Can YOUR speakers be upgraded?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2019
- In episode 12 of Tuesday Tech Talk, Danny answers the question, Can YOUR speakers be upgraded? Thanks for watching episodes and let us know in the comments below if you have any questions or need some help with upgrading your speakers!
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www.GR-Research.com
Audiocircle: www.audiocircle.com/index.php... - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
GR helped me out when they upgraded a pair of Magnepan 10.1 QR that I purchased used. The improvements are being greatly appreciated.
Love the level of honesty in your videos.
I LOVE THESE VIDEOS! I don't think I have watched a single episode that hasn't explained, informed or answered questions I had before watching. It's like they read my audiophile mind. Thanks so much.
best info on speaker in a long time, keep them tuesday teck talk coming Tanks for sharing your expertise
As a speaker builder, that is good advice. I found moving the xover to behind the amp and running cables to each driver helped a great deal.
I’m more into car audio and from time to time I love to watch videos that relate to audio, car or home it doesn’t matter. I just found out about this channel and i wanna say that I’ve never seen such a nice and humble person like Danny just wow i can learn soo much from this dude it’s unbelievable! Thanks a lot I’ve subscribed!!!
when you open up most speaker the quality of the wiring and crossover parts is shocking well done this guy !
Hi Danny, I really enjoyed this video and the ending was very humbling, had to Shazam the piece of music at the end, simply beautiful. "An Ode to all Mothers"
Really enjoy your non BS approach to topics. Watched a few of your videos now, think it is time to subscribe.
Thanks Danny... Your values and ethics are undeniable... I can't wait to do business with you in the future.. Appreciate your time...👍
Hey Dannny. I would love to come work 4U as I am a youngin'! I just celebrated the 30th anniversary of my 44th birthday 🎂! Danny, you are awesome 👌! Keep up the good work 👍!
Love what you’re doing.... 👍
Very invigorating testimony! Congrats!
It's a different time now, and guys like John are few and far between.
Im glad to hear you share his qualities.
Utterly Amazing !
Great topic 🔉👍
Hi Danny. Have now watched 12 episodes in 2 days. Have never seen anything like this level of experience and knowledge shared with such truth and modesty in all my 70+ years - half of which was in teaching. The last 2 minutes are an inspiration. Greetings from the Channel Islands. Hope to meet you some day.
With larger gauge inductors, you'd probably have to take a little notice of the DCR as that can change the frequency response. I have added a 0.69 Ohm to a secondary inductor on a tweeter circuit to accommodate a new driver, and that's all it took to do a little shaping :)
Thanks for this. Subscribed! (and liked). I just have a set of Polk audio 1" tweeters, 4" co-axials and 8" woofers. I was hoping to do something with them as a first attempt at a speaker build. They are 4 ohm car speakers I was originally going to install in my truck but I sold the truck a couple of years ago so I was hoping to re-purpose them as a pair of house speakers or for my shop. After watching several videos on the subject I have more questions than when I started, I am way deep in the weeds and not sure how to proceed. I'm not sure what type of crossover to use and if I should use 4 0hm speakers in a home audio system. I'm not intimidated working with electrical circuits or electronics I have a Fluke meter and have built a lot of different electronic projects. I have no problems with wood work either. I'm not expecting a reference class speaker I just wanted to do the best I can with what I've got. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Awesome review of speaker upgrades Had my pioneer hpm 100s crossovers redone bought the highest quality i could spend on them sounds amazing 4 way crossover i gave a quick sound demo of them
wheres the demo?? link? parts list?
great video. I enjoyed it. Have you had your hands on dynaudio 82s? I love the sound but would think about improvments.ty Mark
Hey Danny, thanks so much for these videos, much appreciated. I have a pair of Polk S55 towers. Sending them to you is not an option, so..have you worked on these before and what do you recommend or can you direct me to a higher end kit I could buy the parts and DIY here? Thanks & appreciated!
I upgraded my crossover for my speakers (Speakerlab). They sent me the schematic so would have the correct values. I made the mistake of spending too much money on the chokes for the tweeter, midrange, used 16 gauge speaker wire to wire everything. I needed two boards to hold everything cause I'm not an expert, but I do swear there was a very noticeable improvement in sound. Expensive, but worth it.
Have you upgraded a Canton RC-L?
its an old model, but still sounds great.
Any ideas?
Awesome videos Danny, I had stepped away from Audiophile lifestyle for various reasons but one of them was the cost to joy ratio. I was misinformed and getting bad information and frustrated not getting the sound I wanted after spending thousands on expensive equipment that did not match each other or what I was looking for. So I started all over again and starting small and researching and so far I am very happy with an old pair of KEF Reference 201 and a mid level Denon Receiver and just picked up for super cheap a Dayton Audio 15" powered subwoofer. Very simple and sounds amazing. Very flexible so far and I can listen to Orchestra, live performances and EDM with no fatigue or major complaints. Even movies sound so good, I end up asking myself, could it be worth going through all the trouble to make this a Dolby Atmos surround sound system? I think I'm going to keep things 2 channel for a while and I am interested in investigating updating my already fantastic speakers. Thanks again and I'll be writing to you soon about them.
Thanks for the inspiration. I'm looking to improve my elac debut b5.2. someone know where I can find detailed informations ?
Danny, you are some kinda sorcerer. I’ve been thinking about this exact thing this past week. I bought a very nice pair of spkrs approximately 6 months ago and they sound great, but I can’t help but wonder if I can make em even better by upgrading crossover parts on internal cabling, etc.
Another great video, Danny. Thank you. 🎶🔊🙂
It’s so nice to see someone with your so obviously honest and generous attitude just for the sake of being kind.
Thank you, Danny.
Yes. Danny is a sorcerer. And he runs fast!
enjoyed your videos, planning to buy a R-51 powered speakers do you have kits for improving this speaker? thanks alot..
Yeh I missed you Danny :-)
I'd love to do some simple upgrades to my Dunlavy crossovers but not sure where the heck I'd begin.
I'd love to try upgrading my crossover if I could figure out how to get inside my Fluance Signature series floor speakers.
Big hammer for the win...
Like Mark Czaja below do you have a crossover improvement/recommendation for the JBL L100 Century?
Hello Danny I have a simple question after seeing your very interresting videos about crossovers. Can we always replace electrolytic capacitors by polypropylene or other technologies ? I heard that we cannot always do that but I'll be interrested to know what do you think about it. Thanks from France Max
could you talk more about line sources that would be really appreciated I don't understand why they don't cancel each other out like you described thanks
You got it. We'll do an episode on line sources.
I am inspired by your video and I sought to recap my speakers, I found a capacitor in them labelled as
6.8k 100v
what equivalent do I go for being that the speakers are over 20 years old, the issue is the 6.8k in the marking, every help is much appreciated. Thanks
How would it be to upgrade a Magnepan 3.7i crossover or the back panel?
I have a pair of vintage Cerwin Vega E715's would it be worth upgrading? I also have a pair of CV LS-12's
Hi Danny. I just pic up a Advent laureate cabinets are pristine but the 6.5 are gone. Diy kit would be great what do you think the best way to go. Thanks
If someone already asked and I missed it, I apologize, but my question is: what would be the “hidden gems” on the resale market?
You mentioned ELACs, but what other companies and which models are really good cabinet designs and drivers that just need this kind of tune-up to become stellar?
The obvious counter to that question is what reputed makers should I just run away from?
I just discovered your channel and am greatly enjoying your approach to audio. Thanks in advance.
I have a pair of active speakers Elac Navis ARB-51 . I have noticed that the LH speaker gets quite warm even on standby , the RH is cool to the touch -Puzzles me because should only draw 0.5 W in this mode.
ALSO is there an upgrade kit for this great little speaker ?
Thank you in advance
Danny i have spendor Bc 2speakers the mid bass speakers have been recenterd do you think a upgrade on the crossover give a inprovemend on the sound i live in the Netherlands sorry fore my bad english
Danny, what upgrades would you suggest on the ELAC Uni-Fi UB5's?
Very interesting Chanel ❤️
What do you guys think of paradigm 90p v.2 power towers 1 passive driver and 2 powered drivers
I’m a Clinical Electronic Eng so upgrading my crossover is right in my wheelhouse. However, I’m not a True Audiophile. I purchase my electronic components from NTE or Newark Electronics. Do you have a preference for sourcing parts? The speakers I own are Definitive Technology BP9020.
Hi can you upgrade speaker crossover by just getting the crossover alone and not the entire speaker
I have Infinity IL10, which are good sounding but I think they can be a lot better. I can do the assembly. They are bi- wire or amping
how do you know what components to upgrade to? You have stock capacitor how do you know what the next step up is?
I have a vintage set of wharfedale laser 150, would they benifit from a recap, if so do you sell kit for these thanks
So my question would be, what Electronics do you recommend? I 100% appreciate your candidness about cost not being an indicator of speaker sound but what about Electronics? A specific AVR for instance for home theater? I have a Denon AVR 3801 that I bought new in early 2000 and the thing is so good I can't get rid of it but there has to be so much better or so I think?😨😨😨😨🤓🤓🤓😎😎😁🤔🤔🤔
Hi Danny,
I am very impressed with your works. I saw lot of your videos. I have a question regarding upgrading my speakers. I have Kipsch RP-400M would you please tell me if I can use the same kit that you did on the Klipsch RP-600M?? If so, please send me the link to the kit if you can. Thank you again. Keep up with all great works you're doing.
I would think that there are some differences there in those models. So it is likely that the filters will need to be different as well.
Have you upgraded any Klipsch RP 280s ? What was the cost.
Hi Danny have you upgraded a focal focus 705?
My take away from watching this is you have to weigh the cost upgrading your crossovers and determine if it’s worth it.
So let’s use the Kef LS50 as an example, I don’t own them but they are pretty popular, relatively inexpensive to ship and easy to handle unlike big floor standing speakers. Let’s assume there are three options for upgrading the crossover, the first level would cost $500, the second level $750, and the third level $1000.
If I were to sell them used
Hopefully I answered this in the response above.
You’re a strand up guy, Danny.. I bought matched sets of Sonicaps (for electronics) and other speaker stuff from you around 14 years ago. Sheesh I’m old lol.. Your vids are very educational. Thanks for doing them.
Thank you.
I got a par of Kef iQ90, is it worth to upgrade ? :)
Can you design amps?
Klipsch Klr-30 ever do one of them?
Hi ! First of all I would like to thank you for the very kind and valuable advice. Then I have a curiosity. If we take a low quality passive xover part and and a high end one is there any instrumental way to assess the qualitative difference without even hearing them in a xover ? i mean a parts selection based on lab measurements. Thanks alot again and best regards, gino
Yes, the lower quality level budget parts are easily recognized if you know what to look for. Some of the top level parts are also easily recognized. And many quantitative differences are well established from past experiences.
@@dannyrichie9743 Thanks again for the very valuable advice. The collectionists want to keep as original as possible but old designs can be improved with quality parts available today. Kind regards, gino
Hello Danny. I have a pair of Advent 25th Anniversary (Jensen era) speakers. I believe that the crossovers were changed at some point but I don't know for sure. The foam surrounds are new. They sound really nice as is but wondering if there are any tweaks that would improve overall sound. New crossovers, internal insulation upgrade, etc.
These are basically vintage designs. There are numerous ways that they can be improved. There is also a level of nostalgia associated with speakers like this and a desire to restore them and upgrade them to a level beyond what they ever were from the factory is understandable. But they will not perform to a level of a modern high end speaker. So you'll have to decide how far you want to take them and if it is worth it.
The 70s era Advents will perform up to and even surpass some well-regarded speakers, Vandy 2Ce Sigs being one example that the New Large Advent embarrasses. How do I know this, I've conducted the A/B comparisons. In fact, a factory-stock New Large Advent will surpass most non-DIY speakers under $1500. I had a pair with corroded contacts and original crossover parts and they still surpassed any speaker I've encountered under $1K. Stereophile had this to say about the original Advents: "As for the Advents versus the top-of-the-line speakers, we can only say that you may prefer them to a pair of KLH Nines or Altec A-7s, or you may not. By all the accepted standard of evaluation (excepting sensitivity, where the Altecs excel), the Advents are as accurate reproducers of sound as any top-line system we have heard."
Read more at www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/171advent/index.html#Fto5h2GUcglTQBxG.99
I'm not saying an Advent cannot be improved upon, but concerning the originals and NLAs, they're no slouches, even by today's standards.
Great speakers in their day, but they can still be updated and improve upon quite a bit.
What's wrong with PVC wire insulation?
Hi ! So you have nerver lookd inside an Canton speaker ? I dont find any on them on you website. or Canton maby is more common i europe where I live?
can I just open the speaker and swapp resistors and caps to the same spec but better ones and get better sound you think ?
I have a pair of Infinity IL60 speakers . Are they worth upgrading ? I don't have 10 grand to spend on them ..... so ?
As I was saying, the LS50 seems to fetch around $750 or so fora used pair. So would it be better to keep them and upgrade the crossover, given that the resale value of the speaker being what it is? Or would it make more sense to sell the Kef’s and put the difference, whether it be $500, $750 or $1000 into new speakers, that will most likely benefit from having the crossovers in them reworked?
And generally speaking, in what manner does an upgraded crossover improve the sound vs a stock crossover that is reasonably well designed. Are we talking tone, resolution, imaging or something else?
A Kef model was used in the next episode. th-cam.com/video/HZml7k41evs/w-d-xo.html
In general the quality of the crossovers used in them are pretty poor. So there are a lot of improvements to be made to them. That being said, it is possible to easily surpass them with some of our budget priced kits.
In the case of this particular Kef model a new crossover was designed. So improvements were made in accuracy, tonal balance, and spectral decay rates. And higher quality parts improved the resolution and detail levels considerably.
Thanks for explaining the levels of upgrading. I have Thiel 3.5’s, with the original woofers, I replaced the tweeters and one midrange driver. How do I contact you for service and or parts to improve the speakers?
I have a pair of Wharfedale Jade 5. Wonder have far they can be upgraded?
Just bought a pair of 1976 Pioneer HPM - 60 which already sound impressive , what would it take to bring em to the next level?
Have you done any work on the inexpensive monoprice 6.5 coaxial studio monitor?
I paid thousands for a pair of high end floorstanders.
I wanted to see the cossover and found it sitting at the bottom of the cabinet.
It was an absolute mess with each part glued to the bottom. Excessive lengths of spaghetti like wire and garbage, obviously surplus, cheap, non-polar electrolytics that didn't match. The inductors were Chinese with tin colored copper and cracked cores. I sent them back immediately, but it cost me $470 because they had to go freight. I was pissed. I'll name them if anyone wants to know.
I bought a pair of Sony ES 8-inch three way towers for $1800. Both 4 inch midranges kept blowing, taking out my $4000 power amp three times. Sony ran out of driver stock and would not re-order. I finally checked the crossovers and found two, tiny, underspeced 47uF/50wv electrolytics blown open at their tops. I repaired them and had to get approximate drivers from Vifa.
A total nightmare.
TSAmplifiers who made the floorstanders?
TSAmplifiers you get what you pay for, and most times you don't even get that. Like you I pulled apart my $13,000 Sonus Faber speakers just to peak under the hood. While the crossovers were not bad, good components, well laid out etc. The drivers were nothing to write home about for the price. I have come to the firm conclusion that any off the shelf speaker is not worth a fraction of the asking price. Like Danny has said in other videos you are only looking at about one fifth of the cost in parts. I wanted to step up to the next level speakers but they were like $40,000 (which at the time I could afford but didn't want to spend) so instead I went active DIY instead. I knew what drivers they had in them, the mids I bought the next level up from there, tweeters and woofers many times up from there. Combine that with going active and it left the $13,000 speakers for dead. Going active is not cheap, but the difference was night and day.
When replacing an inductor with one with heavier gauge wire, does the fact that the dc resistance will drop effect the characteristics of the circuit, other than increasing current carrying capacity?
Howdy. Yes.
Lower coil resistance will facilitate better use of the amplifier's damping capability.
Regards.
@@eugenepohjola258 Thanks. I do appreciate that the lower resistance is better in that regard, I just wondered whether the value of resistance affects the resonant quality of the reactive components....
Danny, I'm putting together a couple of bookshelves with Markaudio 11ms 6.5" drivers. Would love to send these to you for baffle step and notch filters.
Not a problem. I have measured and tested some of their full range drivers already. And yes, they will need a little help.
Hi Danny, what brand and type of capacitor (keeping the value the same) do you recommend for a speaker crossover upgrade for my 30 yo Morduant Short MS55ti, thanks for any info
That can depend on where in the circuit they are being used. And even then there may be a good, better, best options based on your budget. And capacitors have come a long way in 30 years.
@@dannyrichie9743 Sorry to press you again but what type for Tweeter, mid, bass and a good brand? thanks anyway
@@tothemax324 With our kits that we offer we use the Erse poly caps with a Gen.2 Sonicap as by-pass caps on the budget end and we use Sonicaps on the higher end stuff. For the extreme top level builds we use the new Copper Caps or Copper Miflex caps as by-pass caps.
@@dannyrichie9743 Thank you Danny, appreciated very much
I need to upgrade the tweeter on my Enegy RC70's is there a particular one that I can buy online?
www.soundstagenetwork.com/revequip/energy_rc70.htm
how do i get in contact with you to talk about upgrading my speakers?
Info@gr-research.com
I have a set of infinity rsii and wondering if recapping would be recommend?
Wow, I haven't seen a pair of those in a while. I remember them fondly from my youth. And I have upgraded a few of those designs including the Beta's. But I have not had that model in here. It is a vintage model. A lot can be done with them. The parts quality was common for the time, but really budget level by today's standards. So there is a lot of upside potential with upgrading the crossover parts, wire, binding posts, etc.
Danny Richie how would one go bout with upgrading? Is this something I can do myself? Is there a parts kit available?
Danny Richie’s advice to do a lot with them makes you wonder about salvaging any of the original at all. After all, they would no longer be “Infinity” speakers anyway. What would the value be in keeping any of it or simply building a new pair from your kits?
The circuit needs to be examined to what's there, what's good, what's bad, or what's really bad. It could be that you can start swapping parts out for newer higher quality parts and just value for value swaps.
@@scottmackey4182 good point. You have to ask yourself when do you cut your losses. If the speakers works now you could sell them and buy something new, whereas you sink money into them and it is kind of dead money. Bit like if you do an extensive renovation on a house, sometimes that can work out dearer than knocking it down and building a new better house. Always a hard call to make unless there is some kind of sentimental attachment to them.
Got an
Infinity reference three
Upgrade?
We can work with that.
this is why vintage speakers soud better as audio before was expensive so they made as a chalenge between brands, who will do better, today who will do cheaper.
You guys are doing fantastic job. I wish I could be part of it. I do the same for friends as hobby. Most upgrades are based on listening/experience it may not be as accurate as you all do but works.
Keep the good work, God bless you all.
i got a pair off jbl xpl 200 what can i do too them..
Usually a lot can be done with vintage models to make them sound better than they ever did. You just have to decide how far you want to take them and if the expense will be worth it. That model had a large front baffle and benefited from a felt layer on the front baffle. That is cheap and easy to add. They also used a lot of budget parts that can be upgraded quite a bit. But that crossover was kind of complex and there are a lot of parts there to upgrade. Products like No Rez, tube connectors and re-wiring them with new high purity Copper wire will also help them out a lot. That one can be quite a project. So it could be a bit daunting or it could be a lot of fun. It just depends on your skill level.
Has anyone upgraded audioengine speakers?
I've searched and searched, how to upgrade an amp
I bought a set of Mackie thrash 12", I'm not impressed. I bought a eminence 12" 500w rms. Now the amp is supposed to handle that but I'm not so sure. I'm going to upgrade crossover, but what can I do with amp. I can't find anything about the amp
How can I contact this guy?
Info@gr-research.com
Very disturbing - I wonder how many other mfrs send modified samples to magazines for review. Maybe you can get a tiny dancer to see if Usher actually incorporated your mods.
My first thoughts were I wonder if they are passing them off as standard speakers setting unrealistic performance expectations from the speakers, or if they disclosed that they had been modified.
I miss you like the priests miss the alter boys!
I inherited a pair of infinity speakers from the 90’s. Model is rs125. They appear to be in excellent physical condition and was curious if they were any good/worth upgrading? Thanks Danny
That was a budget level design. A lot can be done with them. You just have to decide if it is worth it. You could spend $200 to $500 with upgrades that will improve them quite a bit. Or for the same money or less we offer some high end kits that will get you much further up the performance scale.
Danny Richie thanks for the info. Doesn’t sound worth it but wasn’t sure of what I had to start with. Cabinets seem well made at least. May toss them in garage for background noise .