LOL, how do you find this stuff.
The music, the drugs, the 'attitude' is toxic IMHO.
Dan.
Same but different, the Young brothers are toast (one is dead) and Brian Johnson isn't in much better condition.
AC/DC are interesting from side/back stage from production point of view, but the onstage SPL evidently does no favours long term.
Dan.
SPL, I thought we were talking attitude Steve Albini has an attitude but is fairly untouched by the music biz excesses. YouTube
Hi Ray,
It's a dreaded "White Paper". Advertising disguised as an informational piece with useful information, but it is just a sales tool. It does contain some useful information, such as what Saul Marantz did later in life. I'm afraid that it really goes adrift in part two of the article.
-Chris
It's a dreaded "White Paper". Advertising disguised as an informational piece with useful information, but it is just a sales tool. It does contain some useful information, such as what Saul Marantz did later in life. I'm afraid that it really goes adrift in part two of the article.
-Chris
By 'attitude' I mean the gang/gun/drug culture/violence etc inherent in the hip hop world.
IMO Steve Albini has a healthy attitude, including his no respect for the 'pop music industry' which has always been run by 'gangsters in suits'....now it's real gangsters.
Uber high SPL coming from 'bad' equipment is not healthy IMHO.
Try swapping out that old lead solder for lead free solder alloy of your choice at speaker driver terminals and crossover network.
Ever so slight change in conductivity does not explain the change in sound.
Dan.
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Hi Ed,
Your midrange and tweeters are probably a bit higher in level now compared to what they were like when brand new now. I have had the pleasure of hearing DQ-10 speakers on occasion throughout my life, and they are pleasant speakers to listen to. For the last number of years I've used PSB Stratus Gold (original) speakers. They reveal any defect in the system and at first I didn't like the highs. After I fixed the problems in the system I really like them now.
If there is one part of an audio chain that has been massively improved over the years, it would be the loudspeaker, whichever type you like for your system. I imagine you will enjoy the DQ-10 speakers for many years to come. Do try the tweeter improvements. Every single customer I performed these changes to reported back that the highs were a great deal smoother and enjoyable to listen to. Tweeters we have today are even better. You should stay with the 1" dome though. Some hard dome tweeters are also a lot better than they were in the past. But most 1" dome tweeters will be a vast improvement over the AD0162Tx and the piezo combination. If you just disconnect the piezo, the high highs will go missing. Whether we can hear that or not at our ages is a whole 'nother debate!
-Chris
Of course! But they were voiced using those types of components originally. By replacing the old units with comparable new ones you would return to the sound they made when new. I completely agree with everyone that the capacitors you chose were better in every respect, except maybe in the current carrying department unless you used foil instead of film types. Old film capacitors are usually lower in capacitance than they should be because they self-heal by losing conductive film over the years.
Your midrange and tweeters are probably a bit higher in level now compared to what they were like when brand new now. I have had the pleasure of hearing DQ-10 speakers on occasion throughout my life, and they are pleasant speakers to listen to. For the last number of years I've used PSB Stratus Gold (original) speakers. They reveal any defect in the system and at first I didn't like the highs. After I fixed the problems in the system I really like them now.
If there is one part of an audio chain that has been massively improved over the years, it would be the loudspeaker, whichever type you like for your system. I imagine you will enjoy the DQ-10 speakers for many years to come. Do try the tweeter improvements. Every single customer I performed these changes to reported back that the highs were a great deal smoother and enjoyable to listen to. Tweeters we have today are even better. You should stay with the 1" dome though. Some hard dome tweeters are also a lot better than they were in the past. But most 1" dome tweeters will be a vast improvement over the AD0162Tx and the piezo combination. If you just disconnect the piezo, the high highs will go missing. Whether we can hear that or not at our ages is a whole 'nother debate!
-Chris
Swapping same value PP for old BP inevitably increases mids/highs levels, and with lower distortions.
I have found that sometimes it is beneficial to slightly reduce the value when 'upgrading' to PP caps.
Have you measured this ?.....I would not expect PP caps to flash over when used in domestic loudspeaker application.
Yes, to be expected.
I have also found that bridging existing BP with 0.1uF or 0.22uF PP makes an economical and worthwhile improvement without changing sensitivities and/or crossover points too much.
Dan.
Chris,
I do have the gear to measure the system and will actually let some if my guys do that as an excercise. To my ear the change is so great....
Max,
Film caps really do drop in value. In one piece of gear that I used to use it was a regular service problem. Finally managed to take one of the failed capacitors apart and you could see the burn path in the metalized film layer. That is why I use stacked film/foil capacitors for any capacitor that has to carry current above a few milliamperes. The ones that failed ran about 20 mA or so.
Dimitri,
Nice find, May the George be with you.
I do have the gear to measure the system and will actually let some if my guys do that as an excercise. To my ear the change is so great....
Max,
Film caps really do drop in value. In one piece of gear that I used to use it was a regular service problem. Finally managed to take one of the failed capacitors apart and you could see the burn path in the metalized film layer. That is why I use stacked film/foil capacitors for any capacitor that has to carry current above a few milliamperes. The ones that failed ran about 20 mA or so.
Dimitri,
Nice find, May the George be with you.
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Sure, for caps operated at or above rated voltage self healing flash overs may occur, and this causes reduction in plate areas and effective capacitance value.
Are you saying that this is occurring at voltages lower than ratings ?.
Anybody have figures for plate lengths and widths for say 1uF PP film caps ?.
What is the conductance (resistance) of the vacuum deposited (very thin) metallic film ?.
Are you saying that self heating is the culprit in the case of the failures that you observe ?.
Dan.
Capacitors were used well below voltage rating!
Only know what the film looked like afterward. Capacitors were never warm to the touch.
My shop lighting uses capacitors also. They are "oil" filled types. For about every two light bulb changes we also have to change the capacitors. They are rated for quadruple the line voltage.
Only know what the film looked like afterward. Capacitors were never warm to the touch.
My shop lighting uses capacitors also. They are "oil" filled types. For about every two light bulb changes we also have to change the capacitors. They are rated for quadruple the line voltage.
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Generally the lowest cost metalized film caps are rated at 50vdc for speaker xovers. maybe, if lucky, 100vdc. However, that rating is marginal at best..... stretching things a bit.... The AC rating is less. They arc internally starting right at the marked dc voltage rating (peak-to-peak ac voltage) and burn away plate area. Nice feature vs film/foil which short. But doing so over time decreases the C of the cap and you affect the cross-over freq/performance.
A mil spec'ed part or built for the long life telecommunications industry will actually QA/QC test at 2X or 2.5X the rated dc voltage. Such as an audiophile fav does.... MultiCap or Rel-Cap. Same goes for the caps used for ac line filtering apps.
THx-RNMarsh
A mil spec'ed part or built for the long life telecommunications industry will actually QA/QC test at 2X or 2.5X the rated dc voltage. Such as an audiophile fav does.... MultiCap or Rel-Cap. Same goes for the caps used for ac line filtering apps.
THx-RNMarsh
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Thanks Dimitri for the valuable service linking Ed’s article.
I enjoyed the reading and what is behind.
Ed, is the following (2nd paragraph past the schematic) a suggestion to counterbalance the electrical asymmetry by the asymmetry of the acoustic load?
George
George,
It just points out that the assumption that a low distortion drive will not guarantee low distortion output may not hold. Over the years a number of folks have used asymmetric drive to do everything from lower costs to reduce distortion. In high power systems using compression drivers you have a rarefaction limit but not a compression one. So deliberately lengthening the rarefaction time and decreasing the compression time allows safer or greater output. The HF distortion that results is often well above any frequencies that are perceptable and also greatly attenuated by air loses.
Then there are some folks who find a bit of the right type of distortion improves the sound they prefer.
Summary don't count something out. Also not things will sound differently depending on what some call polarity.
It just points out that the assumption that a low distortion drive will not guarantee low distortion output may not hold. Over the years a number of folks have used asymmetric drive to do everything from lower costs to reduce distortion. In high power systems using compression drivers you have a rarefaction limit but not a compression one. So deliberately lengthening the rarefaction time and decreasing the compression time allows safer or greater output. The HF distortion that results is often well above any frequencies that are perceptable and also greatly attenuated by air loses.
Then there are some folks who find a bit of the right type of distortion improves the sound they prefer.
Summary don't count something out. Also not things will sound differently depending on what some call polarity.
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Hi Dan,
Film capacitors in crossover applications have to carry currents in excess of their ratings as a rule. That, plus voltage peaks will cause shorts that burn themselves open. So when you hear that a capacitor is "self healing", this is what they are referring to.
Before people get going on this, in every case the before and after distortion has been lowered and there is less "grass" in a spectrum display. Some products actually respond strongly to this type of work. I wouldn't do this kind of work unless there are real, measurable improvements.
-Chris
Film capacitors in crossover applications have to carry currents in excess of their ratings as a rule. That, plus voltage peaks will cause shorts that burn themselves open. So when you hear that a capacitor is "self healing", this is what they are referring to.
I got busy with my soldering iron and matched some transistors, replaced the various capacitors with types that measure better in dissipation and voila, a really nice sounding amplifier. I do these kinds of upgrades by request on customer pieces.
Before people get going on this, in every case the before and after distortion has been lowered and there is less "grass" in a spectrum display. Some products actually respond strongly to this type of work. I wouldn't do this kind of work unless there are real, measurable improvements.
-Chris
Hi Chris.
Sure, I well understand the self healing concept/mechanism.
A bit of 'light' reading just now reveals other failure modes including moisture ingress causing plates corrosion and impurities in the plastic films used.
So film caps are not so reliable/immutable as we would like to think even when used within voltage ratings.
Ok, I thought you meant you modified the speaker crossovers.
But capacitor Dissipation Factor can't possibly make any difference at audio frequencies
.Dan.
I think you mean pre-distorting changing the zero crossover (time) would create lots of new frequencies.
Some numbers on SPL and non-linearity of air while listening to DQ-10's with a 10W amp might be useful.
Hi Dan,
Oh yes it can!
There are some sensitive locations where the capacitor is very important. Especially when the frequencies are low enough to create a voltage drop across the capacitor.
As far as the other capacitors are concerned, refreshing them is a good practice since most of the components I get are from the mid 70's and up.
-Chris
Oh yes it can!
There are some sensitive locations where the capacitor is very important. Especially when the frequencies are low enough to create a voltage drop across the capacitor.
As far as the other capacitors are concerned, refreshing them is a good practice since most of the components I get are from the mid 70's and up.
-Chris
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