all over everything! It always starts out fun for me -- but towards the end it just ends up being damn hard work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 14, 2003 Author Share Posted June 14, 2003 Ha! I'm only half as dumb as I look! This is pretty much how I understood it until I started thinking! So then, on the counter-clockwise, or reverse flow -- is there 'voltage' on the wire? The really funny thing to me is this: When this reversal happens, and pulls the driver back towards the magnetic gap -- it's NOT pushing air, so is it making 'sound'? I realize what a cycle is, and it's bascially vibrating -- but is this vibration, or cps like oscillation? Does this mean I can't run 42 AWG wire on my negative terminals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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