Richard Allan 3 way speakers - Crossover Wiring Problem
Hi Guys,
I have a pair of Richard Allan 3 way speakers. There are date stamps from 1969/1970 on the speakers. It's old school, but cool.
Speaker A: sounds fantastic and has all original speakers and what I presume is the original crossover wiring.
Speaker B: sounds really muddy and terrible. On further investigation it sounds like the signal for the lows is being sent through the mid, and that the mid signal is being sent through the woofer. This speaker has had the Mid replaced at some point, and it appears that someone also rewired the crossover.
I think that I need to rewire speaker B, but wanted to get some advice before I do it to make sure I don't break anything. Here are the details:
I'm a complete newbie, but I traced the wiring and drew out my own crude diagram, and even to a novice the basic layout (of speaker A at least) does make sense (see the attached photos).
NOTE: I don't need comments on how the crossover can be improved - only on how to correct speaker B.
A) Based on my very limited knowledge, Speaker A appears to be correctly wired through the inductor for the woofer and via a capacitor for the tweeter. This speaker also sounds great, so I'm using this as my model for a good working setup.
B) Speaker B appears to be wired wrong. Based on (A) as a model, the output from the Inductor is going to the mid (which is the low signals I think) and the woofer is now wired up to get the low signal.
Is there any reason why I can't rewire Speaker B to be exactly the same as Speaker A? I'm going to give it a go, but thought I'd check in case there was a good reason why it has been rewired differently to handle the new Mid speaker??
Hi Guys,
I have a pair of Richard Allan 3 way speakers. There are date stamps from 1969/1970 on the speakers. It's old school, but cool.
Speaker A: sounds fantastic and has all original speakers and what I presume is the original crossover wiring.
Speaker B: sounds really muddy and terrible. On further investigation it sounds like the signal for the lows is being sent through the mid, and that the mid signal is being sent through the woofer. This speaker has had the Mid replaced at some point, and it appears that someone also rewired the crossover.
I think that I need to rewire speaker B, but wanted to get some advice before I do it to make sure I don't break anything. Here are the details:
I'm a complete newbie, but I traced the wiring and drew out my own crude diagram, and even to a novice the basic layout (of speaker A at least) does make sense (see the attached photos).
NOTE: I don't need comments on how the crossover can be improved - only on how to correct speaker B.
A) Based on my very limited knowledge, Speaker A appears to be correctly wired through the inductor for the woofer and via a capacitor for the tweeter. This speaker also sounds great, so I'm using this as my model for a good working setup.
B) Speaker B appears to be wired wrong. Based on (A) as a model, the output from the Inductor is going to the mid (which is the low signals I think) and the woofer is now wired up to get the low signal.
Is there any reason why I can't rewire Speaker B to be exactly the same as Speaker A? I'm going to give it a go, but thought I'd check in case there was a good reason why it has been rewired differently to handle the new Mid speaker??
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8" Dual Cone Speaker
DC8-30
Go for it.
What you have in the original is 8" running full range with bass augmentation via the series inductor/12'', and highs augmentation via the series caps/tweeter.
In the non original, the 12'' is running full range, with the inductor feeding the mid AND the tweeter....whoever wired this is a goose....no doubt it sounds awfully wrong.
The original's wiring is valid...the theory is that the 8'' covers the entire vocal range...no crossover/filtering to damage the all important mids.
The question is what does the Dai-1chi sound like ?...it should be pretty ok but for sure not the same as the original, and the sensitivity may differ also.
I would rewire as per original example and hear what you get.
What are the capacitor values ?....if they are different try swapping them between boxes and compare.
If you like the Dai-1Chi, you can get more from Dc8 30, 8" Dual Cone Speaker, Dc8 30 | Wagner Electronics, wagneronline.com.au.
Neither cabinet will be particularly accurate but they should be quite good fun.
Dan.
@Max - thanks for the advice. That is very helpful.
I'll rewire to match the original and see how we go from there.
I don't imagine that these are the most 'accurate' of speakers, but for a novice like me they are still brilliant - so yes, great fun
The capacitors are the same in both boxes and have the value "2.0 +-10%, N 200 V" written on them.
And the non-original box does sound awful - hence the investigation to get it fixed!
I imagine that the Dai-1chi don't be great. I'm going to keep an eye out for an original Richard Allan 8" to replace it with if I can, if for no other reason that to have the set be more 'authentic'.
I'll rewire to match the original and see how we go from there.
I don't imagine that these are the most 'accurate' of speakers, but for a novice like me they are still brilliant - so yes, great fun
The capacitors are the same in both boxes and have the value "2.0 +-10%, N 200 V" written on them.
And the non-original box does sound awful - hence the investigation to get it fixed!
I imagine that the Dai-1chi don't be great. I'm going to keep an eye out for an original Richard Allan 8" to replace it with if I can, if for no other reason that to have the set be more 'authentic'.
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