2.3TL Rebuild Starts Now

machone

When I get them located I will add the spikes. Right now the sliders work great for moving them around but I am sure they are bad for sound.

Mike Reeter

Looks as if you are doing very nice work on the old Classics, you will have a Reference pair when you are done!

machone

I finished the mechanical mods on the second speaker and must say that these speakers are amazing and I have not touched the xovers.

machone

I listened again last night after Larry's rings, black hole 5, and dynamat mods. I had several driver gaskets that were torn or folded over so I replaced them and I replaced the tweeter gaskets. Note that I already upgraded the tweeters to 198's.

Now the push test is excellent.
Imaging is much improved.
Bass is tighter with better dynamics.
Overall soundfield is wider, taller and deeper.
Vocals sound so natural.
They are very musical.

I am very pleased with their sound and look forward to upgrading the crossovers, jumpers and sda cable.

Thanks to everyone for your guidance and advice.

F1nut

Ya ain't heard nothin' yet.

RandyCroissant

^^^^^

Mike Reeter

machone wrote: »

I had several driver gaskets that were torn or folded over so I replaced them and I replaced the tweeter gaskets.

When installing new driver gaskets you will need to go back and re-torque the mounting screws as the new gaskets will compress over time.

machone

Thanks Mike.
I have been checking and re-torquing them as needed.

Mike Reeter

machone

I see that there are several 16mH sub-base inductor choices for the 2.3TL's.

1. Solen makes them up to a (whopping 10ga giant (.56 DCR) for a lot of money @ $170 each). I think DK used these.

2. Special order Janzten c-coil 14 awg (.16 DCR) @ $70 each. I think vr3 uses these.

3. Erse makes a steel core 16 awg 17mH (.52 DCR) @ $40 each that I can send to westmassguy to unwind to 16mH. The Erse is rated at 500 watts but 2.3TL's are rated at 750 watts. Is this a problem?

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks

RandyCroissant

I used the Erse super Q as suggested by Dave. This added punch to the lower bass, however be warned adding a lower DCR inductor will lower the impedance in certain situations. Make sure you have an amp that can handle a 4 or even at times 2 ohm load. I do like the way my SDAs sound with the Erse inductors, really good bang for the buck IMHO.

RandyCroissant

You also mentioned the power handling capacity of the Erse at 500 watts I don't think you could drive them hard enough to saturate the inductors. Mabey another forum member will chime in on this topic with better experience.

westmassguy

The Inductor is only connected to the two dimensional woofers, and only carries signals below 150Hz. You're no where near saturating the coil.

RandyCroissant

Thanks Dave!! I was hoping you would chime in.

westmassguy

Anytime Brother

machone

Thanks Dave

machone

Hey guys,

I you had plenty of flexibility on where you could place your equipment rack relative to your speakers; where would be the best place for SQ?
- Most put the rack between the speakers but is this best? If I needed to push the speakers back close to the wall the rack would be in front of the speakers.
- On a side wall away from the speakers? This would mean longer speaker cables.

I am redesigning my listening room for the 2.3TL's and wanted to know what you think.

Thanks

Conradicles

Best place for an equipment rack is NOT between your speakers.

machone

I get that.
If the rack is to one side or the other the distance to the speakers is unequal. I assume everybody should use equal length cables. If so what is the best way to handle the extra length of the longer cable?

Schurkey

machone wrote: »

3. Erse makes a steel core 16 awg 17mH (.52 DCR) @ $40 each that I can send to westmassguy to unwind to 16mH.

ERSE will custom-unwind their inductors to your spec for $10 each, last time I asked them. That was something like two years ago. Price may have changed. Having ERSE do it will not cost extra for shipping two ways for westmassguy to do it.

F1nut

Putting your gear on an open rack between the speakers shouldn't be a problem.
What is a problem are large solid entertainment center type pieces of furniture.

machone

Can 2.3TLs use a dreadnought?

Mike Reeter

machone wrote: »

Can 2.3TLs use a dreadnought?

Yes, and recommended!

machone

I thought so.
Thanks Mike

machone

I am trying to plan the interconnect cable upgrade for my 2.3TLs. In the future I plan to add an isolation transformer per recommendations on this forum.
Is it better to:
1. Use Speakon connectors
or
2. Use an extra binding post

westmassguy

SpeakONs

Gunther16

Listen to Westmassguy. He knows his stuff and is awesome to boot.

machone

All crossover components ordered

machone

I finally got my listening room rearranged. Most of the large pieces of furniture have been moved with only pegboard and smaller pieces to remaining. I am now able to move speakers anywhere on the wall.
Finally wide open spaces and I can sit down!

Gunther16

Nice, need a speaker selector?