Speaker upgrade ranking

dcoil

Albeit I’m a relative newbie poster on the forum, I’ve lurked for several years. I’m a proud original owner of a pair of 2B’s and have loved the SDA sound ever since (that probably gives away the fact that I’m not a young man anymore…:cool:). I saved some coin over the years and picked up a pair of SRS a few years ago and I have a good list of upgrades to do to them thanks to the many posts by dedicated members of this forum. In an effort to give something back to the community I’d like to propose to rank and tabulate some of the many possible upgrades just to see what are the ‘biggest bang for the buck’, and what are the ‘nuance’ upgrades to get that last bit of aural gratification. Raife did this to an extent in his wonderful SDA Compendium which I found very helpful. This would be an ‘update’ with the added benefit of the community experience. I would propose to rank a set of possible upgrades on a 1 – 5 scale for A) subjective/objective audio improvement, time (to make the modification), C) cost, and D) the specific SDA model involved. The 1 – 5 scale for audio improvement would be 1 = minimal, 3 = moderate, and 5 = exceptional with 2 and 4 being gradations in-between. For time and cost I suggest actual values, i.e. cost 1 = < $50, 2 = $50 - $200, 3 = $201 - $350, 4 = $351 to $500, and 5 = > $500 and for time 1 = < 4hr, 2 = 4 – 16hr, 3 = 16 – 28 hrs, 4 = 28 – 40hrs, and 5 = > 40hrs. I have started a list of upgrades from those that I have read as fairly standard to those that are only rarely explored. I think for this first attempt at this, I’d like to keep the modifications confined to the speakers plus the speaker wire. I’d like to include the speaker wire as I think it would be interesting info. Please post suggested scales, and additions/edits/deletions of upgrade categories, etc, or let me know if you think I’m just plumb out of my mind:eek:. I know that room acoustics, equipment, etc. etc. will play a roll in the audio improvements and that most of this will be subjective and as some of you so eloquently state – “YMMV”:biggrin:. If some of you think this is worthwhile, I will tabulate the results and post in a table or spreadsheet format for reference.

Upgrade Categories
1) Tweeter replacement
2) XO caps and resistors
3) XO inductor
4) XO board
5) XO polyswitch mod removed
6) XO polyswitch replaced with resistor
7) Interconnect cable
8) Speaker wire
9) Rings
10) Mortite
11) Binding/interconnect posts
12) Cooking (inductor replacement, interconnect, speaker wire, etc)
13) Spikes

dcoil

No response? OK, I guess I missed the mark on this one... I'll keep thinking!

inspiredsports

Your order is basically spot on. No need to replace the inductor and board in my humble opinion. 1 and 2 necessarily need to go together if you are TL'ing by adding a 5.8uf cap to accomodate the RDO198-1 tweeter which is mandatory, again, in my humble opinion.

I've just added Extreme upgrades upstream of my 2B's and they do not give even a HINT of being the weak link in the chain. TL'd 2B's might actually be the true definition of the oft overused term, "Giant Killers".

Edit: And I forgot to mention that is "just " with Sonicaps. The world of even more highly acclaimed (albeit much more expensive) caps beckons!

Face

IMO, TL'd 2B's are the cream of the crop.

thsmith

I would swap #13 and #10. I realized more benifit with myesound spikes. Using the steel rings I find mortite is not needed.

inspiredsports

thsmith wrote: »

I would swap #13 and #10. I realized more benifit with myesound spikes. Using the steel rings I find mortite is not needed.

Were you able to skip Mortite or gaskets when you installed your rings?

I Karma'd my original gaskets about a year ago, so left the Mortite in place when I installed my rings. I was afraid to go "Commando" on 'em even if it is possible :biggrin:

I've found one of the biggest benefits of spikes even beyond floor coupling is the fact you can align each array of speakers in exactly the same vertical plane.