Hey everybody,
I'm new here and am certainly a DIY'er by nature. I generally gravitate towards cars (antique volvo's) and woodworking and have a decent understanding of electricity and circuitry. But, while i LOVE music and a 'good' stereo, i'm fairly ignorant when it comes to speaker design, etc.; so bear with me here if I stop making sense.
About a month ago I negotiated a trade for some ESS AMT-1's. My existing speakers were some Magnavox 3-ways that sounded good to me---better than the previous sets of speakers that had floated my way over the years. I certainly could have stayed with them (still have 'em), but the ESS's have this allure that makes me want to bail on the magnavox's.
After listening to the ESS's for a bit, it seems to me that the highs sound really good, but the mid's and low's leave something to be desired; what low's i have sound punchy to me. (BTW, i'm using a Marantz 2230 receiver/amp.) At some point, a previous owner replaced the woofers with 8 ohm 10" MCM 55-1215's. I suspect the crossovers have been fiddled with (currently: 2nd-order with 55 uF /75 V cap on the HPF; 20 uF / 50 V cap on the LPF; not sure of the inductor values).
So, for the last few weeks i've been doing some research to find a way to make these things sound better. From what I can tell, I should be able to get a significant improvement by replacing the crossover and using a high efficiency woofer with broad frequency response (and minimal impedance spikes throughout this range).
Here's The Plan: replace the crossovers first, then replace the woofers when budget allows (thus requiring me to design the crossover around these future-woofers). The cabinets will be kept as-is, since I really like the visual design of them (i did warn you that i won't make sense sometimes).
After looking at frequency response and impedance plots, and reading various testimonials, it seems that a good crossover point would be 2200 Hz. And, after reading a bit about crossovers, it seems as though a 4th-order Linkwitz-Reilly would be a good choice (i can isolate the inductor pairs in small Faraday cages).
So, does this sound OK to the experts? I'm not going for ultra-high-end power-driving insanity. Just want some speakers that sound pretty darn good.
Also, any suggestions for brands/suppliers for crossover components would be appreciated (i've been shopping at mouser, but suspect this may be a bad idea). Woofers too.
And, I get ~6 ohms across the Heil's with an DMM (i know this is no proper way to measure impedance). This would lead me to believe that they are 8 ohm. However, most info on the interwebs says they should be 4 ohm. What gives?
Thanks!
ryan
ps. sorry for the long windedness.
I'm new here and am certainly a DIY'er by nature. I generally gravitate towards cars (antique volvo's) and woodworking and have a decent understanding of electricity and circuitry. But, while i LOVE music and a 'good' stereo, i'm fairly ignorant when it comes to speaker design, etc.; so bear with me here if I stop making sense.
About a month ago I negotiated a trade for some ESS AMT-1's. My existing speakers were some Magnavox 3-ways that sounded good to me---better than the previous sets of speakers that had floated my way over the years. I certainly could have stayed with them (still have 'em), but the ESS's have this allure that makes me want to bail on the magnavox's.
After listening to the ESS's for a bit, it seems to me that the highs sound really good, but the mid's and low's leave something to be desired; what low's i have sound punchy to me. (BTW, i'm using a Marantz 2230 receiver/amp.) At some point, a previous owner replaced the woofers with 8 ohm 10" MCM 55-1215's. I suspect the crossovers have been fiddled with (currently: 2nd-order with 55 uF /75 V cap on the HPF; 20 uF / 50 V cap on the LPF; not sure of the inductor values).
So, for the last few weeks i've been doing some research to find a way to make these things sound better. From what I can tell, I should be able to get a significant improvement by replacing the crossover and using a high efficiency woofer with broad frequency response (and minimal impedance spikes throughout this range).
Here's The Plan: replace the crossovers first, then replace the woofers when budget allows (thus requiring me to design the crossover around these future-woofers). The cabinets will be kept as-is, since I really like the visual design of them (i did warn you that i won't make sense sometimes).
After looking at frequency response and impedance plots, and reading various testimonials, it seems that a good crossover point would be 2200 Hz. And, after reading a bit about crossovers, it seems as though a 4th-order Linkwitz-Reilly would be a good choice (i can isolate the inductor pairs in small Faraday cages).
So, does this sound OK to the experts? I'm not going for ultra-high-end power-driving insanity. Just want some speakers that sound pretty darn good.
Also, any suggestions for brands/suppliers for crossover components would be appreciated (i've been shopping at mouser, but suspect this may be a bad idea). Woofers too.
And, I get ~6 ohms across the Heil's with an DMM (i know this is no proper way to measure impedance). This would lead me to believe that they are 8 ohm. However, most info on the interwebs says they should be 4 ohm. What gives?
Thanks!
ryan
ps. sorry for the long windedness.
You really just have to partshop. Digikey and mouser are cheaper on different things and tube suppliers usually have high power resistors cheaper then both of them.
Putting your air transformer at 2k2+ cuts out alot of your low end.
most subwoofers operate best under 100hz so you may need to keep your magnavox to fill in the gap.
Other then that you will have to let someone who knows what theyre doing post xD
Putting your air transformer at 2k2+ cuts out alot of your low end.
most subwoofers operate best under 100hz so you may need to keep your magnavox to fill in the gap.
Other then that you will have to let someone who knows what theyre doing post xD
Hi,
I'd contact Gary Pimm, he has plenty experience with this speaker and modifications and he's a sensible guy who know's what he's talking about.
Gary Pimm's website/
I'd contact Gary Pimm, he has plenty experience with this speaker and modifications and he's a sensible guy who know's what he's talking about.
Gary Pimm's website/
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