Need advice on speaker/x-over update


I bought an older pair of Ref 3A Royal Master monitors (actually the 2 piece speaker La Suprema w the lower passive sub cabinet), which I brought to a well-respected speaker repair/re-building shop for updating. I had the brass binding posts replaced w Cardas un-plated copper) and the caps and resistors replaced in the filters (not exactly a crossover, its been described as "The crossover contains special a Musicap capacitor which assures a smooth decline of the characteristics from 3 kHz upwards (-3dB, then 6 dB per octave) and proper impedance corrections. The 21 cm carbon fiber woofer with a special phase corrector is directly connected to the speaker terminals. Anyways same value but much higher quality cap, same value and much higher quality resistor.

After re-assembly, the in-room frequency response of the fabric dome tweeter was down 15 dB (that's right, 15 dB!!!) relative to the woofer. Assuming it's a problem w the tweeter in the updated unit, we tested the "stock" monitor and find the same thing!!! This is a monitor that has been very widely praised as one of the best ever and retailed for $5K in mid-late 90's. Does anyone have any ideas about what could be going in there' and other than "padding down" the response of the woofer w the appropriate resistor(s), does anyone have any suggestions on next steps. Remember, exact same value parts used in "update". I am going to contact Ref 3A tomorrow, but this speaker was built when the company was still in Europe and discontinued before the current owners acquired the line. Any thoughts, boys and girls?
128x128swampwalker

Showing 1 response by rleff

I would speak to Bill Legall of Millersound as he is one of the best in the speaker rebulding and crossover redesign
Phone is 215-412-7700 if interested;no relationship just a very satisfied customer.