LSI owners your speakers suck!

Face

Yep.

Here's the speakers I mentioned to you earlier.
http://www.sumikoaudio.net/sonus/prod_elipsa.htm


If the Vifa tweets are good enough for them...

Systems

These guys fancy them as well. http://www.krellonline.com/pdf/LAT.pdf

Captive

Damn, I am interested in this, as some of you may have read I burned out the crossover on one of my lsi25's.

Still havent taken the crossover out to send to polk, not sure what to do if they are just going to send me the same thing back and then i'll possibly burn it out again driving them too hard.

DarqueKnight

ben62670 wrote: »

I would definitely use the Sonicaps on the highs. For the lows you could order 2 10uf's, and 2 8uf's to make the 18uf on the upper mid bass.

Sonic Craft will make custom value sonicaps. I decided to do this mod and just ordered the Sonicaps. I use a pair of LSi9's as center channel speakers in my home theater system

The cost of the 18 uF caps was $27.25 each. This was $5.95 less than the combined cost ($33.20) of a 10 uF ($17.60) and an 8.2 uF (15.60).

The total price for the Mills resistors and Sonicaps was:

Mills 3 ohm 12 watt (MRA-12) 2 @ $3.50 $7.00
Mills 1 ohm 12 watt (MRA-12) 2 @ $3.50 $7.00

Sonicap 1 uF 200v 2 @ $5.80 $11.60
Sonicap 18 uF 200v 4 @ $27.25 $109.00
Sonicap 12 uF 200v 2 @ $19.60 $39.20

Total caps/resistors - $173.80
Shipping - $6.95
Total for order - $180.75

ben62670 wrote: »

The 260uf you would have to go with another brand like Dayton. Like I said before the 260uf might be a very minimal performance upgrade. The mounting would be a real pain too.

Hmmmmm....that 260 uF cap. I have not decided if I am going to replace the 260 uF cap. I'll probably go ahead and do it. If I do, I am going to use two 130 uF Solens per crossover from Parts Connexion. Replacing the low frequency section caps in my SDA's made a big improvement. The 130 uF Solens measure 2.28" in diameter x 3.3" long. Piling all these big caps on the LSi9's tiny 3" x 4" circuit board will be "interesting". Whatever parts you decide to use, you should be mindful of this warning on the LSi9 schematic:

"Components must be able to fit thru 2.9" x 4" x 0.75" mounting hole."

The cost of parts from Parts Connexion would be:

Solen PB Series 130 uF 400v 4 @ $35.81 $143.24, plus whatever the shipping charge would be.

ben62670

Thanks for the heads up DK. I was under the assumption that custom caps would be way over priced.
Thanks
Ben

zingo

I also have had custom values made on Sonicaps and they are very affordable for what you get. Especially with what Raife saying about the cost of multiple caps instead of one.

ben62670

Reading the tags upsets me a bit. Please Mr Spineless person who wrote "salesman at heart" step up. Who are you? Do you know how many hours I have spent of my time helping Polkies over the phone? My intentions with sharing any of the upgrades is to improve others listening. It is not for my pocket. I have only done a few XO's for people and received any sort of money for it. I offer up my house, and time for any locals to come over. I don't ask for money. Just Arizona Iced Tea;) So Mr Spineless please suck my D___.
Thanks
Ben

DarqueKnight

I don't know the intent of the tagger, but they may not have meant it in a derogatory manner. I have never heard the term applied to anyone in a derogatory manner and if you google "salesman at heart", you will find that it is often used to compliment someone who is knowledgeable in, and committed to, a particular field and who is skilled at getting people to accept new ideas. The term is not just limited to someone who is good at selling merchandise or services.

In the case of this thread, I think some people (like me ) who would normally have been reluctant to invest several hundred dollars in modding the LSi 9's and 15's, may have been "sold" on the idea once they were informed of the good results that were obtained that justified the cost.

ben62670

I kinda have a good idea who it is. Hopefully I am way off. I am going through some personal struggles right now(health is getting bad fast and I can't get help), and I get a little(OK a lot)sensitive about my work. You and I have a lot of passion in this hobby, and we both get poked for diving deep and sharing our findings.
Thanks DK.
Ben

Edit:
BTW I hate feeling like, or coming across as a salesman in any of my ventures. I always like my work to speak for itself:)
Again thanks. Wish I could EDIT! Justin!

ben62670

DK I googled "salesman at heart", and "death of a saleman" came up many times. I got scared, and left:eek:

mmadden28

DarqueKnight wrote: »

Sonic Craft will make custom value sonicaps. I decided to do this mod and just ordered the Sonicaps. I use a pair of LSi9's as center channel speakers in my home theater system

The cost of the 18 uF caps was $27.25 each. This was $5.95 less than the combined cost ($33.20) of a 10 uF ($17.60) and an 8.2 uF (15.60).
....
Sonicap 18 uF 200v 4 @ $27.25 $109.00

Thanks for that DK-I just sent Soniccraft an email asking if they can modify my order-hopefully its not too late...
I already got my Dayton 18ufs so I won't change that right now. Or should I?

mmadden28

Ben, I appreciate what you're doing-so what if you also can do it for somebody for a small fee if they choose not to take it on themselves. I don't call that sales-I call it sharing knowledge and enabling.
Keep up the good work!! And THANKS!

DarqueKnight

mmadden28 wrote: »

I already got my Dayton 18ufs so I won't change that right now. Or should I?

I don't know. I don't have any experience with Dayton caps. Face and ben62670 have used them in their mods. See posts 6, 31, and 39 in this thread.

Ben did a capacitor shootout which included Daytons here.

ben62670

mmadden28 wrote: »

Ben, I appreciate what you're doing-so what if you also can do it for somebody for a small fee if they choose not to take it on themselves. I don't call that sales-I call it sharing knowledge and enabling.
Keep up the good work!! And THANKS!

Thanks bud. There are only two here that I really don't play well with. The rest of you guys are real cool. Even if some of you are wrong about your opinions:eek::p:)
Ben

Face

For the price, I like Dayton's 1%'s. They added more detail and have a little more high end tilt than the OEM caps in my Tannoy Saturns. They don't have the depth that Sonic Caps have though. I did recently bypass some Sonic Cap Gen I's with .1uf Dayton 1%'s recently and it did add a little more high end without losing anything else.

mmadden28

DarqueKnight wrote: »

I don't know. I don't have any experience with Dayton caps. Face and ben62670 have used them in their mods. See posts 6, 31, and 39 in this thread.

Ben did a capacitor shootout which included Daytons here.

Holy crap my head is spinning afer reading all that (well mostly ) including the links that they linked to and so on and so on...;). Oh BTW, thanks for those links DK.

I'll make this easy on myself...:o Ben, assuming I can get the Sonicap 18uF (unlisted) for the highs, should I continue to use the Dayton 18uFs that I already got from PE on the lows, or get 2 more Sonicap 18uF's-or is it likely not going to make much of a difference to bother?

ben62670

The Dayton's should be fine on the lows, but with me there would always be a little voice in my head saying the Sonicaps are better. Dollar for dollar the Dayton's are real good caps. The Sonicaps are real nice on the highs. I have never(not yet;)) done a side by side shootout. I'll be able to give some feedback in a couple weeks on Dayton vs Sonicap in the LSI's high pass, but I would be guessing if I gave an opinion. I'd love to do a shootout on my monitors, but the $130 price tag is just too high for me. Others may have tired Dayton's, and Sonicap in the lows. Hopefully they can chime in.
Ben

mmadden28

DarqueKnight wrote: »

...Whatever parts you decide to use, you should be mindful of this warning on the LSi9 schematic:

Can you post the schematic or PM it to me? Or where would I find it?

Thanks

ben62670

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38755
Here you go. I did not see any warning, but my eyes aren't the best for reading.
Ben

mmadden28

Pheeww--Now that's a collection.

Thanks Ben.

When do you sleep?

ben62670

mmadden28 wrote: »

Pheeww--Now that's a collection.

Thanks Ben.

When do you sleep?

They also have an SDA section in there:)
Sleep?
Usually between 8-9:30 am. But the 3 YO can prevent that;) I actually have some pretty severe health issues that prevent me from sleeping more than a couple hours at a time. I usually get to a point when I am so exhausted that I can sleep for a good 6-8hrs, but that is only every 3-4 days:(

mmadden28

mmadden28 wrote: »

Thanks for that DK-I just sent Soniccraft an email asking if they can modify my order-hopefully its not too late...
I already got my Dayton 18ufs so I won't change that right now. Or should I?

It was too late-already shipped--looks like I'll be doubling up the caps. Oh well

ben62670

Do you have a glue gun? It is a necessity on this upgrade.
Ben

gwh

Are you still planning on moding a LSIC ?




G

ben62670

gwh wrote: »

Are you still planning on moding a LSIC ?
G

Well I decided just to do it. I installed the 12uf underneath, and the two 18ufs above. You can install one 18uf underneath, and the 12, and remaining 18uf on the top. The 12uf should fit between the inductors, but then you still have the 18uf on top. I tossed this back and forth a few times, and decided it would more solid to glue the two 18's together. There is plenty of room in this cab for the XO. Sorry about the pics. The batteries were shot. I didn't have much time to mess with it.
Ben

ben62670

Well I hooked it up and played it a while. The reason for this one to get the XO upgrade was to help it match the others. Before it had a problem with a driver getting "fuzzy" sounding after being run at moderate levels. Well I didn't investigate it much because we were going to do the upgrade anyways. Well its a bad driver. I was hoping it was a bad cap, or resistor. When the VC heats up after a while it starts to distort. Just a bit of info on the LSIc. The tweeter is not the same as in the 15's.
Ben

cokewithvanilla

I have been following this thread and considering purchasing a pair of 15's or 9's to try this mod on (as I am unhappy with my current 25's,c,fx setup).

However, this post regards your last statement. The c tweeter isnt the same as the 15? I have taken out the tweeter in my c,fx and 25 and the 25's tweeter looks different on the inside, but I thought that was just maybe because it was an older build date. I also inquired about a new tweeter from polk and they said "for the lsi series, $100" so i figured they were all the same.

ben62670

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

I have been following this thread and considering purchasing a pair of 15's or 9's to try this mod on (as I am unhappy with my current 25's,c,fx setup).

However, this post regards your last statement. The c tweeter isnt the same as the 15? I have taken out the tweeter in my c,fx and 25 and the 25's tweeter looks different on the inside, but I thought that was just maybe because it was an older build date. I also inquired about a new tweeter from polk and they said "for the lsi series, $100" so i figured they were all the same.

The magnet structure of the LSIc tweeter is definitely smaller. I don't know if they used a better magnet, but it does sound just as good as the 15's. Did you mention that you are a Club Polk member to get the discount?
Ben

cokewithvanilla

nope, i just sent polk a email. I am not in dire need of a tweeter, but I cannot find the papers on my C. I was [playing at decent volume levels and smelled something coming from the tweeter O_O. Figured I would inquire about a replacement.

the tweeter in the fx looks the same as the C, incase you were wondering O_O

Have you done that mod on 15's yet? I have no idea what I am going to do with my setup... I think I need to hear it in a bigger room (soon soon, I keep telling myself O_O), I have listened to some material and it sounds great, others do not. I think my setup has the potential, but maybe I would want to do away with the active subs in the 25s.... I was looking at a 9 as a rear, and also could later double as a bookshelf speaker if I ever took apart my system, or 15's to demo against my 25s..... but if this mod makes them so much better, then they would replace my 25s...

ben62670

You have to let them know you are a CP member, and you will get a good discount. The 15's I did first. As for some material sounding better, and some sounding worse it happen the further up the food chain you go. The more resolution the more analytical its gets. The Vifa tweeters are pretty forgiving compared to most I have heard.
Ben