chops Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Well here's the latest. My Klipsch/Altec combo is officially bi-amped! I have the Solen 51uF caps installed on the (+) terminal of the 902s. BTW, these things are HUGE! They look like small soda cans hanging off the back of the speakers! LOL I've been tweaking the Rane crossover for the past 5 hours now on all types of music, and I think I have settled on 500Hz as the crossover point. Obviously I still have a lot of tweaking to do with the woofer delay and gains, but for now it sounds pretty darn good... VERY good in fact! If I had to discribe the sound, I would have to say that it is "ultra clean" at all levels. And there is more detail in the music now as well. Anyway, as stated before, the small Crown D-75A is powering the Altecs while the old and trusty Technics SU-8099 integrated on the floor is providing 110 watts to the Klipsch woofers. I have yet to see the power meter go past 1 watt to the woofers! And the "signal" LEDs on the Crown barely light up at all. I bet that amp isn't even reaching 0.25 watt! I'd also like to add that the little Crown D-75A makes ZERO noise of any kind on power up and power down. Let me tell you, that is a huge relief for me! And now of course are the pictures. Please feel free to comment on the goodies. BTW, the Rane Balance Buddy is sitting on the shelf directly behind the crossover and DVD player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Great news. Thats a pretty flexable setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Nice stack o goodies there Chops. I never understood this 'amps on the floor thing' though. So what is the BIG Crown driving- some subs somewhere? Where did your crossover points end up on the Rane? That's a very nice unit, I have one myself. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops Posted July 14, 2006 Author Share Posted July 14, 2006 Nice stack o goodies there Chops. I never understood this 'amps on the floor thing' though. So what is the BIG Crown driving- some subs somewhere? Where did your crossover points end up on the Rane? That's a very nice unit, I have one myself. Michael Thanks Michael! The reason that Technics amp is on the floor is because I don't have any room anywhere else to put it, plus the fact it weighs damn near 60lbs. It also produces a lot of heat, so I don't dare put anything on top of it. However, I do have to say that it sound great, even for being 27 years old. That's the amp my father bought new with the Cornwalls back in '79. The "BIG" Crown powers my DIY push/pull sub (dual 15" drivers - 6.3c.f. sealed). It delivers 1000 watts @ 8 ohms to the sub. The crossover point is set at 500Hz for the moment. Most likely, it's going to stay there too. Since running this system bi-amped with the electronic crossover, those K-33E woofers just don't sound as good reaching up to 800Hz crossed over actively as they did passively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Oh, I remember that sub now. So do the Altecs take over at that same 500 Hz, or is there some overlap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamer Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Hey Charles, There is that word again! Seriously its looking good.I also find that the K-33's just dont sound right run up to 800hz.What is your impression of the high freqencies now that you have heard the 902 all the way to 20k for awhile? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops Posted July 14, 2006 Author Share Posted July 14, 2006 Hey Charles, There is that word again! Seriously its looking good.I also find that the K-33's just dont sound right run up to 800hz.What is your impression of the high freqencies now that you have heard the 902 all the way to 20k for awhile? Greg Greg, Yeah, I've been saying that word often lately. As for the 20kHz extension, it didn't really improve. I still haven't opened up those 902 drivers yet, so I'm not 100% sure that they are the aluminum diaphrams. But I'm 99.5% sure. Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamer Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Charles, Here is a pic of my latest...stacked,racked and active! She dont look perty but boy can she sing.Its all an experiment.... Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted July 14, 2006 Moderators Share Posted July 14, 2006 Hey Chops how do you like the Pioneer dvd player i have the same one. It does sacd and dvd-a that is why i bought it, also price, but never did compare it to any other brands. I think it works great for under $200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops Posted July 14, 2006 Author Share Posted July 14, 2006 Charles, Here is a pic of my latest...stacked,racked and active! She dont look perty but boy can she sing.Its all an experiment.... Greg Greg, Nice! That setup looks mean! LOL It may or may not be "perty", but neither is mine, but the sound is what counts. BTW, what are those two units sitting against the right wall. Looks like a pair of 300B monoblocks. Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops Posted July 14, 2006 Author Share Posted July 14, 2006 Hey Chops how do you like the Pioneer dvd player i have the same one. It does sacd and dvd-a that is why i bought it, also price, but never did compare it to any other brands. I think it works great for under $200. I just use it mostly for movies. Every once in a while I'll play a SACD or DVD-A through it. It's not bad I guess. I really like the video capabilities of it, especially on my 9' wide screen. For 2-channel audio, I am now using an old cheap Teac 5-disc changer that's about 10 years old. Believe it or not, it sounds better than my brother's Cambridge Audio Azur 640C. One of these days I want to get a Rega or Arcam. When I'm dreaming however, I want to get a Wadia or a Mark Levinson like what Greg has above. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamer Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Charles, Here is a pic of my latest...stacked,racked and active! She dont look perty but boy can she sing.Its all an experiment.... Greg Greg, Nice! That setup looks mean! LOL It may or may not be "perty", but neither is mine, but the sound is what counts. BTW, what are those two units sitting against the right wall. Looks like a pair of 300B monoblocks. Charles Mean,I like that.lol! The Electriprint 300B's now reside in Calif.Charlieboy purchased them last week. Perty is in the eye of the beholder for sure.Its all about the sound! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops Posted July 15, 2006 Author Share Posted July 15, 2006 "Perty is in the eye of the beholder for sure.Its all about the sound!" I was going to say the same exact thing! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 Please don't take anything that follows personally or as being overly critical. This first thing has more to do with something I'm just curious about -- I don't understand the cap. I get the part about protecting the driver, what I don't get is what the impact is to the shelving when working in conjunction with the active behind it. That cap value basically corresponds to a 500Hz high pass since it's in series with the 8 ohm driver. On the critical side of things, it's seems bizarre to me to go this route -- and then send it all through a cap. Even if mounted on a board, a capacitor's weight should never be supported by its leads, and what you have there is just a bad idea all the way around. Leads on most capacitors aren't soldered to the foil, and most are rated to only handle an axial pull of 3-5 llbs. for one minute or less. Basically, it's just something to be avoided. You may have done this, but it doesn't look like it -- but you should use non-magnetic bolts for mounting your drivers. You mentioned earlier that the sound was "ultra-clean". I find that interesting. In my half arsed experiment with this on my end -- I heard a sound that was ultra-lean, with music that was lacking in body and texture. There wasn't much about the sound that was natural, and everything sounded pretty much forced and two dimensional. In short, I found the sound fatiguing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 Chops, Thanks for posting the photos, it looks like you have a number of things going on. I noticed the DIY bass traps. Could you tell us a little about them & their design & construction and what the impact has been? Good Luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops Posted July 15, 2006 Author Share Posted July 15, 2006 Please don't take anything that follows personally or as being overly critical. This first thing has more to do with something I'm just curious about -- I don't understand the cap. I get the part about protecting the driver, what I don't get is what the impact is to the shelving when working in conjunction with the active behind it. That cap value basically corresponds to a 500Hz high pass since it's in series with the 8 ohm driver. On the critical side of things, it's seems bizarre to me to go this route -- and then send it all through a cap. **The Crown D-75A amp is AFTER the crossover and there is nothing but wire between the amp and driver. This model amp has been rumored to produce some kind of thump durring power up/down. The cap is ONLY there to protect the Altec 902 driver from that "thump" if it ever happens. It is not intended for anything else but that. Even if mounted on a board, a capacitor's weight should never be supported by its leads, and what you have there is just a bad idea all the way around. Leads on most capacitors aren't soldered to the foil, and most are rated to only handle an axial pull of 3-5 llbs. for one minute or less. Basically, it's just something to be avoided. **The cap is actually supported by the wire. I cut the (-) side of the wire a little short going to the driver so that the (+) side of the wire would help hold the cap up. IOW, it is not freely hanging with the weight of the wire adding to it. The (-) wire is supporting the weight of the entire wire and cap. It's not going anywhere anytime soon. You may have done this, but it doesn't look like it -- but you should use non-magnetic bolts for mounting your drivers. **Since the 511B horn is all aluminum (non-magnetic), I see no point behind the bolt issue. Besides, those are the studs and nuts that came with the Altec drivers. You mentioned earlier that the sound was "ultra-clean". I find that interesting. In my half arsed experiment with this on my end -- I heard a sound that was ultra-lean, with music that was lacking in body and texture. There wasn't much about the sound that was natural, and everything sounded pretty much forced and two dimensional. In short, I found the sound fatiguing. **Not to sound harsh or anything, but maybe you shouldn't conduct "half-arsed" experiments and post the results. Those results wouldn't be valid and therefore be void. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 -- but you should use non-magnetic bolts for mounting your drivers. Dean .....! ....that looks like the standard Altec hardware, which is ...steel sound that was ultra-lean, with music that was lacking in body and texture. There wasn't much about the sound that was natural, and everything sounded pretty much forced and two dimensional. You're saying you didn't like the sound of a 2-way electronic x-over........ What Frequency/ Rate did you crossover to the horn at, and what were the drivers ....?? It's tough not to imagine having a Midrange "hole", with a K.H. , and most common mid drivers. As far as "2-Dimensional" sound....I wonder if there wasn't a Sensitivity issue at work with one, or more components Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops Posted July 15, 2006 Author Share Posted July 15, 2006 Chops, Thanks for posting the photos, it looks like you have a number of things going on. I noticed the DIY bass traps. Could you tell us a little about them & their design & construction and what the impact has been? Good Luck, -Tom Sorry Tom, but I'm at a loss here. What are you referring to as bass traps? I only ask because I don't have any. [8-)] Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 Chops, Thanks for posting the photos, it looks like you have a number of things going on. I noticed the DIY bass traps. Could you tell us a little about them & their design & construction and what the impact has been? Good Luck, -Tom Sorry Tom, but I'm at a loss here. What are you referring to as bass traps? I only ask because I don't have any. [8-)] Charles My mistake, I remembered the incorrect photo. Steamer had also posted a photo of his setup which included some acoustic treatment in the corners. Whoops.... -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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