Thank you Westmassguy - CRS+ TL mod
elitt
Posts: 162
I've been meaning to post this thank-you note for a while, but I've been too busy enjoying my upgraded CRS+'s to do anything else! Also I have an aversion to keyboards outside of my office, and I'm lazy.
Last winter I picked up a pair of pin/blade CRS+'s in great shape off ebay. After a few weeks of listening I knew I'd keep the pair for many years, so I decided to invest in them with upgrades from Westmassguy, and Larrysrings.
I can't stress enough how enjoyable the experience was from start to finish. From making initial choices through installation, David shared his expertise with tremendous patience until everything was just right. If you're on the fence about mods or upgrades, I say just go for it.
The 'new' CRS+'s sound incredible. I'm blown away, and they aren't even broken in yet. Currently they are powered/run by an older, rack handled GFA555, Nak CA5, a decent NAD CD player, my grandfather's Beogram 1700, and various digital feeds through SONOS/aux. on the CA5.
I tend to blab and am far less tech savvy than just about everyone else here, so I'll just post some pictures with limited narrative and call it a night.
If you're new here, do not use this thread as a guide for installation or anything like that. There are many discussions with pictures that are more comprehensive showcasing better execution than what you'll see here. Regardless, this was my experience!
TL mod
Soniccaps for Hi and Lo-Pass
Mundorf Mox Resistors
New Binding Posts
Sub Bass Drive Inductors
Canare 4S11 Interconnects with SpeakONs
New Custom Dampeners
Here's everything laid out, ready to go.
Check out the build quality!
Make sure you clamp well. I didn't at first. Big amateur move. Fortunately, the rings sealed all of my mistakes right up.
By the time I got to the passives and cabinet #2, I was doing better, but it's best to use real clamps. Another thing I should have done was to start drilling with a small bit, upsizing to the proper, final 9/32 bit. That board is fragile.
You can lift the rings out and blow the sawdust off away from the cabinets. A small vacuum is your friend during this stage. Barring that, stick your head through the passive hole and blow all around until the floor and your hair are covered with dust, leaving none inside.
Looking in from the back - all in securely.
If your rings bend a little in process or some of your holes are a little off, insert a thin rod or hex tool into the front of the posts and gently rock them back and forth while pulling until it slips into place. This can be done all around, gently, to snug up the rings.
After the rings were in, time for crossovers and inductors. Of course, there was glue in the way of perfect placement. I decided not to chip away more than the drips as I thought I'd destabilize the cabinet seal. I'll probably revisit that decision when I dynamat the drivers.
You can never take too many pictures when first disassembling, but this right here is the money shot! Almost all you'll need.
Original gaskets rule!
Harnesses ready, dacron in place.
New baffles behind each driver...
All in, lookin' good!
Ready to roll!
If I can do this, you can do this better. Thank you Westmassguy!
Last winter I picked up a pair of pin/blade CRS+'s in great shape off ebay. After a few weeks of listening I knew I'd keep the pair for many years, so I decided to invest in them with upgrades from Westmassguy, and Larrysrings.
I can't stress enough how enjoyable the experience was from start to finish. From making initial choices through installation, David shared his expertise with tremendous patience until everything was just right. If you're on the fence about mods or upgrades, I say just go for it.
The 'new' CRS+'s sound incredible. I'm blown away, and they aren't even broken in yet. Currently they are powered/run by an older, rack handled GFA555, Nak CA5, a decent NAD CD player, my grandfather's Beogram 1700, and various digital feeds through SONOS/aux. on the CA5.
I tend to blab and am far less tech savvy than just about everyone else here, so I'll just post some pictures with limited narrative and call it a night.
If you're new here, do not use this thread as a guide for installation or anything like that. There are many discussions with pictures that are more comprehensive showcasing better execution than what you'll see here. Regardless, this was my experience!
TL mod
Soniccaps for Hi and Lo-Pass
Mundorf Mox Resistors
New Binding Posts
Sub Bass Drive Inductors
Canare 4S11 Interconnects with SpeakONs
New Custom Dampeners
Here's everything laid out, ready to go.
Check out the build quality!
Make sure you clamp well. I didn't at first. Big amateur move. Fortunately, the rings sealed all of my mistakes right up.
By the time I got to the passives and cabinet #2, I was doing better, but it's best to use real clamps. Another thing I should have done was to start drilling with a small bit, upsizing to the proper, final 9/32 bit. That board is fragile.
You can lift the rings out and blow the sawdust off away from the cabinets. A small vacuum is your friend during this stage. Barring that, stick your head through the passive hole and blow all around until the floor and your hair are covered with dust, leaving none inside.
Looking in from the back - all in securely.
If your rings bend a little in process or some of your holes are a little off, insert a thin rod or hex tool into the front of the posts and gently rock them back and forth while pulling until it slips into place. This can be done all around, gently, to snug up the rings.
After the rings were in, time for crossovers and inductors. Of course, there was glue in the way of perfect placement. I decided not to chip away more than the drips as I thought I'd destabilize the cabinet seal. I'll probably revisit that decision when I dynamat the drivers.
You can never take too many pictures when first disassembling, but this right here is the money shot! Almost all you'll need.
Original gaskets rule!
Harnesses ready, dacron in place.
New baffles behind each driver...
All in, lookin' good!
Ready to roll!
If I can do this, you can do this better. Thank you Westmassguy!
Comments
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You're welcome. Was my pleasure Eli. They look great. BTW, I used Mills MRA Resistors, not Mundorf.Home Theater/2 Channel:
Front: SDA-2ATL forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/143984/my-2as-finally-finished-almost/p1
Center: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/150760/my-center-channel-project/p1
Surrounds & Rears: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/151647/my-surround-project/p1
Sonicaps, Mills, RDO-194s-198s, Dynamat, Hurricane Nuts, Blackhole5
Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV, Carver PM-600, SVS PB2-Plus Subwoofer
dhsspeakerservice.com/ -
He's a good egg that one, glad he was able to help you get your game on. You did a nice job too and the speaks look awesome. Enjoy...HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
I've had the pleasure of dealing with Dave on more than one occasion, he and his work are "Top Shelf" for sure, a great asset to those of us that are tech challenged.
Good score on finding the CRS+'s with the original packing and cartons! and a good pictorial also.
Seeing your CRS's has inspired me to get my old pair out and hook them up, it's been a while.
Enjoy your new SDA's! -
Nice SDAs.Lexicon RT-10, Parasound P5, McCormack DNA 0.5, Polk SDA CRS+, SVS Sub
Schiit Modi, Luminous Audio Axiom II, McCormack DNA-1, Digital Phase AP 2
Marantz AV7701, Emotiva XPA-5, Paradigm 11se Mkii, DCM Time Windows, NHT 2C, SVS Sub
Spares - Kenwood C1 Pre, NAD 2200PE, Polk Monitor 10B, Polk Model 11, other odds and ends -
Thanks everybody. I really dig this forum.
Been after the CRS's since picking up my first pair of Polks as a young teen in the early 80's!
The GFA555 continues to amaze me. Cranking at club volume continuously doesn't even warm it up. Cool to the touch. I don't have much to compare to, but pairing it with the 1st gen CA5 is working out nicely.
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Ive read somewhere that there are upgrades you can do to the 555 to improve it alot. 555's do quite well with SDA's imo. Enjoy breaking in the crossovers. Great job..
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Back in the flow and on the machine. I thought using those stationary clips was a novel idea most here go w/ cheap C-Clamps as I did. Very nice work2chl- Adcom GFA- 555-Onkyo P-3150v pre/amp- JVC-QL-A200 tt- Denon 1940 ci cdp- Adcom GFS-6 -Modded '87 SDA 2Bs - Dynamat Ext.- BH-5- X-Overs VR-3, RDO-194 tweeters, Larry's Rings, Speakon/Neutrik I/C- Cherry stain tops Advent Maestros,Ohm model E
H/T- Toshiba au40" flat- Yamaha RX- V665 avr- YSD-11 Dock- I-Pod- Klipsch #400HD Speaker set-
Bdrm- Nikko 6065 receiver- JBL -G-200s--Pioneer 305 headphones--Sony CE375-5 disc -
Enjoy your CRS's and you did a nice job on them
Dave did my CRS's crossovers too and that was when he came up with the idea for the Damping boards trick to add BH5 to help out the sound!2 ch- Polk CRS+ * Vincent SA-31MK Preamp * Vincent Sp-331 Amp * Marantz SA8005 SACD * Project Xperience Classic TT * Sumiko Blue Point #2 MC cartridge
HT - Polk 703's * NAD T-758 * Adcom 5503 * Oppo 103 * Samsung 60" series 8 LCD -
Nice job!
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Very very nice.
