B&W 803D crossover caps

Dhl: I have a bit of recent experience, although with a different speaker. This summer I threw caution to the wind and did some nice crossover upgrades to my Tyler Woodmere speakers. I wanted to share my results in a dedicated thread, but I wanted to give you my thoughts now, so that you could have a bit more information to help you.

I swapped out the SEAS Millennium tweeters for the new SEAS Beryllium tweeters (exact size and fastener swap). I already had the Mundorf Silver/Gold/Oil tweeter cap. I am very, very pleased with the result. I did, naturally, swap resistors also, to match sensitivity as required. I won't go into a long rant, but this is super nice now. Multiple high freq instruments now are played simultaneously with realistic separation and space of each. Nothing harsh or tinny. And the presence is superb.

The tweeter mod was so nice, it made me long for better-defined midrange, especially upper mids where they are approaching high frequencies, as the mids did not measure up to these great high freq notes. Midrange caps are 120 uF, and I bit the bullet and bought six Mundorf M-Cap Supremes which total that capacitance. Yep, they are a big bunch of caps that take a lot of space. Well....was it worth it?? Hell Yes! A good bit of break-in was required, and right off the bat I only noticed more separation in upper mids. But as they broke in, I am getting a ton more definition, air and bass. Much more lower midrange/upper bass coming through now. The midrange drivers are 7", and in the big Woodmere enclosure I get gobs of bass. That is the biggest adjustment for me. I keep asking myself- is it realistic, or just bigger? Those big midrange caps are nearly broken in now I reckon, and I think it is both bigger and more realistic. I accomplished exactly what I was hoping to do in keeping up with the new tweeters.

Best part is that these improvements, while significant, do not ruin the overall sonics of the Woodmere speakers. They have simply been woken up. I could not be happier. Hope this gives you a bit of confidence to try your luck.

Dhl: My project was really different than yours, and it is not a direct comparison at all. Sorry if I failed to make that clear.

Tweeter upgrade was only drivers. I had already started with the S/G/O, so my only variable was the driver.

Midrange upgrade was only capacitors. I originally had a single Solen cap and replaced it with six Mundorf M-Cap Supremes. No further comparison. I went about as far as I could go, given the large cap values of the mids. I think that set me back about $900.

Sorry I have no direct comparisons between other caps.

Giving it another try to help here, after re-reading your scenario. For my project, I read all the cap shootout opinions and took my chances. My beryllium tweeters really like the SGO, but I cannot say more. Absoutely zero objections.

For the mids, I read in more than one cap comparison report that M-Cap Supremes shine in the midrange. After a lengthy break-in, I can agree, although I hear more lower-mid pronouncement than upper-mid (in my rig and in my room- an extremely important qualification that cannot be ignored). I also seem to recall reading that M-Cap Supremes, in crossover applications, yield a better result than EVO, which led me to the M-Cap Supremes for my midrange caps. For about $200 per speaker, you can try two 18uF plus one 10uF, which will yield nearly your 47uF target. To me, it makes sense to try that one first. Took about 20 hours to sound decent, and 50 hours to sound good. After that, they just kept getting better, with more sound and detail coming through. But that was compared to the Solen cap.

Good luck, and please keep us posted.