SDA-SRS 2.3tl Crossover upgrade

Soundq22
Soundq22 Posts: 19
edited August 2011 in Vintage Speakers
Hi everyone, I am a recently new member (new to forums altogether) and wanted to post some work I did on my 2.3tl crossovers. Being new to forums, I am not very good at finding info on here that I am needing. I found some but just wanted to put out there what I thought may help someone else preform this upgrade or mod.

First of all, the Parts list from Soniccraft,

2 Mills MRA-12 0.5 ohm
4 Mills MRA-12 22.5 ohms
2 Sonicap 5.8uF 200VDC
2 Sonicap 8uF 200VDC
2 Sonicap 16uF 200VDC
2 Sonicap 18uF 200VDC
2 Sonicap 27uF 200VDC

With 20% off sale and shipping from Arkansas to California the total was 219.15

I called and added on some Cardas Solder which is a dream to work with. 4% silver content, 20awg, and it has a 430 degree melting point. $6.00 for 20 feet.

I will post some pictures and info in next post.

Post edited by Soundq22 on
«13

Comments

  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    First off, some instructions on how to dig in...

    The crossovers are located behind the passive radiator on the back wall.
    Reach in and unplug the 3 harnesses. Dont worry, there is no wrong way to plug them back in. A 6 pin, 5 pin and 4 pin with that cannot be plugged in upside down or anything. There is a allen bolt through the back wall holding the crossover on. The nut is glued to the coil mounted on the bottom of the crossover. Just hold the crossover and use an allen wrench to loosen it and remove.

    Here is what you will have. Apparently my speakers had an old and a newer crossover. From what I hear, they used old stock as well as new stock on speaker cabs.

    5988598879
    5988592745
  • jim 249
    jim 249 Posts: 347
    edited July 2011
    Welcome to the Polk Audio forums! There is lots of info here on upgrades for the 2.3TL's.
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    Here is a picture I found of a bare board. You will be removing the following.
    C1 , C2, C3, C5, S1, R3, R4, and the 5.8uf capacitor just under the R4 and R5 thats leads are in the holes labeled A and L. A is just under the mounting hole under R3, and L is directly to the right, just next to C3. Everything else stays the same. You must have a solder sucker or some other way to remove the solder. A cheap solder sucker can be bought at radio shack for around 10 bucks.

    5989178094
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    So I didn't take step by step photos, but here is the finished product and the steps I took..

    First I put in the resistors. Here are the 2 22ohm resisters.

    5989157862

    And then the 0.5ohm resistor at S1 to replace the Poly switch.

    5989160372
  • gimpod
    gimpod Posts: 1,793
    edited July 2011
    Your pics aren't showing up.
    “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ~ Mark Twain
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    The next steps were in this order,

    1 Replace the 5.8uf below the resistor pair.
    2 Replace the 16uf on C3.
    3 Replace the 18uf on C1. The legs were just long enough.
    4 Replace the 8uf on C5
    5 Replace the 27uf on C2. This one took extending the top leg. Use a pieces off the legs you already cut off the others.

    And here is the finished work..

    IMG_1681.jpg


    IMG_1680.jpg


    IMG_1682.jpg


    During the process, I hot glued the caps in place. I used tuff tac sticks. They are commercial grade and work way better than the crap at home depot. Its pricey but worth it.
    http://pyrosupplies.com/shop/page/product_detail/Product/9d00c44a0ff334488f5c3aba00abee32.html
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    gimpod wrote: »
    Your pics aren't showing up.


    Like I said, I am new. I used flicker to host the pictures, Is there a better option?
  • gimpod
    gimpod Posts: 1,793
    edited July 2011
    Soundq22 wrote: »
    Like I said, I am new. I used flicker to host the pictures, Is there a better option?

    Just attach them to your post using the "Manage Attachments" button.
    “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ~ Mark Twain
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    Here are the photos that didn't work in the first few posts. Hope they help

    SDA Xover.jpg


    IMG_1684.jpg


    IMG_1668.jpg


    IMG_1678.jpg


    IMG_1673.jpg
  • drumminman
    drumminman Posts: 3,396
    edited July 2011
    I just did the Xovers on my 2.3TL's so reading your posts and looking at your pics is like deja vu all over again:tongue:

    I used the same components. You may already know this, but it'll take a while before the sound improves permanently. For me at 115 hours things really improved - much better imaging, smoother, and the bass (which had become very recessed) began to return.

    I was surprised at some of the cap values I found when I began removing stuff from the board.

    I'm interested in your impressions of the change in sound as you start the burn in process, so keep posting!

    And welcome to the Club!
    "Science is suppose to explain observations not dismiss them as impossible" - Norm on AA; 2.3TL's w/sonicaps/mills/jantzen inductors, Gimpod's boards, Lg Solen SDA inductors, RD-0198's, MW's dynamatted, Armaflex speaker gaskets, H-nuts, brass spikes, Cardas CCGR BP's, upgraded IC Cable, Black Hole Damping Sheet strips, interior of cabinets sealed with Loctite Power Grab, AI-1 interface with 1000VA A-L transformer
  • Toolfan66
    Toolfan66 Posts: 16,833
    edited July 2011
    Nice congrats!!!
  • inspiredsports
    inspiredsports Posts: 5,501
    edited July 2011
    Nice work. Welcome to the journey!
    VTL ST50 w/mods / RCA6L6GC / TlfnknECC801S
    Conrad Johnson PV-5 w/mods
    TT Conrad Johnson Sonographe SG3 Oak / Sumiko LMT / Grado Woodbody Platinum / Sumiko PIB2 / The Clamp
    Musical Fidelity A1 CDPro/ Bada DD-22 Tube CDP / Conrad Johnson SD-22 CDP
    Tuners w/mods Kenwood KT5020 / Fisher KM60
    MF x-DAC V8, HAInfo NG27
    Herbies Ti-9 / Vibrapods / MIT Shotgun AC1 IEC's / MIT Shotgun 2 IC's / MIT Shotgun 2 Speaker Cables
    PS Audio Cryo / PowerPort Premium Outlets / Exact Power EP15A Conditioner
    Walnut SDA 2B TL /Oak SDA SRS II TL (Sonicaps/Mills/Cardas/Custom SDA ICs / Dynamat Extreme / Larry's Rings/ FSB-2 Spikes
    NAD SS rigs w/mods
    GIK panels
  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,484
    edited July 2011
    Very good, please let us know what you think of the upgrades.

    Greg
    Relayer-Big-O-Poster.jpg
    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....


    "Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson

    "Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee
  • george daniel
    george daniel Posts: 12,096
    edited July 2011
    Sweet-- enjoy them--they are special
    JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
  • gimpod
    gimpod Posts: 1,793
    edited July 2011
    Very nice job, clean layout. Welcome to the rabbit hole, next you'll be wanting something with tubes.:wink:
    “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ~ Mark Twain
  • Toolfan66
    Toolfan66 Posts: 16,833
    edited July 2011
    gimpod wrote: »
    Very nice job, clean layout. Welcome to the rabbit hole, next you'll be wanting something with tubes.:wink:

    The only thing he is missing is a set of your Boards..:cool:
  • gimpod
    gimpod Posts: 1,793
    edited July 2011
    The only thing he is missing is a set of your Boards..:cool:

    And your rings. :cool::wink:
    “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ~ Mark Twain
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    They have been playing since 4pm on the 28th. Im approaching my 48 hour mark. Cant wait till monday night. getting to 100 hours.

    I would have got the boards from gimpod but I was impatient. They are a great deal for $100 and would have been a lot cleaner.

    One other mod I have done is replaced all the screws with brass, and torqued them to 20 lbs per inch. The wood was in really good condition and they tightened up without any problems. The brass is supposedly non ferrous and won't allow any electro magnetic problems and they dont resonate like steel screws. Musical instruments use brass for this reason and I just thought it made good sense being these are my instruments of sound.

    Anyone else's thoughts on this?

    Tubes I am actually wanting. I am running an Aragon 4004 to them and I'm pretty impressed. Cant imagine what that tube sound would give me. Bad thing is, It sucks to do all these things at once. Better to get a new sound every few months or so.
  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,346
    edited July 2011
    Soundq22 wrote: »
    One other mod I have done is replaced all the screws with brass, and torqued them to 20 lbs per inch. The wood was in really good condition and they tightened up without any problems. The brass is supposedly non ferrous and won't allow any electro magnetic problems and they dont resonate like steel screws. Musical instruments use brass for this reason and I just thought it made good sense being these are my instruments of sound.

    Anyone else's thoughts on this?

    I did this a few years ago with my SDA-SRS, although it was with brass machine screws rather than wood screws because this pair was built with metal inserts. Not sure if it was just having a better seal from re-torquing for the midwoofers, tweeters and passive radiators or if the brass really made the difference over the regular screws, but whatever it was it definitely tightened up the imaging on my speakers. I have seen the brass screw tweak recommended in a few other places. Even if using brass didn't make a difference, it's still cheap to do and the bright brass heads does make the speakers look different. I still need to get around to installing Larry's rings on this pair, but I've been moving house the last few months and haven't got to it yet. I really suspect this is the ideal way to mount the drivers to the cabinets.
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    Here's what they look like with the brass screws.
    Oh I forgot, I put spikes on them as well.


    2.3 Brass.jpg
  • villock
    villock Posts: 72
    edited July 2011
    What kind of spikes did you use?
    SDA SRS 2.3tls; RDO 198's, Dynamatted, Armaflexed, Gimpod Boards, Crossovers by quadzilla: Clarity ESA 630V, Mills Resistors, Track Audio Spikes, Musky's Curly Maple Caps
    CSi5, FXi5, Rythmik D15SE sub, Pro-Ject Xpression III/Ortofon MC-3 Turbo. Pro-Ject Speed Box. Pro-Ject Tube Box II
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    I had some brass spikes that came with my Sanus speaker stands. They worked perfect.
  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,484
    edited July 2011
    Are the wood caps stock finished? Or, did you redo them (in black)?

    Greg
    Relayer-Big-O-Poster.jpg
    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....


    "Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson

    "Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee
  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    The tops and bottom can be removed with 4 nuts on the inside of the cabinet. They were painted to match everything else. I can't take credit though, The fellow I bought them for had painted them. He did a perfect job. No idea how or what he used to keep the wood grain looking so great.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,704
    edited July 2011
    One other mod I have done is replaced all the screws with brass, and torqued them to 20 lbs per inch. The wood was in really good condition and they tightened up without any problems. The brass is supposedly non ferrous and won't allow any electro magnetic problems and they dont resonate like steel screws. Musical instruments use brass for this reason and I just thought it made good sense being these are my instruments of sound.

    A waste of time. The trick is getting the baskets clamped to the cabinet as tight as possible and that just can't be done with wood screws. You got 20 inch lbs. of torque. Using Larry's rings or Hurricane nuts will allow you to get considerably more. Furthermore, the resonating problem resides inside the speaker with the stamped steel baskets. Adding Dynamat Extreme will solve that issue.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    At what point though is enough, enough? You can put a considerable more torque on your engines head bolts but all you need is a tight seal. I do plan on upgrading to rings when I notice the screws will not remain tight in my baffle, but until then, I believe those may be a waste of time.

    If I do ever need rings, I believe I will cut rings of a wood I deem best. If I am spending time putting dynamat on my baskets to reduce resonance, I will not be adding more metal to the mix.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,704
    edited July 2011
    Sorry to be blunt, but you don't know much about this subject.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • Soundq22
    Soundq22 Posts: 19
    edited July 2011
    Thanks for your opinion F1. I realize you voice your opinion everywhere and I was wondering how long it would take for you to come spread it here. Your opinion on what works best is just that. Others may follow and thats fine. But this thread is what I have done to my speakers and me voicing my opinion on what I think is good. Coming from the audio industry, I have my own unique opinions on what is best or not that I won't try to shove down your throat. When I am all done, I will post my RTA testing of my speakers before, and after my mods. It will show what they gained or loss, and it will be my offering for people to use or not. Just an offering, to help people should they want it. Thanks for stopping by.
  • michaeljhsda2
    michaeljhsda2 Posts: 2,164
    edited July 2011
    Soundq22 wrote: »
    If I do ever need rings, I believe I will cut rings of a wood I deem best.

    The rings are made out of metal, not wood. Nice job on the xovers. Here's a link to the rings.

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1613171
    SDA SRS 1.2TL's
    SDA 1C's w/Clarity Cap ESA; PA, Mills, RD0194-1's
    SDA 2B TL's w/RD0198-1's
    Yaqin MC-30L integrated tube amp
    Yaqin MS-20L integrated tube amp
  • Toolfan66
    Toolfan66 Posts: 16,833
    edited July 2011
    WOW!!!

    Thanks for stopping by..