LSi15 mod update.

Pepi28

Finally finished one of the speakers a couple of hours ago. The Clarity caps I used for the crossover mods were just as big as the dayton 100uf caps. I barely was able to get the 12uf cap to fit on the board where the stock cap was. The glue that polk put on these was terrible. It took me almost 2 hours just to get one cap off with the amount of glue they put on it. :mad:Also it had no give or anything to it. Even the resistors wouldnt come off, so I left the stock resistors on as well as the stock 18uf cap and just cut the leads off of them. I had to run extension's to all caps except for the 12uf. Anyways I hooked everything back up and am currently listening to some Tchaikovsky at almost reference levels and it is driving my wife bananas. Tomorrow I will start on the right speaker and hopefully have better luck with that one.

ben62670

I wasn't kidding about that glue. Removing the old stuff is the worst part of the job!

McLoki

Well how does it sound compared to stock? Did you replace all the caps or just the ones in the signal path? What resistors and caps did you use? Inquiring minds want to know...

Pepi28

I replaced all caps with Dayton and Clarity caps. Replaced stock resistors with MILLS MRA-12 from Soniccraft. So far the sound is a little clearer. I am going to start on the right speaker in a couple of hours. So far so good. I'll keep you posted. Listening to some Hendrix right now.

McLoki

What caps did you use the clarity's on? What did you use for the 130's?

Pepi28

The 130's got the daytons and the rest were clarity's.

McLoki

Forgive my ignorance, but where do the clarity's fall in sound and quality between Dayton and SoniCap (gen 1's)?

Face

Which Claritycaps did you use? They have 6 different lines: http://www.claritycap.co.uk/

Mike, I can speak from experience, the MR's sound incredible and are a noticeable step up from Sonic Caps, in sound quality and also unfortunately price too.

Pepi28

I used the SA Clarity's. Would have loved to go the MR route but can't see spending the coin right now.

Pepi28

McLoki wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance, but where do the clarity's fall in sound and quality between Dayton and SoniCap (gen 1's)?[/QUOTE

Can't really give an answer on that since I've never really heard any other speaker's with Sonic's or Dayton's in them. Everyone that I know think that the HTIB speakers you can get at a bestbuy or circuit city are more than enough to have and think that I am nuts for spending money on what I have, including my wife. The best is when they come to my house to watch a movie they are amazed at how awesome the sound is compared to what they have but they still think there's is plenty.

McLoki

Pepi28 wrote: »

Everyone that I know think that the HTIB speakers you can get at a bestbuy or circuit city are more than enough to have and think that I am nuts for spending money on what I have, including my wife. The best is when they come to my house to watch a movie they are amazed at how awesome the sound is compared to what they have but they still think there's is plenty.

You and me both. I do have a few people that have stepped above the HTiB speakers, but often not much of a step and they are certainly not willing to take another.....

I am glad I have found this board where I can talk to others as demented as I am...

Pepi28

Exactly.^ Good peoples here.

zingo

McLoki wrote: »

I am glad I have found this board where I can talk to others as demented as I am...

I love it when friends of family come over and listen to music and say, wow... :cool: Most people just haven't heard HIFI.

Pepi28

I had a coworker over yesterday and we watched Live free or Die hard and his jaw dropped when he heard my system. And he was one of those "why do you spend your money on speakers when they are all the same" guys. Not anymore. He wants me to help him and his pops put together a nice system for their house now.

arbata

Ok, I am a newbie, and still figuring out the difference between a preamp, processor, and receiver. I do love audio. I have a good ear. Until recently, my wife has kept me at alarm clock level when it comes to sound. A week ago I bought my first system. 2 lsi25s an lsi C, an amp and processor.
Good with my hands, and engineering background. What the heck are you guys upgrading that is making your speakers souped up? can you get those off the shelf at a store? are they circuit cards that control crossover?

ben62670

arbata wrote: »

Ok, I am a newbie, and still figuring out the difference between a preamp, processor, and receiver. I do love audio. I have a good ear. Until recently, my wife has kept me at alarm clock level when it comes to sound. A week ago I bought my first system. 2 lsi25s an lsi C, an amp and processor.
Good with my hands, and engineering background. What the heck are you guys upgrading that is making your speakers souped up? can you get those off the shelf at a store? are they circuit cards that control crossover?

The title of the thread was an attention grabber. I tried to get the name of the thread changed, but that is the way it is going to stay. I do really like the LSI line, but the caps hinder the SQ. With some replacement caps, and resistors you can really bring these to a much higher level. I feel they can compete with much more expensive speakers with some upgraded parts.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71515

arbata

LOL, I guess I shoulda gotten an electric engineering degree. caps? SQ? Ben, I guess you are telling me not to try this at home just yet!

ben62670

Caps are capacitors(the big cylinder things in white and black) The resistors are the tan, and black things. You can do it yourself if you are comfortable soldering. You just do one board at a time;) BTW welcome to Club Polk
Ben

Face

I agree with Ben, I recently upgraded a pair of LSi9's and was impressed by the difference. I now have a LSiC here that's next up.

No need for a engineering degree, but if you're asking questions like that, maybe you should have someone else do it.

arbata

well, i know what capacitors and resistors are! Tried soldering...copper pipes
I just paid way too much for new speakers and my wife now expects me to redo kitchen and bathroom in payment. I won't try upgrading those just yet, but an older pair maybe? lol, if i can get better sound, i will try it. now i just gotta read and figure out what "it" is.

DarqueKnight

Face wrote: »

Mike, I can speak from experience, the MR's sound incredible and are a noticeable step up from Sonic Caps, in sound quality and also unfortunately price too.

Are the MR's marketed toward the DIY community or do OEM's use them also? If so, which OEM's?

I checked prices for Clarity MR's on the Madisound wbsite. It would cost over $2500 to recap my 1.2TL's with MR's.:eek:

Face

It would appear to be more popular amongst DIY'ers so far, probably due to them being somewhat new on the market.

For OEM's, they're available as a upgrade on the BPT Cirrus. But since the MR's are also available in different color schemes, it's possible that other OEM's may use them but may not advertise it.

If you're considering making the jump, you could get away with only using them in the high pass, it would chop a large percentage off the cost.

On another note, I should be doing a Solen, Sonic Cap, Mundorf S/O, and Claritycap MR comparison soon in a pair of custom speakers.

ben62670

Face wrote: »

On another note, I should be doing a Solen, Sonic Cap, Mundorf S/O, and Claritycap MR comparison soon in a pair of custom speakers.

Can't wait!

Oh yeah you left out Dayton.

DarqueKnight

Face wrote: »

If you're considering making the jump, you could get away with only using them in the high pass, it would chop a large percentage off the cost.

You first.;)

schwarcw

Face wrote: »

On another note, I should be doing a Solen, Sonic Cap, Mundorf S/O, and Claritycap MR comparison soon in a pair of custom speakers.

Mike, good luck with your evaluations, it sounds like it will be a lot of coin. I priced a pair of clarity MR's (12 uF), those things are $283 each:eek: The Mundorf's are expensive also. I'm going with the Sonicaps. I've used these before and was more than satisfied. I'd love to try the Clarity or Mundorfs, it's just out of my league.

I'll be interested to hear your results. Good luck!:)

Face

Luckily the value I need is much smaller.