'Upgrading’ my tweeters (can I do this?)

the binding posts I have circled in red are the red ones on the outside where the speaker wires connect to the amp.

It seems to be reverse polarized, very unusual. 🤔
Take a 1.5V AA or AAA size battery, connect to the speaker plus and minus according to the color of the terminal. Bass diaphragms have to go forward, out of the box. If it's the other way around then it's wrongly connected. Then you will have to move the terminals according to the color so that everything is in phase.
 
simply the + goes to the black binding post and the - goes to the red binding post
It was not done correctly, in my opinion. I would do it properly now, when everything is disassembled, I would definitely put the red connector on the plus, the black on the minus. It does not affect the correct operation of the speakers, but some speakers sound noticeably different when the phase is reversed, some don't. It is generally considered that this is a consequence of the fact that in most loudspeakers the motor is not symmetrical drive type, and the THD changes depending on the phase of the signal. I don't know if that's true, maybe some other factors play a role. Maybe those speakers sound better with the phase reversed? My drivers are all symmetric drive and there is no audible difference no matter how I set the phase. It's not just a matter of speakers, some devices (say some tube preamplifiers) reverse the phase of the signal. In general, you should try and leave it in the position in which it sounds better, if there is a difference in general.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tone?
Where is @Galu ?

I'm having a break at my holiday home where the internet connection is weak and intermittent.
I'm trying to catch up, but the current slowness of my system means that your huge photographs take ages to load.
It may help streamline the thread if you were to use the "Attach files" button to attach your photographs instead.
 
the ground of the 18uf ( woofer circuit) and the ground of the 0.22uf inductor ( tweeter circuit) are on the red binding posts.

is that ok?

I can't see your photographs, but by referring to the circuit diagram, it will be OK if both the + and - terminal connections are reversed.

The important thing is that the woofers and the tweeter all 'push/pull' in the same direction, which they will.
 

Attachments

  • ProAc DT8 Crossover Type.jpg
    ProAc DT8 Crossover Type.jpg
    84.6 KB · Views: 65
  • Like
Reactions: tone?
It was not done correctly, in my opinion. I would do it properly now, when everything is disassembled, I would definitely put the red connector on the plus, the black on the minus. It does not affect the correct operation of the speakers, but some speakers sound noticeably different when the phase is reversed, some don't. It is generally considered that this is a consequence of the fact that in most loudspeakers the motor is not symmetrical drive type, and the THD changes depending on the phase of the signal. I don't know if that's true, maybe some other factors play a role. Maybe those speakers sound better with the phase reversed? My drivers are all symmetric drive and there is no audible difference no matter how I set the phase. It's not just a matter of speakers, some devices (say some tube preamplifiers) reverse the phase of the signal. In general, you should try and leave it in the position in which it sounds better, if there is a difference in general.

makes sense
I don’t think a company such as Proac would allow a speaker of theirs to sound worse tho by ‘ incorrect’ wiring.

dont know man
 
I don't know if that's true,
It is, but it depends on the amplifier as well, so it isn't something that can be known about at the factory. It also depends on the two together.. if there are similar amounts of asymmetry and they are significant then there may be a noticeable difference. Unfortunately it also tends to change with level so it's best to keep distortion low to begin with and then this shouldn't make a difference.
 
makes sense
I don’t think a company such as Proac would allow a speaker of theirs to sound worse tho by ‘ incorrect’ wiring.

dont know man
The problem with ’speakers sounding different when the polarity is switched (or phase reversed)‘ probably is that no one could reproduce the sheer number of inversions of the original signal, because inverting is likely done all the time down the signal path. And even with any odd number of inversions the phase would be off anyway…
 
The issue we are talking about is called the absolute polarity of the recorded signal and there is evidence that it doesn't really matter, but there are some that prefer to do things by the book and that's ok. The distortion issue is a separate local matter.

As markbakk says, the signal gets reversed in polarity a lot during the production process... every component may or may not reverse it until who can remember any more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NIXIE62 and tone?