First off thanks for all the great info on this forum. Work from home gave me the opportunity to get back into the audiophile world but this time not buying my way in (though I did get some nice Schitt gear and a 660s Sennheiser for the home office). I was going to upgrade the speakers for my desk too when I thought about my college speakers in the crawl space, a pair of Infinity RS2000 from the 80s with foam that was dry and brittle. Found out I could refoam the speakers so I got that done, pretty easy fix. The sound was sooo much better than the crappy computer speakers from BestBuy. While doing my refoam recon, came across a Zobel network mod, basically a 4 ohm 10 watt resistor in series with 24uf (22+2.2) caps (in parallel) installed across the terminals on the woofer to improve the bass. I think it zeroes out the high frequency from the woofer voice coil but I'm not 100% sure. Might be the placebo effect but I think it sounds much better, more bass which is what the RS2000 were missing. Next up is a class D amp and a Sex kit from Bottlehead for the holidays. Will need to work in some DIY 3 ways as well. Only flicked hot solder on me once! Stupid 2 size female disconnects on the tweeter, needed reverse polarity on the tweeter and tried to solder them to the terminals...stupid is as stupid does
A zobel across the driver terminals will definitely reduce the upper frequencies. It will also change its crossover slope and that might not be so good. Has this mod been tested by someone with measurements to back it up? It’s fine to have it but needs to be integrated into the XO design from the beginning. Just adding it may or may not ruin the existing XO network.
Here's an article that helps describe what a Zobel does in a speaker crossover network.
A Speaker Maker's Journey: Crossover Basics - The Zobel
A Speaker Maker's Journey: Crossover Basics - The Zobel
In order to keep the explanation 'general purpose' (so that it stands up to examination)... The end result here is achievable with or without this zobel, so it is the relative interaction of the circuit in general that makes the change, and the sound pressure response is what represents the sound.
In my opinion it seems grevock has a speaker that previously had inadequate crossing with regards to cone breakup, and has increased that crossing. However the blending of the current situation is unclear, and grevock's testimony that it sounds better says that it is worth being looked into.
In my opinion it seems grevock has a speaker that previously had inadequate crossing with regards to cone breakup, and has increased that crossing. However the blending of the current situation is unclear, and grevock's testimony that it sounds better says that it is worth being looked into.
Good question. Saw it in a couple of places, mainly here: Infinity RS2000 Speaker Help -
Techtalk Speaker Building, Audio, Video Discussion Forum
This convinced me to take a shot. I did pull up the Zobel network calculator but didn't have a good number for the voice coil inductance on the woofer. It definitely sounds as good if not better so definitely worth it IMO.