Just bought 2.3tl's

drumminman

I'm the guy that picked 'em up from mewisemagic. A true gentleman and a pleasure to do business with. He helped me load them, and me and gravity unloaded 'em when I arrived home. Thank the lord for hand trucks!:biggrin:

First impressions are that they're big! Took me a little while to get them positioned and connected. I'm comparing these mainly to my modded def tech BP 30's with an emotive ultra 12 sub. Both speakers run through old magnavox cdp to Peter Daniels NOS dac to Odyssey Candela tube linestage to Odyssey Stratos Stereo amp (w/cap upgrade). AC filtering via balaned isolation transformers, and multiple other tweaks including PC's and IC's made by yours truly.

In their present form, the 2.3's don't have quite the clarity of the def techs. On some recordings they sound slightly congested, female voices sound a little chesty. Overall they can sound a little thick. Nice tight bass response. But on other recordings they have a nice clarity. This sometimes occurs on songs on the same cd. Not sure what to think of this.

What the 2.3's have is a huge, much larger, wider, deeper soundstage and dynamics, even at lower volumes. On some recordings with the volume up a little the drums absolutely slam - you can feel it in your chest, both the snare and the kick.

I'm excited about modding these. I pulled a couple of the mw's, and it looks like the only mod performed so far is the binding posts were replaced with Cardas. On performing the push test the mw's on one speaker return to neutral almost immediately. I to tightened the screws to all - no problem. Most of the PR screws on that speaker are stirpped.

So here's my list of mods, thanks to those who have gone before (been doing lots of searching here :)

x-over: sonicaps and mills
Hurricane nuts (similar to T-nuts) and socket head screws for MW's and PR
Cardas binding post for interconnect
Build new IC w/ higher quality wire
dynamat for mw/pr frames
spikes
Tweeters (IIRC, the replacement tweeters are the RDO-198?)

Any other suggestions?

Question: For those who have done the crossovers, how are they mounted? What is the best way to remove them from the back wall?

And of course, tips comments welcome.

Thanks,

Fred

headrott

Hi Fred. I recently also aquired some 2.3TL's. I think you have a good list of mods to do in your post. I would do them all and including adding Larry's rings to that list. Also, I would recommend getting Tony's (gimpod's) crossover boards for the sonicap/mills mod. You can fit the caps and resistors on his boards much easier than the original boards. After finishing the list of mods, you will have some speakers that are very difficult to beat from an overall fidelity point-of-view.

I would start with the tweeters, as it's an easy mod, and will make a difference in the high end immediately. Spikes are another easy mod and make a huge difference. Most suggest the MYESOUND spikes as the best spikes available. They are very good. They can be found here: http://www.myesound.com/Points_n_pads.html

I would do the crossovers, dynamat extreme, and Larry's rings all at the same time (when Larry has the time to make some more rings and tweeter brackets). To remove the crossovers, there is a hex nut in the back of each speaker that holds the crossover to the back wall of the speaker. You have to take the PR out of each speaker and hold the crossover board (located on the back wall of each speaker) with one hand and unscrew the hex nut with the other. The board(s) will come right out after unscrewing the hex nut. (Oh, you also have to disconnect the input, tweeter and driver wires as well)

I wouldlike to post more, but have to take care of something first. I will post again in a little bit. Hopefully, this will help you out a little for starters.

Greg

george daniel

Larry's rings and RDO replacements

drumminman

in sound quality I'm hearing is due to the polyswitches deteriorating. I'm hoping the x-over refresh and tweeter upgrade will resolve the sometimes thick sound.

Thanks for the info HR - the less I have to work out the faster this is gon'na go! Keep those tips coming! I read your post comparing the 2.3tl's to the 3.1's - very informative.

I wonder if there would be a sonic difference between using the H-nuts and Larry's rings?

Schurkey

drumminman wrote: »

I wonder if there would be a sonic difference between using the H-nuts and Larry's rings?

You're not the only one who's curious.

From a certain perspective, the rings are just hurricane nuts with a REALLY BIG, and INTERCONNECTED flange. There's certainly more surface area on the rings; but I'm not familiar with the rings so I don't know how they might flex when stressed by the fasteners. It might be that the apparent surface area isn't the ACTUAL surface area if the rings aren't rigid. (and NOTHING is completely rigid!)

Note that I haven't tried either the rings or the T-nuts/Hurricane nuts; all the drivers on my 1Bs are held in with the original fasteners; and the cabinet screw holes haven't stripped out.

(I do have T-nuts on the cabinet bases, that's where my home-made carpet spikes thread into the cabinet.)

nooshinjohn

Larry's rings, combined with Armacell made a huge difference in my 2.3TL's with regards to resolving some of that "congested" you speak of. I suspect that the cross-over mods and tweeter replacement will help as well. I am not familiar with the Odessey gear, but I have also found that these speakers crave power. For my speakers, I run a Sunfire Cinema Signature 425/5 and find this amp does an awesome job of bringing the drivers under control.

I suspect sometime in the next six months, when I can get the big girls out of storage, I will complete the mods to them.

drumminman

On the way.

I can see I'm not gonna be able to do one mod at a time, and listen for the effect. It's gonna be everything at once! :biggrin:

charley95

drumminman wrote: »

On the way.

I can see I'm not gonna be able to do one mod at a time, and listen for the effect. It's gonna be everything at once! :biggrin:

Congrats! Picked mine up in April. If you don't mind me asking, what $$ did your caps. & resistors come to? I'm sure you'll be very pleased when the mods. are done.

geoff727

Congrats on the speakers. 2.3tl's are a neat speaker. I sold my pair about 2 years ago to Nathan, another forum member. Occasionally I wish I still had them, but I held out for the ones I really wanted, the SRS2's.

With all the upgrades done properly, you will have fun with these.

Geoff

drumminman

charley95 wrote: »

Congrats! Picked mine up in April. If you don't mind me asking, what $$ did your caps. & resistors come to? I'm sure you'll be very pleased when the mods. are done.

I bought some other stuff too. I think the caps and resistors alone came to around $190 with tax.