Hello DIY,
Here is a question for someone who is generous with their knowledge and time, so thanks in advance for taking the time to consider this project. I am a neophyte, I can use a soldering iron and I can do what I'm told, but I know next to nothing about the math or electronics behind the design. But I would love to learn.
I have a pair of Kanazawa KS-54H speakers in beautiful cabinets. Four-way, 12" woofer, cone mid, 2.5" cone tweeter, horn tweeter. They sound awful, mostly because of two blown woofers. My original impulse was to have them re-coned and rebuilt by a local pro and recap the crossovers myself, but the 4-way design seems silly with the little paper cone tweeter and the 16 ohm load seemed hard on a unique 6L6 (two output tubes per channel) stereo integrated. The maker generously improved the 6L6 design (and I only refrain from using his name because I don't want to seem to say something negative about his build, it is a work of art and sounds fantastic), but these speakers and the amp are a gift for a good friend and I want them to sing together for many years.
So I thought about dropping in Dayton 12" replacement "classic" woofers, but they are only 4 or 8 ohm, so then I thought, if I'm going to recap the crossovers anyway, why not simply get a ready-made, assembled Dayton crossover and replace three of the drivers to make this an 8 ohm speaker. This would cost about $250, retail from PE. After taking the speakers directly to a pro, this is the easiest thing to do, it seems. But what would you enthusiasts recommend? I'd like something simple, less than the cost of drop-in replacements, and something pretty efficient (something the 6L6 outputs can easily handle). I'm not asking anyone to design speakers for me, but advice or pointing me in the right direction would be great. I assume this would be a ported cabinet, as I understand they are more efficient, but I can go either way.
Here is a link to an AK thread that has more information and pictures of identical cabinets; if you scroll down, there's an interior shot of the four drivers.
Kanazawa - anyone here familiar with these speakers? | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums
It's audio blasphemy, but realistically the source will be iTunes streaming to an iphone, then bluetooth to an Amazon Basics bluetooth receiver, then into the line-level tube integrated, then to the speakers. She listens to everything from Yann Tiersen to the Scissor Sisters at low to moderate volumes. My goal is to get my friend slowly into hifi.
Well this is probably TMI but thanks for listening and thanks in advance for your advice. I do have a life goal of understanding audio better, but it's a slow process.
Here is a question for someone who is generous with their knowledge and time, so thanks in advance for taking the time to consider this project. I am a neophyte, I can use a soldering iron and I can do what I'm told, but I know next to nothing about the math or electronics behind the design. But I would love to learn.
I have a pair of Kanazawa KS-54H speakers in beautiful cabinets. Four-way, 12" woofer, cone mid, 2.5" cone tweeter, horn tweeter. They sound awful, mostly because of two blown woofers. My original impulse was to have them re-coned and rebuilt by a local pro and recap the crossovers myself, but the 4-way design seems silly with the little paper cone tweeter and the 16 ohm load seemed hard on a unique 6L6 (two output tubes per channel) stereo integrated. The maker generously improved the 6L6 design (and I only refrain from using his name because I don't want to seem to say something negative about his build, it is a work of art and sounds fantastic), but these speakers and the amp are a gift for a good friend and I want them to sing together for many years.
So I thought about dropping in Dayton 12" replacement "classic" woofers, but they are only 4 or 8 ohm, so then I thought, if I'm going to recap the crossovers anyway, why not simply get a ready-made, assembled Dayton crossover and replace three of the drivers to make this an 8 ohm speaker. This would cost about $250, retail from PE. After taking the speakers directly to a pro, this is the easiest thing to do, it seems. But what would you enthusiasts recommend? I'd like something simple, less than the cost of drop-in replacements, and something pretty efficient (something the 6L6 outputs can easily handle). I'm not asking anyone to design speakers for me, but advice or pointing me in the right direction would be great. I assume this would be a ported cabinet, as I understand they are more efficient, but I can go either way.
Here is a link to an AK thread that has more information and pictures of identical cabinets; if you scroll down, there's an interior shot of the four drivers.
Kanazawa - anyone here familiar with these speakers? | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums
It's audio blasphemy, but realistically the source will be iTunes streaming to an iphone, then bluetooth to an Amazon Basics bluetooth receiver, then into the line-level tube integrated, then to the speakers. She listens to everything from Yann Tiersen to the Scissor Sisters at low to moderate volumes. My goal is to get my friend slowly into hifi.
Well this is probably TMI but thanks for listening and thanks in advance for your advice. I do have a life goal of understanding audio better, but it's a slow process.
Hi, 16 ohm woofer impedance is lesser of a load to an amp than an 8 or 4 is. The lower the number value, the greater the current that amp has to supply. So I'd stick with original woofers, have these repaired and use the whole set with a new XO filter. The greatest issue is that nobody can do anything useful without proper measurements of your drive units in the cabinet. So your job would be to find information on how to setup measurement gear ( microphone, sound card, software suite), measure impedance and frequency response and then upload these so people can work with these files in a simulator. That's quite enough of a work.
In short, you place one speaker with all the drive units in it, wires of each unit through a small cabinet hole to the outside and measure each unit's response at a single spot in space in a room as large as you can find with obstacles as far away from microphone, usually on tweeter axis about 1m away. These measurements include all the influence of the baffle and that's what we want to work with.
Folks mostly use 2 measurement suites, ARTA and R.E.W. Search the forum.
In short, you place one speaker with all the drive units in it, wires of each unit through a small cabinet hole to the outside and measure each unit's response at a single spot in space in a room as large as you can find with obstacles as far away from microphone, usually on tweeter axis about 1m away. These measurements include all the influence of the baffle and that's what we want to work with.
Folks mostly use 2 measurement suites, ARTA and R.E.W. Search the forum.
Thanks Lojzek! I guess there is no simple plug-and-play answer. Well the testing is little bit beyond me right now, but there's no time like the present to learn. I will get the woofers repaired ASAP and then proceed with the next steps you outline.
Thanks again and I'll post progress for the next Kanazawa rebuilder.
Thanks again and I'll post progress for the next Kanazawa rebuilder.
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