2.3 TL Inductor upgrade?

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Comments

  • RobbyKY
    RobbyKY Posts: 117
    I really like this handheld Extech 380193 unit.

    If I recall, we dropped about $250 on it when an older bench-top Global Specialties unit got lost in a move. That was a really sweet unit but I remember it being close to $1k maybe five years ago.

    The only other one I have experience with is a little tweezers design unit made by LCR Research. It's a "Pro1 Plus" used mainly for surface-mount components. Never thought about trying it on air cores but may give it a shot just to see what happens as I have only used it to measure caps & resistors. No detachable probes so very limited with anything not mounted on a PCBA and it was about $350. It does have five test frequencies apparently, 100 up to 100k. Gotta play with that little thing when I have some free time.

    Looks like the Extech is running $169 if you have an A-Prime account. I see they have a Proster LCR on that site for $32. Zero experience and I assume you get what you pay for.......
    Media Room: Parasound JC-5, Cambridge 851N, Schiit Freya, SDA SRS 1.2tl
    Game Room: Carver M4.0t, Carver C-4000, Oppo BDP-105, SDA SRS 1.2tl
    Bar/Card Room: Carver TFM-55, Carver C-1(BillD), Oppo BDP-93, SDA SRS 3.1
    Son's Room: Carver TFM-55, Carver C-1(BillD), Laptop/AQ Dragonfly, SDA SRS 3.1
    Bedroom: McIntosh MC150, Cambridge CXN, SDA 2Btl
    Outdoor Pool Area: Yamaha R-N803 with four Polk Atrium 6
    HT: Polk RTi A9s, CSi-A6, RT-65, RTi-A3's, Marantz SR5012, XPA3, UDP-203, Epson 5040UB


  • motorstereo
    motorstereo Posts: 2,133
    I measure everything now, even from Jantzen. When I'm upgrading crossovers, I always measure the old Polk inductors. They are rarely what they're supposed to be. I did a pair of 3rd Gen SRS-2s, one sub-bass spool was 9.6mH, the other was 16mH.
    My LCR measures at 1KHz BTW.

    That is quite a difference and I wonder how audible that difference might be?
  • delkal
    delkal Posts: 764
    edited February 2019
    I did a pair of 3rd Gen SRS-2s, one sub-bass spool was 9.6mH, the other was 16mH..

    That is a big difference. Inductors are very simple. If both use the same gauge wiring and the same sized core the inductance is only due to the length and number of turns of the wire. I doubt polk was off measuring the wire and added 50% more to one.

    Is one inductor noticeably thicker than the other? If not there is probably a short internally in 9.6 mH one.

  • westmassguy
    westmassguy Posts: 6,850
    I measure everything now, even from Jantzen. When I'm upgrading crossovers, I always measure the old Polk inductors. They are rarely what they're supposed to be. I did a pair of 3rd Gen SRS-2s, one sub-bass spool was 9.6mH, the other was 16mH.
    My LCR measures at 1KHz BTW.

    That is a big difference, I think I may invest in a LCR meter any recommendations Dave

    Fluke if you want to mortgage your house. The Extech that @RobbyKY has is very nice. Amazon Prime has it for a nice price.
    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/
  • westmassguy
    westmassguy Posts: 6,850
    I measure everything now, even from Jantzen. When I'm upgrading crossovers, I always measure the old Polk inductors. They are rarely what they're supposed to be. I did a pair of 3rd Gen SRS-2s, one sub-bass spool was 9.6mH, the other was 16mH.
    My LCR measures at 1KHz BTW.

    That is quite a difference and I wonder how audible that difference might be?

    It would have affected the bass output of the dimensional speakers negatively.
    delkal wrote: »
    I did a pair of 3rd Gen SRS-2s, one sub-bass spool was 9.6mH, the other was 16mH..

    That is a big difference. Inductors are very simple. If both use the same gauge wiring and the same sized core the inductance is only due to the length and number of turns of the wire. I doubt polk was off measuring the wire and added 50% more to one.

    Is one inductor noticeably thicker than the other? If not there is probably a short internally in 9.6 mH one.

    No, the 9.6mH was correct. It's pretty common knowledge that a certain herb was used extensively in the assembly area. Like the old Chrysler assembly lines, you run out of something, grab the next closest thing. They got pretty creative making up Capacitor values.
    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/
  • audioluvr
    audioluvr Posts: 5,582
    Like the old Chrysler assembly lines, you run out of something, grab the next closest thing. They got pretty creative making up Capacitor values.

    Oh Dave! Not the weed and Chrysler comparison! That's one of the things I always loved about Mopars. You never knew what you were going to get... Now Polks???
    Gustard X26 Pro DAC
    Belles 21A Pre modded with Mundorf Supreme caps
    B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks refreshed and upgraded
    Polk SDA 1C's modded / 1000Va Dreadnaught
    Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's and speaker cables
    Harman Kardon T65C w/Grado Gold. (Don't laugh. It sounds great!)


    There is about a 5% genetic difference between apes and men …but that difference is the difference between throwing your own poo when you are annoyed …and Einstein, Shakespeare and Miss January. by Dr. Sardonicus
  • westmassguy
    westmassguy Posts: 6,850
    audioluvr wrote: »
    Like the old Chrysler assembly lines, you run out of something, grab the next closest thing. They got pretty creative making up Capacitor values.

    Oh Dave! Not the weed and Chrysler comparison! That's one of the things I always loved about Mopars. You never knew what you were going to get... Now Polks???
    Makes crossover work fun!
    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/
  • agfrost
    agfrost Posts: 2,428
    It's pretty common knowledge that a certain herb was used extensively in the assembly area. Like the old Chrysler assembly lines, you run out of something, grab the next closest thing. They got pretty creative making up Capacitor values.

    I'll agree with this one! When I went to upgrade my RTA 11TL crossovers some years ago, came to find out one had gone thru life to that point with a RTA8TL crossover--different inductor and different resistor. Ancient link
    Jay
    SDA 2BTL * Musical Fidelity A5cr amp * Oppo BDP-93 * Modded Adcom GDA-600 DAC * Rythmik F8 (x2)
    Micro Seiki DQ-50 * Hagerman Cornet 2 Phono * A hodgepodge of cabling * Belkin PF60
    Preamp rotation: Krell KSL (SCompRacer recapped) * Manley Shrimp * PS Audio 5.0