Better woofers for Optimus Linaeum LX5?

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I have a mint pair of Lineam LX5s, and while their high end is amazing, the lower octaves leaves a little to be desired. I've stuffed the ports with straws as suggested by others and that helped somewhat. I'm wondeing if anyone has upgraded the LF driver in these puppies? It's a 5 inch polyproprolene job and looks pretty cheaply made.

What did you use and how were the results?
 
*applies defibrillator to aging thread*

I have a pair of these which need new woofers... now.

Back in the day, the preferred woofer upgrade for the LX5 was the SEAS MP14RCY/P, or the Audax HD13B25H8-4CP12 (even more ancient).

Eric Wallin and Larry van Wormer published details of the SEAS upgrade, and recommended crossover changes. The article can be found on the waybackmachine, at
Eric Wallin's Internet Homepage

A couple years back, one of my LX5s developed the dreaded loose-turns-on-the-voice-coil rattle*(1) after an ambitious listening session, and I replaced the driver with my one good remaining Audax HD13B25. Now the foam surround on the surviving original woofer is cracking and threatening to disintegrate, so, time for action.

I spent some time searching Solen, Madisound, and Parts Express for every 5.25" woofer on the market, with attention to the 136.5mm mounting bolt circle, surround to rear-mount baffle clearance, T/S parameters, Xmax, and non-$tupid price. After looking at (what seems like) hundreds of drivers, I can declare a clear winner.

It is the Scan-Speak 15W/8434G00.
fs=45Hz
Qts=0.25
Xmax=+/-4.2mm
86.9dB/1W/1M (ouch)

It's 3dB less efficient than the SEAS MP14, and Le is .8mH vs .65mH. I just ordered a pair from Solen, along with the crossover parts to do basically the same crossover Larry V.W. designed for the SEAS MP14, adjusting the zobel part for voice coil inductance. I'll tweak from there after measuring, and may have to pad the Linaeum tweeter a bit... we'll see.

I still love the sound of the Linaeum tweeters (no, they aren't like good waveguides), these mini-monitors have endeared themselves here despite mediocre traditional measurements.

Details of the upgrade will follow when I receive my parts. darn, more than I spent on the speakers in the first place, but ya know... it's a mini-monitor love affair.

*(1) I've disassembled woofers, re-epoxied loose voice-coils, and re-assembled the drivers with good success before, Bicycle Playing cards are your Friend :D But, these Rat-Shack drivers weren't worth the effort.

-Peter
 
Larry Van Wormer told me that he felt that the original R/S mid-woofers weren't actually that bad if you used Mod-podge and painted a total of 5 "spokes", with two coats (1 inch wide) on the cone from the dust cover dome, out to the surround. Also needed was chassis damping and wool felt glued on the inside of the woofer's spokes. There are a few posts that Larry Van Wormer and I have done on different forums and I think that includes this one. They have a number of additional tweaks and mods not included on the original post.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
Larry Van Wormer told me that he felt that the original R/S mid-woofers weren't actually that bad...

True, Terry, they've been one of my go-to "small systems" for many years, and I've never found them that offensive. But, with foam surrounds failing and one voice coil stuffed, I decided it was time for the woofer transplant.
If it was just the foam, I'd give the R/S woofers a reprieve. The Scan-Speaks and xover parts are ordered. I'll do some work on the enclosure to improve stiffening and damping while I'm at it.

Cheers,
Peter
 
Rational35, in your search for replacement 5 inch woofers did you run into this $22 Hi-Vi? It is said to be a prefect drop-in.
Hi-Vi L5-8R 5" Woven Kevlar Cone Woofer

That looks like a good drop-in replacement, you can't really go wrong for the price.

I ended up using these: Faital Pro 5FE120 @ $46

They're about 3db more sensitive, with some baffle-step added to the crossover and the ports sealed up they sound pretty darn good. Twice the price of the Hi-Vi option, though.
 
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Andersonix-- I'd go with the $22 HiVi- it's got good reviews in the application, and 3.65mm Xmax is respectable.

The mcm only has 2mm Xmax, the Lineaum deserves a more capable woofer than that.

When you're in there, add a zobel network ( 6.8 Ohm resistor in series with a 5.6uF capacitor, wired across the woofer terminals). Any further crossover tweaking is a wank, unless you're gonna do serious measurements and simulations.

Don't worry too much about letting the smoke out of the Linaeums, mine have seen some rambunctious use and just carry on
 
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Thanks for the encouragement, '35!
I got a pair of the Hi-Vi from Madisound, and indeed it's an even more perfect fit than the originals and looks every bit the business in the LX5. Even the terminals are perfect. All that's needed to replace them is a No2 Phillips. The hardest part is getting out the rubber grill plugs so one can access the screws behind them. It is necessary to also remove the terminal plate on the back to push the plastic front baffle off the cabinet from behind. The tweeter and its grill can stay in place for the woofer replacement (although I removed these for vacuuming).

These Kevlar woven cone Hi-Vi woofers have a very nice clean articulate sound on their own out of the box. Its Qts of 0.7 makes me think it would be a nice OB candidate, maybe even without any xo...?

I just removed and replaced the old woofers without any other xo or cabinet mods, thinking I'd get back to those later if they seemed lacking. But I think the speakers with the new woofers sound much better then before (but I haven't really cranked them either), so I'm going to just leave them alone and give them back to my friend. I'll miss them...

Conclusion: EVERYONE with this Optimus Pro LX5 should replace the stock woofers with these Hi-Vi L5-8R!
 

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I have just ordered 2 x Hi-Vi L5-8R 5" Woven Kevlar Cone Woofer
L5-8R for my Genexxa Linaeum LX5 speakers. I have tweeters from Aura LS-SAT6 speakers which are closed baffle mounted versions of the Linaeum tweeter. Would anyone know if the crossover point and sensitivity is the same as the normal Linaeums the Genexxa came with please? (I sold the original tweeters years ago.) Many thanks.
 
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