Improving Tannoy Saturn S8

[renatas]

Hello all,

after moding my cd player I decided to open-up my Tannoy S8. First impression was not that good at all. There is a lot to do with cabinet improvements, but I can handle that. I've looked at crossover also, but I'm a newbie and don't know if it's worth doing something with it. I've attached schematics of it. Crossover frequencies are 400 / 1.5 kHz. Here is small description of components:
C1 - 2.4uF MPT
R1 - 2.2 R white ceramic resistor
C2 - 30uF, 100V, NP Elytone cap
R2 - 5.6 R white ceramic resistor
L1, L2 - coils with core, diameter of wire is about 1 mm.

As I understand C2 is candidate for replacement. Would it be beneficial to change L1 and L2 to air coils? Maybe some changes to schematics would be beneficial?
I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

Renatas

[tktran303]

I would recommend replacing the inductors with air-core, and caps with polypropylene. Whether or not it will sound better, or just different, I don't know.

I guess that to be sustainable, commercial speaker manufacturers must remain profitable. Hence the low quality parts and cost cutting, even at the mid-high end (and the Saturn series is certainly that). I've long come to realise that clever engineering is getting a $1 part to sound like something that costs $10.

I've heard the Saturn S8's, and thought they sounded pretty nice (sweet and coherent)

[renatas]

Thanks! Should I go for the same capacitance polypropylene cap instead of the electrolytic Elytone NP (30uF)?

[tktran303]

Yes that's right. Same values of capacitance.

[sreten]

Hi,

Some would argue that as C2 (+R2) are in parallel with the driver
acting as a Zobel, any losses in C2 are not important. That is
upgrading the capacitor will have minimal effect. And that if such
a capacitor was in series it would make much larger difference.

I'd say the critical component you could upgrade is the mid series inductor,
I'd leave the larger (much more expensive) low frequency inductor alone.

Without measuring equipment you cannot improve the schematic.

/sreten.

[renatas]

Originally posted by sreten
Hi,

Some would argue that as C2 (+R2) are in parallel with the driver
acting as a Zobel, any losses in C2 are not important. That is
upgrading the capacitor will have minimal effect. And that if such
a capacitor was in series it would make much larger difference.

I'd say the critical component you could upgrade is the mid series inductor,
I'd leave the larger (much more expensive) low frequency inductor alone.

Without measuring equipment you cannot improve the schematic.

/sreten.

Thanks Sreten for your input. Would it make sense to change C1? It is a polypropylene cap, but maybe changing it to a known good quality MKP cap would make sense? Or it's just waste of money?

[kepa1]

My advice, change both caps !

For the 2,4µF chose a good MKP audio grade cap like SCR or basic Mundorf, they come cheap and can be found easily. Yet they have a natural, pleasant sound.

I guess you should stick to electrolyctic for the 30µF, it is a very high value for MKP. Elna is a good candidate, as famous as Black Gate but a lot cheaper.

That should be a real improvment over the stock sound...

Best

[renatas]

Have somebody tried to use big MKP caps that are used in washing machines? They are cheap and may be an alternative for electrolytics.

[Sonusthree]

Originally posted by renatas
Have somebody tried to use big MKP caps that are used in washing machines? They are cheap and may be an alternative for electrolytics.

Thanks for the tip Renatas. My Zanussi has never sounded so good.