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I have my one stripped MG2.7/QR that I used to play with XOer values. Well, last night I installed the components I have received (three 3uF RTX caps, .22mH Jensen coil & 20uF Jupiter cap). Initial impressions was less of a shrill sound that I noticed eever since the grills were removed.Well, I can now say the midrange doesn't sound shrill at all. The wax dielectric in the Jupiter cap & Jensen coil worked. It has a very tube-like sound to it now.
The QR tweeter through the triple 3uF RTX caps is far more extended now than before. It can even reproduce piercing nature of cymbal strikes & brass horns. Meanwhile, as metal sounds more metallic, sibilance doesn't at all. It just sounds clearer.
I look forward to it breaking-in further.♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
Follow Ups:
I had the AuriCaps on (back)order. In the interum, I first tried using the stock 50uF ceramic cap but that made the woofer sound very loose & it lost all resolution. I then tried a 55uF high-grade Solen I had around which made the panel tighten up to expected levels I had anticipated from AuriCap. Finally, the 60uF AuriCaps arrived. I've had the Maggie playing for a week at low volumes. Last night I had to check them out. That large copper-wired woofer panel now sounds as tight (or comparably so) as my narrow aluminum-wired midrange. AuriCap simply ROCKS as an even-order low-pass filter's parallel capitor! Between the 8ga North Creek & AuriCap, the XO sounds active so much it's creepy. I think my ears are lying to me. No wonder people love high-voltage versions in similar amplifier applications.The dilema: in-phase midrange sounds like a high-end 2-way. Out of phase midrange sounds like a 1-way with laidback vocals. I think I'm gonna have to install a switch! Maybe a button in front?!
PS: Mundorfs no longer ring with or without grill coth.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
I just bypassed my RTX's by borrowing my brother's small Mundorf silver & oil Mcap's. It restored a lot of low-level detail & natural transient decay. The optimum value seems to be about 0.67uF. That made cymbals more naturally metallic without over-emphasizing sibilance or make it unnaturally sound metallic too.However, there is a noticeable need for grill cloth to filter out 22kHz digital resonance. Otherwise, stripped naked Maggies are quite fatiguing.
My brother wanted to check the RTX's. So, he substituted a used Hovland 10uF MusiCap for the bulk capacitances. All the air was deflated even with a Mcap bypass.
PS: am still waiting for the 60uF AuriCap. In the interim, I found an old Solen 53uF to substitute for the stock electrolytic. The midbass has tightened & the result is more planar sound at the lower XO.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
Could you give an overview of the crossover mods you did, including changes to the cut-off values? I only found a collection of snippets in your posts.
Stock XO
my XO
QR tweeter
high-pass
20.uF
3(3uF) RTX
midrange
band-pass
20.uF & 0.67mH
20.uF Jupiter
&
0.22mH 12ga Jensen
woofer
low-pass
2.5mH & 50.uF
out-of-phase
1.5mH 8ga North Creek
&
60.uF AuriCap
in-phase
electrical high-pass Q
0.71
0.71
upper XO
1.8kHz
4.1kHz
electrical band-pass Q
1.45
0.8
lower XO
acoustic phase-aligned 500Hz
acoustic 550Hz
electrical low-pass Q
0.56
0.79
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
Thanks! What was the objective and the result in changing the Qs and XO points?
The result in lowering band-pass Q was greater low-level resolution. The result in wiring the bass in-phase is more kick & kettle drum impact (well as much as one can expect from planars). I also have a little more midbass. It reproduces male voices more convincingly without compromising it's gorgeous female vocals. I'm still waiting on the AuriCap though. I hope it weaves its usual magic as the best metallized film cap I know.Plus, I just ordered some MyeStands
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
The RTX caps are fully extended HFs now. The QR tweeter sound is tight. It could do with a little loosening. However, cymbal forieties & strikes are distinctive. Natural decay has improved along with low level details.The aluminum wire midrange through the Jensen CFAC inductor & Jupiter cap is very natural. It even has a tuby Amperex goo to it.
The copper wire woofer panel through the North Creek coil integrates with the midrange in very musical manner. The integration is nearly seemless. You can still tell that there's a XO but it takes an audiophile to do so, IMHO.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
your source for the alum wire?
____________ // ________________
The aluminum round wire was referring to the stock midrange voice coil.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
My 1.5mH 8ga North Creek air-core inductor coils arrived today.I've got authentic tactile midbass!!! I can't wait for low-frequency to extend as it breaks-in.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
(comparative gauge): What is the diffrence, electrical and soundwise?
find foils with their extensive surface area excel in upper frequency ranges, where as wire coils excel in the bass region. You can actually see this in measured AC resistance. Also, I would use laminated steel cores for sub-bass region where hysteresis is inaudible compared to other alternatives save an active XO.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
Hey Mart, are you combining the 9uF of RTX's with other caps? What caps were you using before?
1st, I should mention that I raised the high frequency XO up an octave as I didn't like the 1kHz-2kHz electrical bandpass. That Q could screw up any sound whatever the components used. So, it's now around 4kHz now. You see the original stock cap was a 20uF cap. I had wired some midfi Dayton film&foils I had around to test the values & perceive repercussions if any. Clearly these OEM Bennic caps are not in RTX's league. However, I hope to get a sense of these caps sonically with the Jupiter used in the midrange. The midrange is beginning to bloom now as it continues to break-in. I don't think the tweeter ever will, but the cymbal transients sound more natural now. OTOH, I don't know if I want the tweeter to bloom. OTOH, when I'm done I hope to make it sound more authentic like acoustic instruments. I have yet to hear blooming treble frequencies in an acoustic setting.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
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