Xover parts quality,/sound difference?

I am just completing the process of upgrading my crossover in my Dunlavy IVa speakers. I intend to write a full review of the research I did, and how I chose which components to replace as well as the sonic results.

As a quick summary Dunlavy used an all first order crossover design; that certainly does not guarantee less parts. The bass crossover has four capacitors, one resistor and four inductors. The treble/mid-range crossover section has six resistors, four capacitors and one inductor. The critical path components were determined to be two capacitors (one tweeter and one mid-range), two resistors (again one and one) and two inductors (one mid-range and one bass). The tweeter has no inductor in it's circuit.

I chose to buy very high end components for these circuits believing the added cost was in terms of this hobby fairly cheep when I consider I could get the best available for say an extra $500.

The results are not jaw dropping stunning, but they are definitely worth the investment in time and money. SMOOOOTH is the best word to describe the silky clean sound. I am using the visual description of resolution to describe the improvement. As if I changed the resolution on my computer from a lower setting to the highest, and changed the color from 256 to 1 million. All the same information is present but the picture is so much more appealing and detailed.

I will be writing a full review of the process as an educational tool as well as some praise for the excellent product and service I received from Duelund Coherent Audio. World class!

Jade

Jade, truth is that is a lot of parts like you said, and might take longer to settle in and then bigger changes will occur. When I did my last pair they sounded more efficient having to use less power to drive at first but sounded a little restricted in terms of they just were not loose yet, but this took about 2 months and then they really opened up and sounded like 5 ft deeper soundstage etc.. So see how it goes, I mostly have heard big changes in 2 way designs, I believe you have a 3 way and thats why you have an abundance of parts vs. a 2 way 1st order network.

JD: I wish that you would have mentioned doing this sometime previously. Gradually bringing the voltage up to or very near the rated voltage on the caps allows them to fully form prior to installation. This drastically reduces break-in time, allowing one to see what the speakers can do far sooner with mucy more uniform performance. I would have been glad to either have done this for you with your caps or lent you a power supply. Then again, some folks don't feel comfortable playing around with multiple hundreds of volts : )

Either way, i'm glad that you're getting the results that you desired and you found this to be a worthwhile investment. Sean
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Some day Sean, some day I will learn to ask you, Bob and Greg for your advise. I have never been real good at that. I am more apt to jump in with both feet tied to rocks and see if I can swim. It has served me well often, but I also have a few flaming blunders in my past. Thank you for your kind offer to help. I will make more of an effort, I do enjoy your help.

Jade

JD: I wasn't suggesting that you ( or anyone else ) ask my ( or anyone else's )specific advice on anything. What i was suggesting was that if someone is going to make major changes within their system and / or modify a primary component within their systems, it might be a good idea to ask for comments before doing so. Not only may it help by learning from others experiences, it may also bring about discussions on other subjects that pertain, but may not be directly related to.

This not only keeps the forums interesting due to the variety of subjects that come up, but may also give us more food for thought as to how one change can alter the performance of inter-related components. After all, i think that most of us are after better sound. While changing parts ( as you did ) may provide better sound, why not learn how to implement those changes in the most optimum manner that we as a group can arrive at? Knowing what is involved in such a project before attempting it will typically result in less effort with better results most every time.

We have a great "think tank" here with a lot of various experience at our disposal. Even if we don't always agree, why not use it to all of our advantages? This is why i encourage rebuttal to my posts and the information provided, as i too want to learn from others and better understand other vantage points.

Having said that, i do a LOT of research of my own via the Agon and AA forums. This is not to mention the vast amount of technical info available across the web. Many of the tidbits / items that i share here were culled from information that i learned from various posts / resources available to me. Granted, not every source is 100% factual and / or scientifically verifiable, hence the necessity for us to use our own brains and sort through what pertains to our individual situations and what doesn't.

Either way, i'm glad that things worked out well for you. I hope that you took this as intended i.e. a general offer to help a "regular" contributor to these forums. After all, if this hobby / industry is to continue moving forward, it will only do so by the efforts that we as a group can muster and share. Sean
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