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"Parts upgrade" on crossovers -Any experiences?

I remeber upgrading the crossovers of a pair of B&W DM12's with esoteric resistors, caps and wiring (about 10 years ago). In the end I got a different speaker. The bottom end seemed improved and the highs were more delicate and smoother, but the midrange had lost some of the magic. I could not deal with the decreased midrange quality so I re-soldered most of the parts back to the crossovers but left the upgraded wire (the wire in there looked like tined copper and was tied with a Molex connector to the board!). I changed the parts since I felt that early 80's speakers could only benefit from higher quality parts and was worried that the cap values might be out of spec. I am currently using a pair of KEF 101 and I've been thinking about upgrading crossovers with Solen Caps, maybe some Caddok Resistors and Cardas or Kimber wire. The KEFs sound great but if I can get more out of them, I might give it a try. Anyone do similar upgrades with an increase in ALL aspects of your speakers performance...or have BAD results...or find the end result a mixed bag of better here, but worse there (like me)? Also, any input on what parts / brands to use and which not to use? Are Solen caps good choices (or are there others that work much better for this application)? Resisters Brands?
I am purposely leavig out the issue of active crossovers (don't want to find 4 identical monoblocks to run my speakers).
one_audiophile

Showing 1 response by bigtee

bigtee
803 posts
 
The TRT Dynamicaps are very, very sensitive to heat. Too much and you change the sound(actually not all that much heat) Also, it is very easy to break the soldered leads of the caps. I have resorted to heat sinking the caps leads so as not to damage them.
As for which is better, the Dynamicap or the Auricap, I find I personally like the sound of the Auricap. In filter use, it seems to impart nothing to the sound as the Dynamicap seems to add a minute touch of grain IMO. I also feel the Auricap is a little better built in absolute terms.
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