50 hours so far on x-overs - impressions

drumminman

Hi all,

Thought I'd post my thoughts so far on what I'm hearing. To recap (), the mods are rebuilding x-overs with sonicaps and mills, replacing SL3000 tweeters with RDO-198's, installing a cardas binding post on each speaker and building a new IC cable, installing hurricane nuts and socket head cap screws for PR's.

I finished the x-over mods and started using the speakers. The RDO-198's hadn't arrived, and I couldn't wait

First thing I noticed was that things sounded a bit off. Vocals, especially female sounded flat, slow and thick. The bass was there but very recessed. I remembered that my linestage reverses phase so I did that on the speaker end. M-u-c-h better, but still a little off. I decided I just needed to play the system and burn in the new components.

New RDO's arrived and installed at 10 hours on the new x-over. I did not expect what I heard :eek: Not only was the sound smoother, but there was an increase in detail. Female vocals sounded much more natural. Delicate highs like cymbal touches, soft percussion instruments, bowed strings sounded much more organic. The soundstage improved as well. I'm thinking "OK, now we're getting somewhere". Still waiting on the bass to get where I want it to be: deep and musical and more present in the mix.

At about 30 hours I finally got around to installing the Cardas binding posts and new home brew IC cable. This was the biggest, most dramatic change to date. When I opened up the cabinets I found in the Left one that the crimped connection to the IC pin was barely hanging on - it came apart in my hands. There was a wire coming off the original pin connection that was spliced to the wire harness. The wire harness wire was long enough that I soldered it directly to the new binding post, buttoned everything back up, connected the new IC cable (effective awg 15) and played some music.

The soundstage was much deeper front to back; side to side was about the same. Better mid range, better resolution of complex passages, pianos sounded more full, and the bass was better. The imaging sounded more 3D. I'm sure alot of this had to do with a better connection and IC cable as the change was instantaneous.

Listened to Joan Baez "Diamonds and Rust" (hey George it's one of my favorites too!), and her voice never sounded so good. The clarity and subtle timbre in her voice (especially on her version of "Danny Boy") were a small, noticeable improvement compared with my other modded speakers, but the soundstage was just amazing. What I heard is individual instruments resolved better so that the tone as well as the notes/chords played on each could be heard and, more importantly, felt.

I suppose that's the most positive thing I'm hearing so far. On good recordings I'm hearing the emotion of the performance.

There are still some areas I hope will improve. Upon listening to "The Weight" from the remastered version of The Last Waltz, the one featuring the Staple Singers, the harmonies sounded a little thin and compressed. This will probably change as the caps burn in. Still hoping for a little more bass as well, but there's another issue where that's involved - placement. The way my room is built there's only one place to position the speakers: on either side of the fireplace. I can't get them more than 3-5 feet from the back wall. I have a subwoofer that can fill in the bottom, but so far Im not using it as I want to hear the 2.3TL's by themselves.

Future Upgrades planned:
H-nuts for all MW's and tweeters, possibly Black Hole or Sonic Barrier. Toying with the idea of making a new wire harness.

Thanks to all who've gone before, especially Darqueknight. This forum as been an absolute wealth of information and ideas.

Cheers,

Fred

pitdogg2

I'd ask Larry if he has any rings they're worth their weight in gold. After I rebuilt my XO in my 2pr of SDA's I went back and put in binding post for the interconnect for me it made a big improvment. My SDA1 signatures were hacked on the inside so I also bought Furutech wire 14ga to re-wire the whole speakers with(5.00-meter when I bought it). This is what I used to run to the binding post on both pairs of my SDA's. I don't think I could buy it now it's 20.00 per meter:mad: I plan on keeping them so I completely sealed up the old interconnect(took out). By the way it's only been 6 months since i did the XO's so that wire took a HUGE leap in price...

Joe08867

You have a ton of burn in to go. 50hrs hasn't scratched the surface. Call me when you get to 200hrs. Audio Bliss Baby,

drumminman

Joe08867 wrote: »

You have a ton of burn in to go. 50hrs hasn't scratched the surface. Call me when you get to 200hrs. Audio Bliss Baby,

That's what I experienced when I did the x-overs in my Def Techs, almost to the hour!

The change so far has been entertaining. The most amazing thing about these speakers is that my wife likes the way they look :eek: The W.A.F. is practically off the scale. :biggrin: And she thinks they sound better too :cool:

Wish I had tuner to do this with.

dpowell

They do really open up after the first couple hundred hours. I got more bass out mine as the new CAPs got additional hours on them. Also placing the speakers on granite slabs helped substantially. Spiking or some other form of isolation would help the bass issue.