Hey guys, I have a pair of speakers based on Zalytron's Ariel Focal Utopia drivers and TC90 tweeter. I found an Electra center channel using similar drivers and the same tweeter for less than the cost of the drivers alone, used, so I decided to buy it and modify the crossover to match the one in my other speakers. I can't, differen't woofers and later generation tweeter measures different and requires different values, but anyway here is my question.
The Inductors are all aircore, around 20 guage, but mounted flat and pretty close to each other. I always hear people talk about how inductors need to be mounted in alternating orientations so as not to interfere with each other. Why would Jm Labs on a, I believe, 1600 dollar center channel make such a simple mistake? Is it simply more mass producable? Is the interference issue really pretty minor and not worth the hassle for them, but easily accomplished when done DIY?
Also wanted to mention I bought the generic Black hole 5 material sold at parts express, enough to do all three speakers. The main speakers have 3/4" enclosures with about 1" front baffles. The center channel is constructed out of 1" front, about 1" sides, and 3/4" rear panels, or so. I replaced the carpet pad felt insulation used in all of the speakers with the black hole like matariel. I can't really measure the enclosures to give actual differences, but the knuckle rap test shows a very obvious difference. Currently the left speaker has the upgrade, and the right speaker does not. When I wrapped on them back and forth, my gf looked at me and said, "Why do they sound different?" I hadn't told her I was doing it, nor does she know that such products exist, so to me, that says it did something. I haven't done enough listening yet to know if I hear any different. I also upgraded the Axon capacitors with Clarity Cap SA caps all bypassed by .1uf caps for larger value caps. That made a distinctive differerence in the sound of the tweeters, but nothing that noticable in the midrange. Next I plan to change the inductors on the tweeters with copper foil inductors, and for now I'm going to just replace the factory inductors on the center channel with 15 guage air core, mounted correctly. At some point I want to design a crossover similar to the one used on the other speaker but designed around the newer different drivers, but I dont have time to create the files I need to do that.
The Inductors are all aircore, around 20 guage, but mounted flat and pretty close to each other. I always hear people talk about how inductors need to be mounted in alternating orientations so as not to interfere with each other. Why would Jm Labs on a, I believe, 1600 dollar center channel make such a simple mistake? Is it simply more mass producable? Is the interference issue really pretty minor and not worth the hassle for them, but easily accomplished when done DIY?
Also wanted to mention I bought the generic Black hole 5 material sold at parts express, enough to do all three speakers. The main speakers have 3/4" enclosures with about 1" front baffles. The center channel is constructed out of 1" front, about 1" sides, and 3/4" rear panels, or so. I replaced the carpet pad felt insulation used in all of the speakers with the black hole like matariel. I can't really measure the enclosures to give actual differences, but the knuckle rap test shows a very obvious difference. Currently the left speaker has the upgrade, and the right speaker does not. When I wrapped on them back and forth, my gf looked at me and said, "Why do they sound different?" I hadn't told her I was doing it, nor does she know that such products exist, so to me, that says it did something. I haven't done enough listening yet to know if I hear any different. I also upgraded the Axon capacitors with Clarity Cap SA caps all bypassed by .1uf caps for larger value caps. That made a distinctive differerence in the sound of the tweeters, but nothing that noticable in the midrange. Next I plan to change the inductors on the tweeters with copper foil inductors, and for now I'm going to just replace the factory inductors on the center channel with 15 guage air core, mounted correctly. At some point I want to design a crossover similar to the one used on the other speaker but designed around the newer different drivers, but I dont have time to create the files I need to do that.
Hello,
Coil inductance leads to crosstalk.
That's very bad between amplifier channels, but nearly negligible in a speaker channel.
Changing 20ga to 15 ga coils *seems* good, *unless*
Unless the DC resistance is an integral part of the intended design.
The resistance change will effect something called Q.
Qes and so Qts will change.
I've deliberately used small inductors at times because my drived didn't have the Q I wanted.
Maybe it'll be an issue for you, maybe not.
But be aware 🙂
Coil inductance leads to crosstalk.
That's very bad between amplifier channels, but nearly negligible in a speaker channel.
Changing 20ga to 15 ga coils *seems* good, *unless*
Unless the DC resistance is an integral part of the intended design.
The resistance change will effect something called Q.
Qes and so Qts will change.
I've deliberately used small inductors at times because my drived didn't have the Q I wanted.
Maybe it'll be an issue for you, maybe not.
But be aware 🙂
Thanks for this information. I finaly got the speaker files in my computer for the drives I have in these speakers and I will put in the design to see if it changes things. I don't believe the lower resistance will cause a problem as so far it doesn't appear to be changing the predicted response in a negative way. Having said that, it doesn't seem like an idea design and I once again am considering a better crossover design. The crossover design that Elliot at Zalytron designed for his Aria version of the kit seems to do a much better job of flattening the response and taming the tweeter. However, it does lower efficiency a bit, and also I am finding the crossover much too large to fit into the speaker cabinet. I need to just build that and see what I get I suppose.
I'm suprised there aren't any comments on the dampening material "experiment", I might just make a new post to discuss that, see what others think.
I'm suprised there aren't any comments on the dampening material "experiment", I might just make a new post to discuss that, see what others think.
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