My new speakers

[selmerdave]

Dwight,

I recently did a comparison with my 604's and my Klipsch Heresy's. One thing for certain is that the Heresy's had more high freqency extension. Another thing for certain is that I never miss it in my 604's and I won't be dragging out the Heresy's again for a while. In the comparison I notice it, when listening I never notice it. Some have added supertweeters to Altecs, and I have considered this, but I'm not sure if the added complexity of another driver and integrating it with everthing else outweighs the benefits. In the end, I say do as Bill says, if you like it leave it.

Dave

[Steve Burger]

In terms of the 808 drivers- when it is time to replace the diaphragms some of Bill's 902 aluminum or 909 pascalite ones will give a lot more extention than the symbiotik's. I was also recently given a set of ALTEC 816 cabinets and have been thinking about how to use them. In response to Roland's suggestion to crossover at the higher point what about the old parallel side issue causing the anomoly at 400 hz? I started thinking about using some 290's (since I have a dozen of them laying around) and crossing over at the point below the anomoly with a set of 311's. Then using a tweeter on top. I'v been a little out of the loop lately so some feedback on that idea would be welcome.

[dstamand]

Update on "my new speakers"...

I have been busy reading various forums since November and "gone shopping" for upgrades to feed them. It turns out they weren't so free now that I want to make them sound the way I want them to. Thats OK though, I really like them.

I am going to tri-amp.

Got from eBay:

1) Kenwood basic C1 pre-amp. (my first pre-amp, shows how much of a stereo newbie I am.)

2) Rane 23b active crossover. I plan on doing the level and phase alignment setup as described on the Rane site.

3) Marantz 250 amp for mids. $$$ - my splurge Christmas present.

4) two Dayton 15" DVC subwoofers in a Decware Housewrecker box. I will never lack for bass SPL but quality, wwwelllll we'll see...

5) Crown D150a amp for subs.

The plan is to feed:

HF: 551b/808-8a from my little Sanyo amp.

MF: Marantz for mids

LF: Crown for subs.

My question for anyone is:

With the active crossover I will remove the resistor and capacitor which is presently in series with the 808-8a. With them gone it sort of leaves them vulnerable to an accident. What if the XO setting on the Rane gets accidently moved - maybe the 808-8a could be subjected to some high power low frequencies.

Is there an easy, simple way to protect them? I have read about relays (sounds complicated and expensive, but maybe not). L-pad? Should I be doing something to protect them? Or maybe its OK to just live dangerously and put some tape over the dial that says "500Hz".

Thank you for any help,

Dwight

[Fitts]

Hi, I use one half amp fast acting fuses in line with my Altec horn drivers. Be sure to get the fast acting fuses and not the regular or slow acting.

Some people like to use blocking capacitors but I have found they always affect the sound so much that I choose not to use them.

Regards,

[dstamand]

I finally finshed setting up my new stereo. Thank you all who helped me.

I describe the process here:

http://members.shaw.ca/dwightandpatti/table1.html



Dwight

[dstamand]

I am trying to update the link in my last post but it dosn't seem to work. Here is the change I want to make to what is at the url referred to in the post above this one.

Menuhin/Kempf Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas: [REVISION JAN 14/2004]: This music came across fine. I thought for a while that there was a problem in the mids but there isn't. It was so easy to isolate the mids: With the xo mute buttons, or just turn off the upper and lower amps - all that is left is the mids. And they sounded very unfocused - no percussive attacks on the running piano notes. I thought I had a mid range muddiness problem, but then in the shower later it hit me - the initial attack of the mid range notes on the piano which gives so much clarity to the sound is a high frequency component. The mid speakers are not supposed to read the music - they are faithfully reproducing what the xo sends to them. The "clarity" component of the mid notes is the job of the HF horns. The whole effect is only heard with all the speakers sounding.