treitz3
01-26-2011, 10:08 PM
I'd like to take this opportunity to say that throughout my audio journey, I have recently discovered that upgrading the crossovers in your speakers should be first and foremost on the list of upgrades to your rig. While this is just my opinion, it comes with merit. Allow me to explain.
Most of you know that I have gone through a plethora of gear recently in my audio journey. Some changes were good, some bad and yet some were really nice upgrades. While I do know that everything affects everything, looking back at what I know now? I would have changed one aspect of my upgrade path.
That would be the the upgrading of the crossover networks in the speakers I have owned.
I know it has been said that "there used to be a day when an SDA speaker sounded good without a crossover upgrade" and that in some folks' rigs, other things must be addressed first....like running with a 8Ω AVR, feeding a set of 4Ω speakers. Provided you have covered the basic fundamentals of building a rig, it is of my opinion that you should do the crossover upgrades next. Don't hold off on it, do it ASAP.
Here's the deal. I have a set of Tyler Acoustic's Linbrook Signature series loud speakers. Trey [Sid the kid] has a set of Super Towers, also from Tyler Acoustics. His are a smaller, taller version of mine and would be "considered", if you will, a slight downgrade from my speakers within the lineup of Tyler speakers. I have heard his speakers on my amp, his amp, similar sources, MIT cables, no MIT cables, with and without a sub and basically are rigs are relatively similar. They both sounded great and we were both pleased.
Given the smaller radiating surface of his speakers, you would expect a slight reduction of bass output which is exactly what what the end result is. Otherwise, besides room acoustics and surroundings, our rigs sounded very similar no matter the gear swap. Just different flavors of sound. Like when we swapped his SS amps with my tube amp. Just a different flavor 'tis all.
That said, Trey went and upgraded his crossover networks and actually removed them from the speaker altogether while at the same time, mine remained stock. Upon hearing just one speaker running full go when I visited a while ago [one speaker had only a tweeter issue that has since been resolved, so the speaker was running....just not the tweeter on that one speaker], I immediately noticed that the sound had improved on the speaker that was running full tilt. He had done nothing else to his rig but upgrading the crossover network.
A couple of weeks go by and I have a chance to come get my ears on the rig that has the new tweeter installed, so both speakers are running at full capacity. Again, immediately upon entering the audio room, I noticed a great deal of improvement in the sound. Well, I had brought a couple of demo tracks to check out on his rig, so we gave it a whirl. Man, what a difference! I enjoyed the entire listening session and went on my merry way.
Got home and turned on my rig and immediately shut it off for three weeks. It sounded like I had a K-mart rig or some sh!t.
Three weeks go by and I could finally tolerate my rig again but I really only truly enjoyed it when I was watching a movie. 2 channel stuff just wasn't up to par now. For the first time, it was like a blanket was being thrown over my rig and the enjoyment level just wasn't there as it had been for right about one year now.....and this was with the addition to the Tyler Acoustic subs he had recently slid my way to add to my rig.
So, I go over to his pad this past weekend and give a listen to his rig again. He has had some time to burn everything in and I wanted to hear what it sounded like. HOLY MOLY!!!!
Everything about the sound had changed. Everything. Words can not give you what I experienced. As he says, "there is more weight to the instruments, singers". Um.....yeah! The reproductive quality of his speakers have now taken a listening experience to levels further than what a new amplifier would do, further than improving the source, further than adding a dedicated 20 amp circuit would do.
The difference is so staggering, I do not even want to listen to my rig anymore until I upgrade the crossovers. Funny, seeing that before he did this? We had about the same rig, just slightly different sounds.
So, in conclusion of this rather long post, I wish I had done things differently and started with the crossover network upgrades first. THEN moved on with the upgrade path with the rest of the rig. The difference is simply amazing.
Ricardo, you have owned the same speakers I own now with some pretty stellar gear running it in a dedicated audio room. Can you imagine that system sounding like crap? That's what it's like when comparing the stock X-overs to the upgraded ones. All at a cost of around 9 bills. Had you upgraded the crossovers, I believe your audio journey would have taken a different path.
Some of you might have wondered why I have recently been telling Trey that I hate him. This is why.
Crossover upgrades coming soon to a rig in my living room. I may hate the little bastard but I thank him profusely for showing me the way to elevate my audio journey to areas well beyond what I had ever envisioned. Way to go, kid. Way to go. :wink:
Most of you know that I have gone through a plethora of gear recently in my audio journey. Some changes were good, some bad and yet some were really nice upgrades. While I do know that everything affects everything, looking back at what I know now? I would have changed one aspect of my upgrade path.
That would be the the upgrading of the crossover networks in the speakers I have owned.
I know it has been said that "there used to be a day when an SDA speaker sounded good without a crossover upgrade" and that in some folks' rigs, other things must be addressed first....like running with a 8Ω AVR, feeding a set of 4Ω speakers. Provided you have covered the basic fundamentals of building a rig, it is of my opinion that you should do the crossover upgrades next. Don't hold off on it, do it ASAP.
Here's the deal. I have a set of Tyler Acoustic's Linbrook Signature series loud speakers. Trey [Sid the kid] has a set of Super Towers, also from Tyler Acoustics. His are a smaller, taller version of mine and would be "considered", if you will, a slight downgrade from my speakers within the lineup of Tyler speakers. I have heard his speakers on my amp, his amp, similar sources, MIT cables, no MIT cables, with and without a sub and basically are rigs are relatively similar. They both sounded great and we were both pleased.
Given the smaller radiating surface of his speakers, you would expect a slight reduction of bass output which is exactly what what the end result is. Otherwise, besides room acoustics and surroundings, our rigs sounded very similar no matter the gear swap. Just different flavors of sound. Like when we swapped his SS amps with my tube amp. Just a different flavor 'tis all.
That said, Trey went and upgraded his crossover networks and actually removed them from the speaker altogether while at the same time, mine remained stock. Upon hearing just one speaker running full go when I visited a while ago [one speaker had only a tweeter issue that has since been resolved, so the speaker was running....just not the tweeter on that one speaker], I immediately noticed that the sound had improved on the speaker that was running full tilt. He had done nothing else to his rig but upgrading the crossover network.
A couple of weeks go by and I have a chance to come get my ears on the rig that has the new tweeter installed, so both speakers are running at full capacity. Again, immediately upon entering the audio room, I noticed a great deal of improvement in the sound. Well, I had brought a couple of demo tracks to check out on his rig, so we gave it a whirl. Man, what a difference! I enjoyed the entire listening session and went on my merry way.
Got home and turned on my rig and immediately shut it off for three weeks. It sounded like I had a K-mart rig or some sh!t.
Three weeks go by and I could finally tolerate my rig again but I really only truly enjoyed it when I was watching a movie. 2 channel stuff just wasn't up to par now. For the first time, it was like a blanket was being thrown over my rig and the enjoyment level just wasn't there as it had been for right about one year now.....and this was with the addition to the Tyler Acoustic subs he had recently slid my way to add to my rig.
So, I go over to his pad this past weekend and give a listen to his rig again. He has had some time to burn everything in and I wanted to hear what it sounded like. HOLY MOLY!!!!
Everything about the sound had changed. Everything. Words can not give you what I experienced. As he says, "there is more weight to the instruments, singers". Um.....yeah! The reproductive quality of his speakers have now taken a listening experience to levels further than what a new amplifier would do, further than improving the source, further than adding a dedicated 20 amp circuit would do.
The difference is so staggering, I do not even want to listen to my rig anymore until I upgrade the crossovers. Funny, seeing that before he did this? We had about the same rig, just slightly different sounds.
So, in conclusion of this rather long post, I wish I had done things differently and started with the crossover network upgrades first. THEN moved on with the upgrade path with the rest of the rig. The difference is simply amazing.
Ricardo, you have owned the same speakers I own now with some pretty stellar gear running it in a dedicated audio room. Can you imagine that system sounding like crap? That's what it's like when comparing the stock X-overs to the upgraded ones. All at a cost of around 9 bills. Had you upgraded the crossovers, I believe your audio journey would have taken a different path.
Some of you might have wondered why I have recently been telling Trey that I hate him. This is why.
Crossover upgrades coming soon to a rig in my living room. I may hate the little bastard but I thank him profusely for showing me the way to elevate my audio journey to areas well beyond what I had ever envisioned. Way to go, kid. Way to go. :wink: