Hello, I acquired a pair of Wharfedale XP2 speakers last year. They were for sale locally and not something very often seen "across the pond" here. But I always loved English speakers and also own two pair of B&W DM series speakers. But I digress.
The speaker cabinets were in fair shape needing some refinishing and a bit of patching. I love the way they look. I do not believe the owner ever realized that the grilles are removable. These are an 8" woofer 3 way configuration. I have seen mostly 10" XP2 models so am confused.
I love the appearance of these speakers, but they do sound a bit dull and muted in the mids and highs with a bit of boom or "boxy" tone to the bass. This could be due to the diminished mids and highs the speakers seem to exhibit. All drivers are operational, but I would think there would be a bit more clarity than there is.
Note: See Attched crossover schematic.
What I am wondering about is the crossover network design, condition, and schematic. I did trace it out and think I have it correct; but it is really puzzling and quite different in the mid range driver circuit particularly. I did check all the capacitors in the crossover with an analog meter and get decent meter charge and "bounce" when the meter leads are then reversed, so the capacitors are at least operational with little or no apparent leakage. The rear label on the speaker states: Crossover 1KHz & 4.5KHz 6db and 12db Per Octave.
I am looking for assessment of this crossover design as it seems unconventional to me at least in the mid range area. I would like to increase output in the mid range and tweeter to see if the speaker can become a bit less muted in these areas. I was thinking of experimenting by eliminating the 0.2mh coil in the tweeter circuit and the 8uf capacitor in the mid range circuit just to see if mids and highs improve a bit. Thoughts?
Rather Different Wharfedale XP 2 8" 3-Way Speaker
The speaker cabinets were in fair shape needing some refinishing and a bit of patching. I love the way they look. I do not believe the owner ever realized that the grilles are removable. These are an 8" woofer 3 way configuration. I have seen mostly 10" XP2 models so am confused.
I love the appearance of these speakers, but they do sound a bit dull and muted in the mids and highs with a bit of boom or "boxy" tone to the bass. This could be due to the diminished mids and highs the speakers seem to exhibit. All drivers are operational, but I would think there would be a bit more clarity than there is.
Note: See Attched crossover schematic.
What I am wondering about is the crossover network design, condition, and schematic. I did trace it out and think I have it correct; but it is really puzzling and quite different in the mid range driver circuit particularly. I did check all the capacitors in the crossover with an analog meter and get decent meter charge and "bounce" when the meter leads are then reversed, so the capacitors are at least operational with little or no apparent leakage. The rear label on the speaker states: Crossover 1KHz & 4.5KHz 6db and 12db Per Octave.
I am looking for assessment of this crossover design as it seems unconventional to me at least in the mid range area. I would like to increase output in the mid range and tweeter to see if the speaker can become a bit less muted in these areas. I was thinking of experimenting by eliminating the 0.2mh coil in the tweeter circuit and the 8uf capacitor in the mid range circuit just to see if mids and highs improve a bit. Thoughts?
Rather Different Wharfedale XP 2 8" 3-Way Speaker
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Hi,
The 10" version was called the Glendale.
Nothing that odd about the crossovers mid polarity.
The 10uF in series with the mid looks way too small,
its the mid high pass, and given the tweeter has 4.7uF,
and the bass has 4mH, 100uF is much more like it.
Replace the caps with cheap modern bipolars anyway.
Increase the stuffing density, leap frogging each box as
a comparison, it will get better up to point and then get
worse with too much. I assume its lightly filled with BAF.
rgds, sreten.
The 10" version was called the Glendale.
Nothing that odd about the crossovers mid polarity.
The 10uF in series with the mid looks way too small,
its the mid high pass, and given the tweeter has 4.7uF,
and the bass has 4mH, 100uF is much more like it.
Replace the caps with cheap modern bipolars anyway.
Increase the stuffing density, leap frogging each box as
a comparison, it will get better up to point and then get
worse with too much. I assume its lightly filled with BAF.
rgds, sreten.
Thank you for the reply. Yes, I was considering replacing the capacitors with new along with some redesign possibly. It just seems to me that the values and design as it exists stifles a lot of signal. Including th 26uf cap across the woofer. It certainly does keep any highs out of the woofer, and kids two, which I found a bit odd given it is only an 8" system. The 100uf cap for the mid sounds interesting since there is not a lot coming out of it nor the tweeter. As I said, the whole speaker sounds pretty muted. I "stacked" a pair of Minimus 7's with these XP2's and the improvement was immediate in overall sound. More detail and clarity.
There is a fair amount of bluish-gray wooly looking material inside the cabinet. . . more than I have seen in some. Also, the midrange has a full length tube filled with batting inside the cabinet. The midrange is open backed.
There is a fair amount of bluish-gray wooly looking material inside the cabinet. . . more than I have seen in some. Also, the midrange has a full length tube filled with batting inside the cabinet. The midrange is open backed.
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The woofer filter and the 10 uF on the mid are absolutely correct for a crossover at 1 kHz. But the 4.7 ohm resistor bypassing the midrange coil is very unlikely to me. It attenuates the upper midrange and causes a very low speaker impedance above 5 kHz (< 3 ohm!). Try values in the range of 22 - 100 ohm until it sounds best.
The woofer filter and the 10 uF on the mid are absolutely correct for a crossover at 1 kHz. But the 4.7 ohm resistor bypassing the midrange coil is very unlikely to me. It attenuates the upper midrange and causes a very low speaker impedance above 5 kHz (< 3 ohm!). Try values in the range of 22 - 100 ohm until it sounds best.
I think the 4.7ohm resistor is in series with the midrange voice coil/33ohm resistor combination. So. .. if the mid range is assumed to be 8ohm we would have:
8x33=264 divided by 41 (8+33) = 6.439 + 4.7ohms. . . . approximately. Right?
Not signal impedance but close DC resistance.
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