Hooked everything up last night and did some listening. Sound nice, to be sure. Ended up going with the 802-8G and 416B from Great Plains Audio. I had the feeling that the people (and GPA for that matter) who said the 902 and 416C sounded just as good as the Alnico were probably right. But I also plan on having these speakers for a very long time so I just went ahead and ponied up the money. I also built an outboard crossover using the Zilch design (may he be listening to wonderful music wherever he may be).
So thank you to all who offered advice on the forum, it was and is appreciated!
Nice ! But if I may make a suggestion ? I would still look for an original crossover for those...Or GPA is making new 19 crossovers now.. I haven't heard them obviously, but the mounting plate looks like the same size as an original.. Are you covering up the crossover hole in the baffle ? You need to do that to keep the cabs tuned to proper frequency.What makes the original 19 XO's IMHO is the inductors... But obviously the GPA's won't have those.
I think that crossover looks like it might even better than stock (is that a brown Ruskie KBG cap?) and overall they look AWESOME!! Congratulations.
MAYBE one can say that the ferrite is just as good as Alnico versions and some might even like the drier sound of the ferrites more, but they are not the same. Every time I compare, I am drawn to the little bit of extra music juice I hear in the alnicos. Cant go wrong with 802s, in any event.
I am pretty happy with the crossovers, I think, but then I have never heard an original pair of Model 19s so I may not know what I am missing. Zilch had a great reputation for design and these were tried by many people at Audiokarma. That said, of course I would love to try out some original crossovers and see which are better and hear some of that original sound! But I have spent every last audio penny I have getting these together so it would be a while before I could offer you a fair price, and I know original crossovers aren't easy to come by. But once I have scraped some crash together I wouldn't mind trying to do a deal, for sure.
That is indeed a brown Ruskie Pio cap straight from Ukraine if memory serves. And some Daytons with some other Russian PIOs. I will probably upgrade caps eventually, but I am good for now.
I did make sure to plug that hole where the original crossovers were. I mounted a board and covered the back of it with dynamat (as well as smothering the horns with it as well).
I only saved the cabinets from extinction. They guy I bought them from (who paid $50 for the complete speakers!) had parted them out. No idea where the drivers and crossovers ended up.
Great work!!! I am sure if you let us know where you are, someone on the forum can let you hear their 19's and I am sure some would love to hear yours... You may want to look into making some foam surrounds for the horns or purchasing them.. Good luck, M 19's can be a lot of fun once dialed in!!!
I live in Huntington, WV. Not a lot of high end audio going on around here that I have seen even though we have one of the most awesome radio museums. I don't want to appear stupid (but often have no choice) so I will ask, what do you mean by foam surrounds for the horns? I am not familiar with that. Thanks!
I live in Huntington, WV. Not a lot of high end audio going on around here that I have seen even though we have one of the most awesome radio museums. I don't want to appear stupid (but often have no choice) so I will ask, what do you mean by foam surrounds for the horns? I am not familiar with that. Thanks!
Theres a piece of foam that wraps around the horn mouth. AB will fill you in on it.
All right, haven't seen that. I covered the horn that is inside the speaker with Dynamat but I suppose the foam would help damp any residual ringing that the Dynamat didn't take care of. A picture would be great or a place that I can get it. Thanks again.
Originally Posted by Paully
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