monitor 7B's with rebuilt crossovers

danger boy

this is the second pair of monitor 7's I've had the crossovers rebuilt on. last year were the 7A's with peerless.. this time around 7B's with peerless tweets.

The only difference between the two rebuilds are these 7B's I used Kimber Kaps and the 7A's got Solens in them.

Either the 7B's are that much better than the 7A's or those Kimber Kaps / Solens mix brought it and rocked them out. To say there is a improvement in everything is an understatement.

I always knew I loved my 7B's even before the rebuilding the crossovers.. now they are my favorite speaker I own hands down. Everyone knows the 7's image very well.. now they offer better separation as well as more depth to the music. Details are spot on.. I am even hearing drums off to the left and right of each speaker. Wow... big improvement.

I hooked them up tonight and right away.. I thought OMG, they SUCK! within less than 20 minutes they had opened up and settled down into some incredible sounding speakers. They should really sound good after a good 70 hours or so. IF they improve any or not.. I am very happy with that I'm hearing right now.

I have been listening to Santana's Supernatural. I'm very familiar with the entire CD and I'd be able to tell small nuances in the music delivery.

I have to say... the rebuild with these Kimber's do everything very well. A bit more $, but not much. IF anyone is wanting to try them out. I was pleasantly surprised.

THe picture was taken with my cell phone.. so it's not real good. but you all know what a crossover rebuild looks like anyways.

danger boy

These 7B's just sound amazing now. Much better than before the X-over was rebuilt. I highly recommend anyone thinking of doing theirs.. to go ahead and do it... i think it cost me around $85

McLoki

Where did you purchase your kimber caps at? Also you mention that you installed both kimber and solens. Was it just the bass circut that got the solens?

Glad you enjoyed the upgrade.

Michael

danger boy

i bought the kimber kaps at Partsexpress last year.. that's how long this project has been on hold. someone said they don't make Kimber caps anymore.

I checked and sure enough PE doesn't carry the 33uF one anymore. that bites..

sorry Michael, I don't know if the 33uF is the cap for the bass driver or tweeter. Someone else would know.

The highs are much more detailed and not veiled like they used to sound. Bass has always been good on the 7B's... and it continues to do that well. On one song by David Gray, the bass actually shook the floor.

F1nut

Kimber caps were just rebadged Auricap's, which are still available.

zingo

Thanks for the review. I love when projects turn out better than you intend and it looks like your 7Bs were worth the wait.

danger boy

Yes they were worth the wait for sure. I a hearing details in music that i've never heard before.. the fade out of drop off of instruments like piano and drums is way cool.. I never knew such subtle things were in the music.

At this point I am digging them more than the SDA 2B's.

Face

danger boy wrote: »

At this point I am digging them more than the SDA 2B's.

Do the 4.1TL upgrade to the 2B's, you'll quickly change your mind.

danger boy

Face wrote: »

Do the 4.1TL upgrade to the 2B's, you'll quickly change your mind.

i've given it some serious thought.. and I will have it done some time.. I don't know how to solder.. and I'd hate to eff them up trying. so maybe a ways down the road they'll get the X-Overs rebuilt too.

Face

So did a magic elf do your 7C crossover for you?

It's not that difficult to solder, but if you don't know what you're doing, you can ruin the board. You can always find some spare M7 crossovers to play with. Or, you could practice on that receiver who has recently had a tour of the north west.

zingo

danger boy wrote: »

I don't know how to solder.. and I'd hate to eff them up trying.

Ya, wait a minute... how did you do your 7Bs? Or did you... :eek:

old skewl

old thread but im new and need to rebuild my 7B crossovers

im not experienced

can you list all the parts that you needed for the rebuild

gcstokes1

old skewl wrote: »

old thread but im new and need to rebuild my 7B crossovers

im not experienced

can you list all the parts that you needed for the rebuild

Old Skewl-

You can find a great thread with all of the info you need here:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71447

Good Luck

Freak When C

Thanks old skewl, for bringing this thread back to the surface. I was looking for info on rebuilding my XO's in my 7B's and whadaya know, right here on page one of the forum I find what I'm looking for!

After reading through this great thread (linked in the post above as having "all of the info you need"), I have a couple questions:

1.) I have the same XO as the OP except my big white 12uf capacitor has 12J100V printed on it instead of 12K100V. But I reckon that's of no concern?

2.) In this thread OP said he used he used 33uF Kimber caps and 12uF Solens. It was mentioned that the Kimber caps were just rebadged Auricap's. Sonicap Gen I's were mentioned in the other thread and are the ones I've heard about most, but I can't seem to find them in the proper vaules.

So I was thinking about doing a mix like this in each crossover:

Kimber Kap 12uF 200V ($39 EA)
Dayton DMPC-33 33uF 250V

Or would it be just as good to go with:

Dayton DPMC-33 33uf 250v Polypropylene Capacitor ($8.44 EA)
Dayton DPMC-12 12uf 250v Polypropylene Capacitor ($9.63 EA)

I never done this before but it doesn't look hard. I need to replace a driver as well (that I recently bought from TOOLFORLIFEFAN, thanks bro)

so I figured now's the time to redo my XO's. I'm sure those $39 kimber kaps are really nice but if its not mated with the same brand 33uf cap I'm wondering if it would be a smart choice to go with the less expensive Dayton caps all around. Is my thinking correct?

comfortablycurt

danger boy wrote: »

this is the second pair of monitor 7's I've had the crossovers rebuilt on. last year were the 7A's with peerless.. this time around 7B's with peerless tweets.

The only difference between the two rebuilds are these 7B's I used Kimber Kaps and the 7A's got Solens in them.

Either the 7B's are that much better than the 7A's or those Kimber Kaps / Solens mix brought it and rocked them out. To say there is a improvement in everything is an understatement.

I always knew I loved my 7B's even before the rebuilding the crossovers.. now they are my favorite speaker I own hands down. Everyone knows the 7's image very well.. now they offer better separation as well as more depth to the music. Details are spot on.. I am even hearing drums off to the left and right of each speaker. Wow... big improvement.

I hooked them up tonight and right away.. I thought OMG, they SUCK! within less than 20 minutes they had opened up and settled down into some incredible sounding speakers. They should really sound good after a good 70 hours or so. IF they improve any or not.. I am very happy with that I'm hearing right now.

I have been listening to Santana's Supernatural. I'm very familiar with the entire CD and I'd be able to tell small nuances in the music delivery.

I have to say... the rebuild with these Kimber's do everything very well. A bit more $, but not much. IF anyone is wanting to try them out. I was pleasantly surprised.

THe picture was taken with my cell phone.. so it's not real good. but you all know what a crossover rebuild looks like anyways.

The highlighted part above is something I've wondered about for a while. Has anyone here directly compared a pair of Peerless 7A's, to a pair of Peerless 7B's?

There is very little to no difference between the two. As far as I know, the only differences were the different type of vinyl veneers used between the two.

I believe they use the same XO's, same tweeters(obviously), and, I believe, the same MW's and same PR's

Is there really any sonic difference between them?




Some good info in this thread...I've bookmarked it for when I get around to modding the XO's in my 7A's.

Freak When C

Yeah this is a very informative thread, as is the thread that's linked above. I can't imagine there being much, if any, difference between the A and B Monitor 7 series. I bet the part you highlighted has more to do with the upgrade he did as to why he heard such a difference. That's exactly why I was asking about which caps to go with. I can't find Sonicaps in the correct values and the 33uF Kimber caps, as he stated, are no longer available.

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Some good info in this thread...I've bookmarked it for when I get around to modding the XO's in my 7A's.

So have you decided what caps you're going to go with? Did you look at the two options I listed? Any thoughts?

comfortablycurt

Freak When C wrote: »

Yeah this is a very informative thread, as is the thread that's linked above. I can't imagine there being much, if any, difference between the A and B Monitor 7 series. I bet the part you highlighted has more to do with the upgrade he did as to why he heard such a difference. That's exactly why I was asking about which caps to go with. I can't find Sonicaps in the correct values and the 33uF Kimber caps, as he stated, are no longer available.



So have you decided what caps you're going to go with? Did you look at the two options I listed? Any thoughts?

I'm gonna go with Sonicaps for both the 12uf and the 33uf. I'm also going to go with Mills for the resistors.

Sonic Craft has the Gen I Sonicaps, and they'll do custom values. So, you should be able to get a 33uf Sonicap from them.

That being said, a 30uf cap would probably be in spec with the original caps, but I'd rather go with a 33uf myself.

Either way though, my SDA 2A's are getting their XO's modded first.

Freak When C

Well what I took from the part you highlighted was that it was the caps that made the significant difference. And it was Kimber Kaps he used that, to him, made that significant difference. It was also mentioned that Kimber Kaps are rebadged Auricaps. So if you read it like I do, I think going with Auricaps is the way to go. And yes, Auricaps are available in 33 uf / 200v. No custom values need be ordered. It's not real clear but it seems as though he used expensive 33 uf / 200v (Kimber Kaps) and inexpensive 12uf (Solens). To me that means mixing is fine and that its worth it to spend the extra on the 33 uf caps.

F1nut

It's not real clear but it seems as though he used expensive 33 uf / 200v (Kimber Kaps) and inexpensive 12uf (Solens). To me that means mixing is fine and that its worth it to spend the extra on the 33 uf caps.

Yeah, not clear. If that is the case, it's backwards. Never use Solens in high frequency circuits. Also, some folks think that it doesn't matter what brand of cap is used in the shunt circuit, I disagree.

wutadumsn23

Nice work Al, I'll bring my 10's by this weekend for you to upgrade, lol.

-Jeff

mrviper100

The 12uf capacitor is a Bi-Polar Electrolytic. I don't think you can just replace it with a polypropylene cap. Maybe I'm wrong.

heiney9

mrviper100 wrote: »

The 12uf capacitor is a Bi-Polar Electrolytic. I don't think you can just replace it with a polypropylene cap. Maybe I'm wrong.

Yep, you're wrong. Replace with anything BUT an electrolytic.

Clarity Cap is another great recommendation. I used them in a pair of 5B's and they sound fantastic and are less expensive than the Auricaps.

If one is going to go with Kimber or Auricaps do yourself a favor and spend that money on Sonicaps, another well proven winner.

H9

F1nut

Yep, you're wrong. Replace with anything BUT an electrolytic.

H9 is correct.

mrviper100

Where is the best place to buy caps? I'm not look for the most expensive ones.

Face

Sonic Craft.

heiney9

Madisound carries Clarity Caps.

Parts Express carries Solen and some others as well as Mills resistors

Part Connexion carries a lot of nice caps as well as Mills

Micheal Percy Audio carries some parts as well.

Sonicraft sells Sonicaps and Mills and other stuff too.

This should get you started.

H9

Freak When C

I just ordered the following parts from Sonic Craft:

Two Sonicaps 12µF / 200VDC capacitors

Two Mills 2.7 ohm MRA-12
Two Mills 4.5 ohm MRA-12

I'm going to order the other caps I need (Dayton 33µF) from PE.

While placing my order, the fellow (Elliot) talked me into ordering 24ft of this solder. He said its worth it to use good solder when doing projects like this. Is this indeed good solder?

Face

Freak When C wrote: »

While placing my order, the fellow (Elliot) talked me into ordering 24ft of this solder. He said its worth it to use good solder when doing projects like this. Is this indeed good solder?

It's the best.

Sonic Craft also carries Aeon caps, they're similar to Dayton's. Couldn't hurt to give Elliot a call back and see if they have any in 33-34uf.

heiney9

I thought Aeon caps were made by the same company as Solen? Which is fine for the shunt cap. This will save you some shipping costs buying from one supplier.

H9

Freak When C

yep, they got em. thanks.

Freak When C

Two 33µF Aeon caps added to my order. I was speaking with a tech at Sonic Craft, his name is Jeff. Jeff said that the fuse can be bypassed, i.e., jump the circuit to eliminate the fuse. He said that will further improve the sound of my Polk 7B's. Thoughts?