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HELP AFTER MY MODS, My tweeters are subdued and weak-

So I have a pair of Mirage M1 speakers, I changed the caps in the crossovers to Jantzen Superior Z (for the tweeters) and standard z for the mids and bass.
 
I also changed the internal cabling to Supra Classic 2.5.

First Impressions-  Not burned in yet
The highs are there but really recessed in the background. Theres a song I reference and it has a steel guitar solo, I can bearly hear it through the vocals because its seems recessed so far back.

SO HERES THE QUESTION- Is that a symptom of unburned in cables and or caps, or is that just what Supra cables give you?

When I changed the internal cabling a few years back on the same model speaker, I used DH LABS t14 Silver plated cable, This had the opposite effect, it was super bright and fast, but it smoothed out and the brightness relaxed, leaving a lot of detail but not so much your ears bled.

But here its the opposite, its dull on the top end and the vocals kind of take over and blur out the top end.

idahifi
timlub
2,039 posts
 
@erik_squires  
Sean,  to make this easy, without driving you crazy,  I believe Eriks last advice is the most sound,  replace the caps except the 2 2200 mic caps,  I suspect that you'll be fine... 


idahifi OP
100 posts
 
I don't think leaving the old electrolytic caps in place is the solution. First, the jantzens ( when Tara cables not used), sounds far superior than the old caps being used with the Tara cables. So if I was going to throw my hands up , I would keep the jantzens and hunt for cables that didn't give me issue's. I tried those belden 5000 cables and didn't have issues and it sounded pretty good. 

Also this hasn't been driving me crazy, I've learned a lot and have enjoyed the project. 

I'm going to buy that meter test those caps, make sure there all good, and try and buy  resistors that compensate for any disparity. 

And if that does nothing, and I'm ready to give up, then I'll try different cables till I get the sound like I know it's supposed to be. 
That's the plan, but for now I've gotta move, so I'll be on a little break for a week or two
erik_squires
15,667 posts
 
Hi Ida,

I'm not advocating you keep all the old caps. Just the one's in parallel with the drivers. Those "shunt" caps.

So long as you are having a good time and learning new things, have at it.

What you might also enjoy, if you get Room EQ Wizard, is measuring your system impedance with the caps. Also measure the individual driver impedance (in box)

Then you can use something like XSim to simulate most of it and play around with different cap ESR in simulation. This will really help you see what is going on.

Best,

E
idahifi OP
100 posts
 
Eric, I thought you said that a in series resistor that compensate for the low esr of the film caps would correct the problem. Did I misunderstand?
timlub
2,039 posts
 
Sean,  I see that you are going to purchase a meter... The one that  I posted is more of a general speaker builders tool.  It doesn't offer esr ratings,  but it will measure capacitors,  resistors and Inductors all 3. If you aren't worried about speaker design then you can purchase a simple cap meter.  Tim 
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