Posted by fin1bxn@msn.com (A) on April 13, 2007 at 05:20:48

I just picked up a pr of beat up SNell E/II.
Woofers and front tweeters are good, one rear tweeter is bad. I'm going to refinish the cabinet and wanted to find out what I can do to bring up the performance on these speakers. I do have a FI X 2a3 amp or Dynaco VTA70 to use with it. (Empire 698 Vinyl front end)

I'm certanly open to modding the cabinet adding a port blocking the rear tweeter, buying stands. anything. from what I herd these are as close as I can get to real AN products

Thanks
Bob

• Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II - Will Shade 12:18:59 04/13/07 (6)
  In Reply to: Upgrade a SNELL E/II posted by fin1bxn@msn.com on April 13, 2007 at 05:20:48:

  You can find out a lot by searching the archives for Peter's various comments on the matter. I use a pair of Snell EII's and I've always thought they were great speakers. Basically, the question you have to ask yourself is how much modding you want to do. Acc. to peter, anything more than a wire change is blasphemy. I disconnected the rear firing tweeters on mine, and this is often recommended. Stands would be a fine idea, but you'd need to knock off the wood on the bottom, and the AN stands are mighty expensive. I also rebuilt a xovers on mine - very carefully. you might also try playing around with stuffing, as the AN's use MUCH less stuffing than Peter Snell did. good luck -
  
  

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  • Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II - loki 04:38:09 05/17/07 (0)
    In Reply to: Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II posted by Will Shade on April 13, 2007 at 12:18:59:

    Hi Kamigo, I think you're right, I've just upgraded my Snell type J
    with Hovland 5uf and 0.1uf bypass caps, heresy, but heresy sounds good, no, make that great.
    I do have a problem with the bass driver on one of the speakers, that's been apparent since I bought them (Ebay)
    there is a sympathetic resonance in a specific frequency band,
    very similar to when a bass guitar excites a snare drum,
    it's most noticeable on piano, female vocal, acoustic guitar.
    I've refoamed it just as a last resort, didn't really affect the problem, looks like I'm going to have to buy a pair of new woofers.
    Anyone else had this problem?
    
    

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  • Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II - loki 03:41:29 05/17/07 (0)
    In Reply to: Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II posted by Will Shade on April 13, 2007 at 12:18:59:

    Hi Kamigo, I think you're right, I've just upgraded my Snell type J
    with Hovland 5uf and 0.1uf bypass caps, heresy, but heresy sounds good, no, make that great.
    I do have a problem with the bass driver on one of the speakers, that's been apparent since I bought them (Ebay)
    there is a sympathetic resonance in a specific frequency band,
    very similar to when a bass guitar excites a snare drum,
    it's most noticeable on piano, female vocal, acoustic guitar.
    I've refoamed it just as a last resort, didn't really affect the problem, looks like I'm going to have to buy a pair of new woofers.
    Anyone else had this problem?
    
    

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  • Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II - Kamigo 12:15:02 04/21/07 (2)
    In Reply to: Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II posted by Will Shade on April 13, 2007 at 12:18:59:

    No need to apologize for talking about the grandfather of the AN/E!

    I had my E's open last night, checking out the Xovers yet again. Despite Peter Q's comments that messing with the matched Xovers would be a sin, I can't help but think that a good quality film cap in place of +/- 10% electrolytics can't do any harm. The ClarityCap series is very inexpensive and, according to Humble Homemade HiFi guy Tony Gee, these caps sound very good. A complete remake of the AN/E Xover (just the caps) would cost $50) mixing lower cost PW series, big value caps and higher end SAs).

    Thoughts anyone?
    
    

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    • Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II - Will Shade 17:52:31 04/25/07 (0)
      In Reply to: Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II posted by Kamigo on April 21, 2007 at 12:15:02:

      I used Black Gates and I had Alpha Core custom wind inductors to match the drivers - not as expensive as you would think. I really love these speakers, but after four years with them, I'm ready to try something a little different. I think I ordered the Black Gates from THL Audio and saved about 1/2. They're great speakers, but I'm waiting on a pair of AN/e's with silver voice coils, so I think I'm going to trade them for a turntable. Fortunately I have two pairs of K's and a pair of JII's to mess around with...
      
      

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    • Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II - thanks - fin1bxn@msn.com 16:28:02 04/21/07 (0)
      In Reply to: Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II posted by Kamigo on April 21, 2007 at 12:15:02:

      i had them apart i was very impressed with the coper wire harness. i was going to just vaneer, but instead i went and got some 1/4'' oak and cut up the three pieces for each. i repainted the back, bottom and front flat black, then glued on the new 1/4'' skin. sanded and just put the first coat of oak stain and vacumed the mint black grills. theese will look new. i still havent figured out what i'm going to do with the one bad rear tweeter. i have a pr of 'nos' vifa 3/4'' tweeters from mission i could throw in their to see how they blend. but i figure for 54 bucks just get the original. again i cant believe how these stack up agianst my magnepans and lascallas. -
      
      

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  • thanks, love this speaker - fin1bxn@msn.com 16:10:31 04/17/07 (0)
    In Reply to: Re: Upgrade a SNELL E/II posted by Will Shade on April 13, 2007 at 12:18:59:

    i read all the posts.

    i have them hooked up and cant believe how good they sound. they are taking the place of my magnepan mg3a's. they disapear, have great
    dynamics and realy took me by surprise. i never would have thought a 2way 8'' could give me this much satisfaction. if the an- e's are a step up i just might have to try them in my future.

    i'm going to refinish the cabinets this weekend with new veneer and re-paint the stock base and back and sit back and enjoy them for a while.
    i'm listening to them about 3 feet out and 3 feet from side walls in a 15 x24 room with oddesey mono amps i will try my tubes after the cabinet upgrade.
    i have one rear tweeter thats bad and think i will order the other. it doesnt seem to conjest the sound at all. maybe because of the distance to my wall

    sorry to take up space on the an forum

    bob
    
    
    

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