Wow. LSi9 Crossover mod... LOL

VR3

What have I gotten myself into with this one!?!

Never seen anything like it

RuSsMaN

Looks like time to loose the 'cup', fashion a milled plate with posts, and run it externally. Just curious, what's the cost on parts in that picture?

Cheers,
Russ

VR3

Well since this isnt my speaker setup I wont disclose cost... I will let Lou do that...

the board is doable - we are going to take the blue ones and mount them to the bottom of the enclosure

RuSsMaN

Are you kidding me? Lou? Ohskigod? Fine, I'll just send him a text, good lord.

hoosier21

will there be any air space left inside the cabinet? I see enough mass in the picture to totally change the internal volume of cabinet, won't that eff up the port tuning?

JimAckley

Lol I guess I'll be looking into external XOs for myself since I see a few parts I'll be using in that picture

silvertuner

oh that looks like lots of fun. be sure to post the "finished" pictures for that lol

megasat16

I don't know how you planning to mount the caps but I think it's best you mount them externally. The size of these caps will take up considerable amount of space which would reduce the internal space required for the drivers to function properly as they were initially designed. By reducing the internal space, you are dramatically altering driver functions and the XO points for the drivers.

I concur with RussMan for dissing the cup, used the milled aluminum plate with some nice binding posts and outboard XO mounted behind or above the LSi9.

But looks really fun project.

RuSsMaN

So about $430 in parts then. Awesome.

Cheers,
Russ

ohskigod

holy ****...LOL

Trey, I'm cool with external if need be.


whatever you mount to the board, dont make it wider overll, it's a tight fit as is. if the milled aluminum blah blah blah adds costs, let me know.

SolidSqual

Jeez, with caps like that maybe an external crossover should be designed for the Lsi XO mods.

JimAckley

Perhaps a nice gloss black box to match the speakers? Bonus points If you manage to put matching cherry or ebony sides on them :biggrin:

VR3

Lou - Ill send you a PM about this

RuSsMaN

Why, he's posting right here, and on Facebook about this now.

VR3

Based on DK's thread of his mods and the size it took up in his enclosure I think this will be ok.

Here is my first shot at it -- not to bad. I have acquired alot of the tools that made this alot easier. If I didnt have the tools I have this would have been a pita.

Not the cleanest job (space constraints make it hard to keep it clean) -- I still need to add zip ties to it but it is pretty much contained to the board's perimeter as specified by Lou.

VR3

If this is to large - which is very well may be I have not seen a pair of LSi9 in a long time... mounting these externally will be a piece of cake. So no issues

Thanks for the concerns

F1nut

Yeah, that isn't working. You have to go external.

mdaudioguy

hoosier21 wrote: »

will there be any air space left inside the cabinet? I see enough mass in the picture to totally change the internal volume of cabinet, won't that eff up the port tuning?

I was wondering the same thing. It would be interesting to calculate the difference in displacement.

txcoastal1

JimAckley wrote: »

Perhaps a nice gloss black box to match the speakers? Bonus points If you manage to put matching cherry or ebony sides on them :biggrin:

Send him your sides

treitz3

F1nut wrote: »

Yeah, that isn't working. You have to go external.

Jeebus, no doubt.

McLoki

I think you may end up being to tall....

I have not upgraded the LSi9's, but i know on my LSiC - the speaker magnet is not that far from the crossover board. (I had to remote mount my caps behind the left woofer (as you face the front) because there was no room behind the right once I got the board in there. (the entire center was taken up by those darn power port tubes, so no go there either).

Check the height before you go to far with it and good luck,

Michael

BTW - I look forward to your before and after impressions of the crossover upgrade.

ben62670

I have done plenty of LSi's. DK did his. McLoki did his. Face has done at least a few sets. There is no need to go external. Just some better planning. BTW the 15's use more parts and didn't need to be externally mounted. Yes where the XO is mounted has more room for the 15's. The only reason to mount the XO's externally is if you change out the inductors.

JimAckley

ben62670 wrote: »

I have done plenty of LSi's. DK did his. McLoki did his. Face has done at least a few sets. There is no need to go external. Just some better planning. BTW the 15's use more parts and didn't need to be externally mounted. Yes where the XO is mounted has more room for the 15's. The only reason to mount the XO's externally is if you change out the inductors.

You dont think the change in interior volume will affect the sound? Those are some pretty massive caps!

ben62670

I have thought about the volume used up by the large caps, but they are cylindrical and you also take into account the volume of the caps that are being removed. Percentage wise there isn't much of a change in cabinet volume. Nobody has ever commented that there was a negative effect caused by the mods performed.

treitz3

...yet...

ohskigod

LOLZ!!!!! that thing is huge. External might be the win. Trey, I left ya a v mail, give me a buzz whenever.

megasat16

ben62670 wrote: »

I have thought about the volume used up by the large caps, but they are cylindrical and you also take into account the volume of the caps that are being removed. Percentage wise there isn't much of a change in cabinet volume. Nobody has ever commented that there was a negative effect caused by the mods performed.

I don't know if the size of all original caps combined are similar to even one of these.

LSi9 is a small cabinet. If you put all these caps inside LSi9, you probably have 1/3 to 1/2 of the internal volume left. It's something to avoid if one can.

Not have yet heard any compliant before doesn't mean there is none at all even sound is becoming better. The person doing the mod needs to measure with RTA such as REW or some commercial product to see how things change before and after the mod.

Simply put, the speaker mods you guys made are substitute with better quality parts with tighter tolerances and all the the bigger and better caps, so it should be closer to ideal speaker.

But LSi speakers sound mellow for a reason even the stock components does not make LSi totally a transparent speaker. It took me a few years to understand why Polk made LSi this way and the recent LSiM thread makes sense to me.

ben62670

megasat16 wrote: »

I don't know if the size of all original caps combined are similar to even one of these.

LSi9 is a small cabinet. If you put all these caps inside LSi9, you probably have 1/3 to 1/2 of the internal volume left. It's something to avoid if one can.

The area of the stock caps is obviously less than the area of the new caps. So you are saying the caps take up 2/3-1/2 the internal volume of the enclosure. Your calculations are way off. It is real easy to figure out the volume of the parts being used. All you need to do is figure out the dimensions of each component and figure out the volume of each component. Add up all the components and that will give you the total volume of the replacement parts. Figure out the volume of the cabs and from there it is easy to figure out the percentage of the volume lost to using the replacement caps. If anyone hasn't thought the mods have had a positive effect please share. If anyone has an opinion about how the mods are or are not an improvement and have not spent anytime listening to the modded speakers please don't post. Obviously these people have nothing to add. I have never had a real Chicago hot dog so you will not see me posting on how great, or how bad they taste.
Thanks
Ben

megasat16

ben62670 wrote: »

The area of the stock caps is obviously less than the area of the new caps. So you are saying the caps take up 2/3-1/2 the internal volume of the enclosure. Your calculations are way off. It is real easy to figure out the volume of the parts being used. All you need to do is figure out the dimensions of each component and figure out the volume of each component. Add up all the components and that will give you the total volume of the replacement parts. Figure out the volume of the cabs and from there it is easy to figure out the percentage of the volume lost to using the replacement caps. If anyone hasn't thought the mods have had a positive effect please share. If anyone has an opinion about how the mods are or are not an improvement and have not spent anytime listening to the modded speakers please don't post. Obviously these people have nothing to add. I have never had a real Chicago hot dog so you will not see me posting on how great, or how bad they taste.
Thanks
Ben

Hey Ben,

You sounds like you've already figured the internal volume of the LSi9 and all the parts that is going inside that cabinet so there will be no difference to the internal volume and the drives still have the same room to breathe inside the cabinet?

I am not saying there is no NET positive gain from the mod. You probably take what I said with a grain of salt.

You don't need to tell anyone here what to post and what not to post unless you've become the top Dog in the show.

Probably, you don't have a set of LSi9 either but you've mod a pair and listened to it! So, save your breath and save a couple of lines to type.

Don't take this thread into the wrong turn. All I want to see is that the thoughtful mod done to the LSi9 so it's well documented for others too.

ben62670

OK if people have not heard the gear they are commenting about please post your reviews. They are very helpful:rolleyes: Yes there is a change in the internal volume of the cabinet, but it is very minimal not 2/3-1/2 as you have suggested.

megasat16

ben62670 wrote: »

OK if people have not heard the gear they are commenting about please post your reviews. They are very helpful:rolleyes: Yes there is a change in the internal volume of the cabinet, but it is very minimal not 2/3-1/2 as you have suggested.

What part of my post suggest I posted a review about modded LSi9?

All I said was that the stock LSi9 sounds mellow and not totally transparent for a reason.

Did any part of my post suggest the mod result in a negative way? I even said it's becoming an ideal speaker.

I would like you to highlight any of my post that makes you go awry.

As for the internal volume after the mods are done, I don't know. I said "You probably have" and so the word "probably" must mean something herel :rolleyes:

It means I have not figured that out either. So, I said it's best to Avoid unless you have all the tools and measurements are done before or after the mods and prove that the reduction in internal volume is totally OK.

You might aware, Polk has a multitude of Engineers and the LSi are highly tweaked in every possible ways while corners are cut to meet the people's wallet and still making a good sound out of the box!