Modding my monsoon sub, cap question
iskandam
Posts: 704
Picked up the legendary Monsoon desktop speakers off craigslist last week. They sound fantastic. Unfortunately the 3.5mm input jack on the subwoofer is touchy. If I push the plug all the way in, sound comes out only out of the left speaker. If I plug it in halfway, only the right speaker works. Putting it in at a halfway point in between is the fix, but when the PC shuts off the speakers make a loud popping sound. This seems to be a common problem with these speakers. The panels are amazing but the sub is cheaply made.
I decided to take it out and replace it with an RCA jack so I can feed it with coaxial out of my Nuforce uDAC2.
Unfortunately I fried one of the small caps during soldering. It's a ceramic capacitor that says 681 on it. I don't know what the voltage rating is. I've been looking for replacements on eBay but it seems that the closest available value is 680pf. Will it work? I also don't know the voltage rating. I've seen 50V up to 30KV. What is the typical voltage value that's used in line with a 3.5mm input jack?
I decided to take it out and replace it with an RCA jack so I can feed it with coaxial out of my Nuforce uDAC2.
Unfortunately I fried one of the small caps during soldering. It's a ceramic capacitor that says 681 on it. I don't know what the voltage rating is. I've been looking for replacements on eBay but it seems that the closest available value is 680pf. Will it work? I also don't know the voltage rating. I've seen 50V up to 30KV. What is the typical voltage value that's used in line with a 3.5mm input jack?
Post edited by iskandam on
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The RCA jack replacements turned out to be a complete failure. At best I can only get sound coming out of the left speaker. I ended up replacing them with a new 3.5mm input jack and voila, I get sound out of both speakers. I'm kicking myself for not doing this earlier and wasting so much time with more complicated alternatives. The cap seems to still be working okay so I don't want to mess with it.
Along with the new input jack I also did the following mods:
Dynamatted the interior of the subwoofer, adding a good 50% extra weight
Replaced all internal wiring with 14 awg silver wire I had lying around
Used cardas quad eutectic silver solder
Replaced the stock feet with taller spike toes
Put 20 lbs of sand on top of the subwoofer
The original volume control puck is broken and makes all kinds of static noise when I change the volume so replaced it with a Zu Mission ipod cable. Now I control the volume using the volume control on the Nuforce uDAC 2. USB cable is stock, but that will be upgraded in the future.
The most noticeable improvement is tighter and more detailed bass with bigger and wider soundstage. Overall clarity is also improved. Just like the bigger Maggies, these speakers are also very tricky to set up for optimal sound. I still haven't found that right spot for them yet, but after a month of tweaking them inside and out I can finally sit down and enjoy the music :biggrin: