Modified DCM TFE200's......World Reference Now


I can't believe how much better these speakers sound after I cut out the whole side walls of the midrange chamber...its a night and day difference! All my friends are amazed too.....
hifisoundguy
Sherod...I'm not a member of any fraternity. I'm using very low level gear with these DCM's......Modified Marantz pm7001 integrated amp and matching Modified Marantz CD player cd7001 and cables, I'm using Synergistic Research Alpha Quad active (X2)
Would you care to tell us what the rest of your reference system is composed of? And what fraternity you are a member of?
I can't wait for the all new BOSE 901's to come out....the older 901's matched up very close to one of the best sounding speakers ever made....the vintage JBL L150A's... http://www.randallareed.com/JBL_150L%20Speakers.htm
If I COULD I would post pictures! This is a very easy mod to do...Take the midrange driver out and everythng inside out. I cut all the wood around the midrange driver leaving only the front baffle. From the top part of the wood down to the bottom of the midrange driver is 7 inches.....you mark off 7 inches all around the sides and back. The front baffle is 1 inch thick...you mark that off all around the sides and top. Now you just cut out what you just marked off to cut out. Next round off the front midrange baffle....they should only be 3/4 of a inch thick of wood from the top of the baffle down to the top part of the midrange driver...use a jig saw to cut this part off! I rounded the wood off half way around the midrange driver. At the ends of of the midrange baffle its rouned off there....I cut the that rounded part of wood off..on the back side of the midrange baffle you can see where to cut this off. Next take out the crossover board and take off the tin hookups from the crossover board and put in the hookup wires from the crossover board out to the speaker cables. Next put the midrange driver back on and hook up the hookup wires going from the midrange driver down to the top hookup wires...for the mids and highs. That's all there is to it your done with this mod! THESE SPEAKERS NOW SOUND SPOOKY REAL...........LIVE!
I had a party last weekend and these speakers were the talk of the party! Now they all want a pair!
What's the point of "sharing" a great discovery if you're not willing to truly share it?

Alas, I feel this exercise is as much a waste of time as everything else I've ever seen from you HFSG.
Sorry....no way to post pictures right now. I will be very busy soon...some of my friends are getting some of these speakers and want me to do these mods on them....They sound DAMN GOOD after these mods are done on them.....
I am just curious to see what it looks like. It also would be interesting to see some frequency response graphs and time pulse graphs on this "Modified" speaker.
Sherod,

Are you really sure you want to see this bastardized DCM speaker? Or are you just in the mood for a good laugh?

Oz
These speakers sounded just fine like they were.....they just sound better with these mods. Another mod I just did was rounding off the top part of the midrange baffle....this made things sound even better! I'm done with the mods now....LATER
If a tree falls on a school for the hearing impaired, does anyone get hurt?

I have know idea what that means, it's just the thought that popped into my head while reading this thread - sorta like a Rorschach test - first thing, you know.
I gotta tell you, I am used to an open box sound - I have had Vandersteen 1Cs for 7 years now. One effect of being a Vandy owner, is that if a speaker has too much box resonance, a boxy sound, I hear it immediately. When I heard the STOCK TFE200s at HE2007, they did not sound boxy in any way. On the contrary, I wondered at how DCM could make a speaker that large, that cheap, without having a really resonant cabinet. Maybe they do sound better all chopped up, but I was extremely impressed with them in stock form.
I hope they're your favorite speakers for the rest of your life. They're worth about $15 now.
If DCM only tried this speaker as a open baffle first I think they would had sold them this way. These speakers sound best with no wood around the midrange driver but the front baffle. They also sounded better with the corners on the midrange baffle cut off. I marked off 2 3/4 inches on each side of the midrange driver at the top of the baffle and cut the corners off at a angle. This improved things even more...drawing you into the music even more!
What I'm trying to figure out is if the DCM speakers sound better with the sides cut out to make them an open baffle, why didn't the manufacturer think of that?
11 out of 18 replies to this post are from the original poster. Shouldn't that merit some kind of Agon award?

Oz
After you heard a GOOD open baffle speaker your never go back to a BOX speaker again!
I used woods yard master patio cord from Wal-Mart for hookup wire for my DCM's mod ... http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html
My bose acoustic wave music system 2 sounds better than my 901's. I hope they come out with a better 901 speaker this time around with the series 7.......
Well...my DCM's are sounding better now I put hookup wires from the crossover board out to my speaker cables. I also put hookup wires from the midrange driver down to my speaker cables...this midrange sounds AMAZING wit no crossover cap in its path! I will never sell these speakers now..NEVER! I see that DCM came out with a new speaker model, that means you can get the TFE200'S at a great price now. I'm thinking about getting another pair now.....
To each his own. There is no right answer for what sounds the best or even sounds good to someone. If it sounds good to them, that's all that matters.

Take it easy. The Bose bashing has been done to death for years...give it up.

I promise that if you heard my 901's setup how they are with a good room, you wouldn't say it's the worst sound you've ever heard. May not be the best, but won't be the worst by a long shot.

Chill
Ehider,
I think this thread was started as being serious. If you look at Hifisoundguy's threads, he has regularly praised the Bose line of products.
Seriously, is this thread a joke? The Bose 901 speaker drivers have a manufacturing cost of less than 10 dollars per driver (in quantaties of 1000 mind you). As far as I know, that makes them one of the least expensive drivers in any speaker on the planet for a speaker priced obove $200 MSRP. Perhaps Bose has re-written the laws of high performance driver performance under the 10 dollar mark? Then again, the total build of materials in their Wave radio system had a total build of material cost of less than $40 bucks when I tried to sell them an IC Micro-controller 6 years ago (when I sold IC's). Unfortunately I couldn't get the price below $5 for their Micro and lost the sale. You've got to give this company credit for convincing the masses that 900% mark-up (or more) is actually a worthwhile product worth owning. Then again, is this thread just an off-handed joke poking fun at Bose?
Not much info in that link.

I was wondering how long they'd keep series 6 out. That series was introduced in 1987. Now exactly 20 years later it would make sense to make series 7.

If they can improve the treble and get rid of the port noise they'll be something to look into.
I found out about the all new bose 901's on the ecoustics forum.... forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/1/343260.html If this link does not work do a GOOLE search for..... Bose plans to launch 901's series 7
I think if you pull the woofer and tweeter out and disconnect the crossover you will be blowing away :)
Wont get any better than that , you have done everything else. Keep up the good work
Wow new 901 please keep us posted :)
Update on these speakers...I cut the top and back wood off making this speaker a true open baffle speaker. Now they are only the front baffle with no wood around the midrange. This improved things even more!
Anyone that has these speakers that want to do this mod I posted on how to do this mod on http://www.audiokarma.org on the speaker forum there.......
When I did this mod on the DCM's I also took out all the wood bracing in the midrange chamber. I also put memory foil from Peter Belt on each midrange driver's frame. I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO THESE SPEAKERS NOW!
After listening more, these speakers sound better without the sand pebble tile in the midrange chamber...they sound best with nothing at all in the chamber. Now I'm waiting for the (ALL NEW BOSE 901's) to come out to compare them with the DCM's.......
When I did the mod to these speakers I only put one Sand Pebbles ceramic tile 7.75" sqare by 5/16" thick in each midrange chamber.....I put the tile in the back with one end angled in the top back corner with the Sand Pebbles side facing the back side of the speaker driver......