Replacing the inductors was a waste of time and likely the caps too, with maybe an exception of C1. There's nothing wrong with the Solen caps considering the speaker was voiced for them by design.
Going hog wild on a crossover which is "highly engineered" using premium components to begin with is almost always going to result in heartache and a massive hole in your wallet on top of it. Thats sort of like taking a wino from the street corner out to dinner at a high end french restaurant.
Sorry, it just doesn't make sense unless you take a scientific approach with lots of measurments before and after, validatiing the component choices.
Going hog wild on a crossover which is "highly engineered" using premium components to begin with is almost always going to result in heartache and a massive hole in your wallet on top of it. Thats sort of like taking a wino from the street corner out to dinner at a high end french restaurant.
Sorry, it just doesn't make sense unless you take a scientific approach with lots of measurments before and after, validatiing the component choices.
I'd like to think the photos are presented upside down and actually show the restoration of a classic loudspeaker to its original undamaged condition.
Knowing that it it is a DUNLAVY SC III from 1996 made with particular attention it is a pain to see that.
IIRC the 9500 acts a drop-in for these D27 quite well. But myself I would never leave it with the crossover unchecked. Just my 2ct.
So he spent time and $$$ to replace everything in that board, in the process he properly soldered L1 leg which was broken and now he finds it sounds better?
Of course!!! What else????
But he might just have soldered the broken wire, for exact same end result.
"Annoying"???
Sure enough, I would also be very annoyed if I had done all that work for nothing, when actual problem was just a silly broken wire.
I, and I suspect, many others have really enjoyed some of you destroying yourself over this 🙂
Should I put you all out of your misery ?
Or should I annoy some to the point of utter disbelief ?
Ohhhhhhhhhh ok then.
Friend recently bough these Dunlavy SC III speakers.
He had them delivered to me as he was away for work.
On arrival they were given a thorough check over.
They sounded awful. And I mean really really awful.
Quick listen to each driver revealed one dead tweeter that was measured as being open circuit.
As others have said and know, these are Vifa D27TG35, Very easy and cheap to get replacements here in Australia.
Owner and I had several discussions about what to do.
I had a pair of SS 2905-9500 on the shelf which after looking at spec sheets and response curves etc, seemed like a really good match but better.
It was decided to put these in as an interim as there was nothing to lose.
To keep things even I swapped out both.
Way better than the vifas.
Far smoother, more extended, far less issues with the lower end.
Friend finished his contract and came over to have a listen.
They still just did not sound right.
I looked at the crossovers, and by look I mean fully disassembled.
Every part was tested using my $800 b&k LCR meter.
That explains the bass inductors cut lead.
Everything tested fine.
I decided to upgrade all the parts.
I Hate solen caps, I Hate bennic resistors, Some of the inductors were hand wound and had loose windings.
I didn't like the 0.56DCR of the bass inductor (Which is over the general 10% of driver to inductor DCR that is often quoted as acceptable).
I used Jantzen Standard-Z caps (the little black one is a Cross-Cap as Standards don't go that low)
Jantzen Superes resistors.
Jantzen air cores that if required I unwound to the exact inductance of the originals (to the 4th decimal place).
The DCR is within a few percent of the originals.
The only deviation was the bass inductor which is now a C-core at 0.07DCR
The end result is an absolute revelation.
So much smoother and cleaner through out the entire range.
Far tighter bass with more depth and control.
My friend came back and had another listen and was astounded at the improvement.
They are now at his place being fully enjoyed as they should be.
I know there are those that will hate me for life with what I have done.
But they sound so much better so I really don't care what the internet thinks.
Other than watching the explosion of some peoples heads 😛
It is after all what my friend thinks that matters.
Feel free to continue all the arguments and hating 😀
Should I put you all out of your misery ?
Or should I annoy some to the point of utter disbelief ?
Ohhhhhhhhhh ok then.
Friend recently bough these Dunlavy SC III speakers.
He had them delivered to me as he was away for work.
On arrival they were given a thorough check over.
They sounded awful. And I mean really really awful.
Quick listen to each driver revealed one dead tweeter that was measured as being open circuit.
As others have said and know, these are Vifa D27TG35, Very easy and cheap to get replacements here in Australia.
Owner and I had several discussions about what to do.
I had a pair of SS 2905-9500 on the shelf which after looking at spec sheets and response curves etc, seemed like a really good match but better.
It was decided to put these in as an interim as there was nothing to lose.
To keep things even I swapped out both.
Way better than the vifas.
Far smoother, more extended, far less issues with the lower end.
Friend finished his contract and came over to have a listen.
They still just did not sound right.
I looked at the crossovers, and by look I mean fully disassembled.
Every part was tested using my $800 b&k LCR meter.
That explains the bass inductors cut lead.
Everything tested fine.
I decided to upgrade all the parts.
I Hate solen caps, I Hate bennic resistors, Some of the inductors were hand wound and had loose windings.
I didn't like the 0.56DCR of the bass inductor (Which is over the general 10% of driver to inductor DCR that is often quoted as acceptable).
I used Jantzen Standard-Z caps (the little black one is a Cross-Cap as Standards don't go that low)
Jantzen Superes resistors.
Jantzen air cores that if required I unwound to the exact inductance of the originals (to the 4th decimal place).
The DCR is within a few percent of the originals.
The only deviation was the bass inductor which is now a C-core at 0.07DCR
The end result is an absolute revelation.
So much smoother and cleaner through out the entire range.
Far tighter bass with more depth and control.
My friend came back and had another listen and was astounded at the improvement.
They are now at his place being fully enjoyed as they should be.
I know there are those that will hate me for life with what I have done.
But they sound so much better so I really don't care what the internet thinks.
Other than watching the explosion of some peoples heads 😛
It is after all what my friend thinks that matters.
Feel free to continue all the arguments and hating 😀
Lol... one can not complain to look for a hammer when he is showing the picture of a nail without asking about the color of the wall he is interested about.
Anyway if the myth is true, the drivers were sorted out and apaired speaker per speaker with measurements THEN final listening tests by Dunlavy himself at least on the fagships.
Sad one tweeter was broken...certainly due to spl abuse on a first order crossover.
It should had be nice to measure the impedance of the still living tweeter and measuring the loudspeaker curve to a proper study. I would have keeped the Solen for impedance network corection in the low for some reasons.
Had those tweeters some ferrofluid in them? I know also Duntech after has used the cheapest Excell strong tweeter for its larger diameter and Xmax. Dunlavys' were famous about tweeters damages...
No hate, but there are some logic in life. Well the most important is you are happy of your work and friend happyness, you could directly droped a picture of him standing on his long speaker with a banana smile for the monkeys we are. 😉
Anyway if the myth is true, the drivers were sorted out and apaired speaker per speaker with measurements THEN final listening tests by Dunlavy himself at least on the fagships.
Sad one tweeter was broken...certainly due to spl abuse on a first order crossover.
It should had be nice to measure the impedance of the still living tweeter and measuring the loudspeaker curve to a proper study. I would have keeped the Solen for impedance network corection in the low for some reasons.
Had those tweeters some ferrofluid in them? I know also Duntech after has used the cheapest Excell strong tweeter for its larger diameter and Xmax. Dunlavys' were famous about tweeters damages...
No hate, but there are some logic in life. Well the most important is you are happy of your work and friend happyness, you could directly droped a picture of him standing on his long speaker with a banana smile for the monkeys we are. 😉
Problem with the newer version of that tweeter - it isn't nearly as good as the older Vifa SS version. The dome construction, surface treatment and material are very different. And yes, they were hand matched in those speakers. This is why I have 2 pairs of the old D27TG45s as backup for my last pair of Duntechs. I recently bought a Tymphany branded pair of D27TG35s and they sounded pretty bad in comparison, especially down in lower mids. The magnet asys are also a bit different on these. Duntech used to put a layer of dampening on the tweeter back chambers to cure the slight 2k peak.