pics of my first filter

[jaygeorge1979]

and i do want criticisms...i know its not great, its my first time building one so thats my excuse ...i want to know what i did wrong, what i did right, what i might try next time, etc....

my main question is this: did i position the two coils correctly? i know they are supposed to be at different angles, but i didnt know if one should be laying down, or if they should both be side by side, or if how i have it is fine...what is a good way to be sure?

thanks

[badman]

The overall layout looks fine, but sloppy. Lots of space between coils is a good thing. I'd try to shorten my connections- see if there's a way to reduce some of the space between components while still keeping the coils oriented similarly. Certainly, there's no reason you should need to use extra wire, point-point should be sufficient.

[jaygeorge1979]

while im still waiting for replies, i figure ill ask something else...

since the two capacitors are to be wired in parallel, i decided to start by soldering the two caps together and they soldering the resistor and inductor to the end of the combined caps...but when i was holding the soldering iron on the wire coming out of one of the caps, i realized that i might be damaging the caps with the heat? did i mess up? is there any way to test if the caps are ruined?

[jaygeorge1979]

Originally posted by badman
The overall layout looks fine, but sloppy. Lots of space between coils is a good thing. I'd try to shorten my connections- see if there's a way to reduce some of the space between components while still keeping the coils oriented similarly. Certainly, there's no reason you should need to use extra wire, point-point should be sufficient.

thanks badman...

not for saying im sloppy tho for the input...i spaced everything out cuz i didnt want to run out of room but now i realize that everything can go much closer together without all that extra wire...do i need space between coils, or differnet angles? i have heard both

[tinitus]

Like you have heard about coils - you need both - angle and space - AND one of coils should lie down - you might be able to hear how to angle coils while listening to music

It will be a good idea to draw correct schematic - and then mount components in exact same way - to awoid mistakes, and because it is very important to do both filters exactly the same way, and I mean exactly, with solders and all. Good luck

[jaygeorge1979]

thanks tinitus...thats what i figured...i just didnt know which one to lay down...but now i guess if i lay it down, give it space, point it in different directions, and make sure i cant see one coil thru the hole of the other, then everything should be ok...i am gonna build the second crossover the way you describe it, and see if i cant find a noticiable difference in sound...if so, ill tinker with it to correct it

OR i could try to mimick the second one the same way, but it was kinda trial and error getting all to go together corrrectly...if anything, i would rather build the second one more accurately, then fix the first if any sound differences exist

thanks

[phidauex]

If the inductors aren't perfectly aligned, I can promise you that you won't notice. If they are really terrible, you may, but don't stress about it.

As in all things sensory, your ears are not perfect measurement instruments, and won't notice the minute change in inductance. However, your ears are GREAT at detecting small differences between things, so if your two filters aren't exactly the same, you may notice that.

So whatever you end up doing for layout, make sure its the same for both!

Don't worry about overheating the caps, its pretty hard to do on something that big. If you are ever concerned about heat damage, clip a fat alligator clip to the lead between the solder joint and the capacitor, it'll sink some of the extra heat off.

peace,
sam

[jaygeorge1979]

thanks for the input sam...

i was thinking about it, and im just gonna go ahead and build the two identical...well...maybe not identical, cuz i totally sucked on the first one...as far as inductors are concerned, i am going to align them as similarly as possible...

good tip with that alligator clip...imma try it tonight