Speaker crossover mod. Your advice?

Byron, Just by looks, I'd say your parts are correctly labeled. A 10mfd Polypropylene is in general about the same size as a 100mfd electrolytic... In general only, different configurations are all different. I have a couple of .47mfd Teflons, they are larger than a 200mfd Electrolytic. The small cap values that you quoted look to be polypropylene, the larger value caps are definately electrolytics. Your coils all look to be reasonable quality, I would not mess with those, it could cause more problems than helping, replacing the electrolytics will make the biggest difference. After that, you will need to spend some money on replacing the Polyprops to make much of a difference. When you make the change, don't be immediately upset if there isn't a huge improvement, caps take time to burn in just like electronics do. Good Luck, Tim

Also, Byron, I just went up and read Jeff's recommendations for sonic craft, he is right on. He is recommending some expensive parts. I am a really cheap mug. I would recommend that you go on flea bay. Do a search for Polystyrene capacitor... you will find some 1.0 mfd russians come up, these are great caps, use a good polyprop 1.0 mfd shy and then use the polystyrene as a bypass, you won't find a better bang for the buck. Like wise do a search for Teflon Capacitor. These two russian caps compete with caps 10x their price. Be aware, these are BIG parts. You might even find some larger value Polystyrenes or Teflons, they do exist, just hard to find.
Good luck, Tim

Jeff/John - I will get a meter to measure the capacitance of the midrange caps before replacing them.

Timlub - Thanks for the recommendations. I will take a look.

And thanks again to everyone for your input. I will report back after I have ordered and installed the parts to let you know how things turn out.

Bryon

Hello Bryon,

I have a Focal 1027 BE spreaker, which is simular to your 1027 S. I like the detailed sound very much, but what I am dissatisfied with, is the midrange. Its to thin and lightweight.
So I am thinking of a modification and found this thread.
I analysed the crossover circuit. It has as your 1027 S, the same layout, board and parts except C1 for the beryllium tweeter section, which has 3.9uF instead of 3.6. The inductors (winding, size) looks very much the same.

Since it is reported by other users, that the sound of the 1027 S is warmer and more filling especially in the midrange, I would like to check, wether the sound can be adapted to the 1027 BE.

Mid and tweeter have on both speakers the same crossover frequency, which is about 2.2 kHz. So this can not be the difference. The used mid chassis in the BE version is Focal 6 W 4361. Can you tell me, which one is build in the 1027 S (top chassis of the speaker)?

Either they used different mid chassis or they modified the inside of the box. Maybe there is no path through below the mid or tweeter to the woofers (closed chamber). Did you make photos from the inside or do you remember how it looks like?

Sorry for my poor english, hope you understand it.

louk

Hi Louk - I have the same speakers that you have, the 1027be.

I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking about the crossover, the drivers, or the enclosure?

Bryon