Heresy II Crossover Rebuild # 2

[kg4guy]

Just finished 2nd Heresy II rebuild went with Sonicaps and non-polarized cap rather than the Kimber Kaps and Solen 68 uf .The Kimber Kaps and Solen Caps do sound cleaner to me.Also if anyone wants these they can have them for the cost of parts as I have 2 pairs.

[Erik Mandaville]

The color of the wood you chose is too light. Darker woods such as ebony and mahogany will give you at least another 20Hz on the low end, not to mention an extra four or five inches in image width and depth.

These are getting better and better, kg4. Are you using some sort of terminal post or solder tie point for connections between the components? Single or multi-lug solder terminal lugs work well, as do the right angle solder 'posts' design for use with barrier strips. Both have eyeholes that will accept small wood screws.

Erik

Great work!

[kg4guy]

Thanks Erik where can you get those single lugs at?

[Daddy Dee]

could you say more about the difference you hear in the caps?

nice job on the crossover. looks good. air core parts look very cool.

[kg4guy]

The Sonicaps sound excellent and I forgot the other Heresy II network is a bit differant in that I used a Super Q inductor not a Solen air core and I also used 1.8 uf Kimber Kaps rather than the 1.5's and a # 16 litz wire Solen inductor rather than a #18 litz wire Solen inductor. The Kimber and Super Q have more bass and brighter on the highs. They both sound nice and what pleases the ears may differ from person to person

[Brac]

Where did that piece of wood come from, it has finger joints like it is alot of little pieces put together????

[kg4guy]

Where did that piece of wood come from, it has finger joints like it is alot of little pieces put together????

This is a piece of birch from Brazil with a factory finish on it. I have a friend who owns a kids furniture co. ,Room Magic, and he had a lot of extra peices of wood so I have all this factory finished birch wood.

[Erik Mandaville]

kg4:

There are a number of sources for solder terminal and barrier strip parts: www.tubesandmore.com (solder terminals) Mouser Electronics, and elswhere. Even Radio Shack has 5 lug solder terminals, but you can also wire caps directly to the barrier strip you're using on the board. Not all connections can be made that way, of course. The connection points can help keep wire in place and from sort of 'flapping in the breeze'. in the past I've used everything from rivets in masonite, to fine solid brass machine screws and nuts. Wow, it's amazing when I think I was doing that 18 years ago. Time goes by too fast. Lots of networks shown here and elswhere on the forum use them, and I'll enclose a couple of picture of my own as an illustration. The coils are hand wound on the first.

Erik

[Erik Mandaville]

And this:

[Erik Mandaville]

And this:

If you look closely, you can see some different ways of doing it, but there are a number of options.

[Erik Mandaville]

Or this little network I made for a pair of monitors that I had first built a pretty high-order series network for (yuk). This simple cap and coil on the woofer is much better, much more open sounding, and around 3dBs louder with the same input than the other. I think high order has some real advantages, but particularly when used at the line level.

I just installed some solder terminals (these are what I use in amp and preamp projects).

Erik

[popbumper]

Interesting comment on Kimber Kaps. I used Kimbers, Auricaps and Solens for three years worth of K-stack builds, but prices have gotten so ridiculous that I have switched over to Sonicaps and Jantzens unless folks want to pay more for the former.

Kimber also recently dropped a number of values, nailing the coffin shut. I guess their sales were not substantial enough. Parts Express quit carrying a lot of their stuff, though Sonicraft still has some values. Auricaps are plentiful, but they are $$$.

A/B of networks using different caps would be an interesting exercise, which is why I keyed in on your comment about the Kimbers vs. the Sonicaps. I personally was hesitant to switch over, but in my short experience (note the word short) they seem OK. I realize that statement doesn't hold much water, and I really haven't spent any time comparing manufacturers to any extent. My impression is that people seem more interested in cost vs. perception, and Sonicaps are quite a bit cheaper, cost wise, than other manufacturers.

Chris

[Erik Mandaville]

Here's something I did that is very much like the ALK universal, using reversed polarity in the mid-high section (due to slope) and a variable L-pad rather than the autoformer. I don't use the autoformer anymore.

[Erik Mandaville]

Daytons are great for the money, and I don't A/B them with anything. I forget about them and listen to music after driving myself crazy with cap and cable comparisons for too long. That is part of the hobby that I remember well, but just don't do too often these days.

Erik

[kg4guy]

Daytons are great for the money, and I don't A/B them with anything. I forget about them and listen to music after driving myself crazy with cap and cable comparisons for too long. That is part of the hobby that I remember well, but just don't do too often these days.

Erik

Very good point.

[Erik Mandaville]

At www.tubesandmore.com

Go to the menu on the left and scroll down to Hardward and Terminal Strips. Some different choices there for the solder lug type. I sometimes don't have any of the single lug types, and so will cut down one with two lugs for what I need. I hope this helps.

Good luck -- you're really doing a nice job with them!

[Erik Mandaville]

An even cheaper but just as effective solution is to use common spade lug terminals. You can buy a small box of the them at a hardware store. What I sometimes do is yank off the insulation on the wire input end, and then bend the lug at a 90 degree angle. Use a small flat-head wood screw, screw to the board, and then wrap once around the upright section of the lug, crimp snug, then solder. For a neater appearance, you can trim the circular cross section which is usually crimped around a piece of wire down to a single vertical length about 3/8" high. cheap and effective.

Erik