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I noticed on my Maggie 3.6 that there are 4 double sided solid pins that connect each crossover to the speaker panels. Yep - It holds up the crossover (along with some help from a lower bracket) OK but I wonder whether removing these pins, supporting the crossover between the legs of the Mye stands and REPLACING the pins with some good quality wire would improve sound quality. I guess it kind of galls me a little to have a decent pair of speaker cables and then have them feed the signal through this solid pin "signal bottleneck". I have already replaced the tweeter attenuation pin with some good quality #12 OFC copper wire which did seem to give a subtle improvement in definition to the 3.6's ribbon tweeter.Has anyone replaced those crossover pins with good quality wire and did you notice any improvement in transparency ?
Follow Ups:
I bought the Cardas 3.6 kit and it's worth every penny. Included is a cable to short the tweeter attenuator also. I think the main advantage is getting the XO box off the back of the speaker. The Cardas leads are kinda short, but you can get the XO box on spikes for better isolation from vibration.
I bought my Cardas kit from Dan at www.dedicatedaudio.com
I recently replaced all the jumpers on my stock 3.6's with either 10ga or 8ga solid copper wire from the hardware store. One of these two sizes fits perfectly. I didn't expect a big difference but got one anyway. My advice is to experiment and make up your own mind. Fortunately this is a cheap place to experiment and the materials are easily obtainable. I treated the copper wire with Cramolin to remove corrosion and provide a gas tight seal. I also replaced the crummy Magnepan set screws with good ones at the same time.
Hi Bob,"onemug" has commented that he got the Cardas kit ... and that it's a) an obvious improvement to get them off the vibrating panels and b) copper is definitely better than steel.
Absof'inglutely!! :-))
I've no doubt that replacing what Magnepan provides as standard, will improve your sound! :-)) However, I suggest "bigger is not necessarily better"!!
AFAIAC, there is a relationship between frequency, wire diameter and "good sound". IE. the wires between the outboard crossover and the bass panels can be 12 or even 10 guage ... but the wires to the mid/ribbon connectors must be ... 18g, max!
So I suggest you try replacing the #12 OFC copper wire which you've used instead of the stock tweeter attenuation pin, with some 18g or even 20g good quality wire and see how this improves your sound.
Regards,
Andy, Good call on the smaller gauge wire for the tweeter attenuator. When I first got my Mags, I got a couple inches of 12 ga and crimped some bananas on them figured it had to be better than the steel. EEHHHH not so much. I figured Magnepan had voiced it with the steel so let it be, but later tried some teflon coated 18 ga and that was the ticket. Even with the Cardas kit, they use thicker wire for the x/o and skinny wire for the tweeter.
I've had my 3.6's for 7 yrs and was happy with them stock BUT curiosity got to me recently and I did what you're thinking and got the Cardas kit. There was a definite improvement but I have a friend that used to do warranty work for Magnepan and when he told me about the stock outboard crossovers I decided to have them tweeked at the same time. So it's hard to attribute what was responsable the most for the improvement, most likely the x/o. It certainly can't hurt to get them off the vibrating panels and copper is definitely better than steel.
onemug,Do you know what he did to tweak the crossover ? Or how I may get in touch with your friend for advice or maybe have him tweak my crossovers ?
Bob, He ugraded the capacitors and inductors and changed the x/o slopes. He had a brand new set of these, did the mods, sent them to me to try, got to keep my originals. He's got something going with the recording industry now and doesn't do this work anymore. I was happy with mine stock for years but I wished I would have at least used better wire and got them off the panel sooner. It's so easy and reversable if you don't like. If you mod the x'o and don't like, you will have to pay again to get it back to stock. If you do go for it, keep the old parts.
Hi onemug,I've modelled the 3.6 crossover setup in lspCAD and get a VERY un-flat overall frequency response (much like stock IIIAs!!). I've changed XO points with my IIIAs to flatten the overall frequency response considerably but I'd be very interested to know what slopes your tech used for your 3.6 tweaks.
And was this for both internal and external XOs?
Email me directly, if you like.
Thanks,
Hi Andy,I didn't write down all the details of what he did, wish I had. He's off on business now but will try to remember to ask him when he gets back.
It was just to the external xo.
Yeah, if you can (ask him).If you've only had the outboard XO tweaked, a similar - if not greater - improvement can be had by tweaking the internal XO.
Re. fuses - I have removed the mid-panel fuse but I am too chicken to take out the ribbon fuse! :-)) (Replacing ribbons in Oz is a costly and lengthy exercise!)
However, I did rip out the Magnepan fuse holder and replace it with an Acme Labs cryoed-silver fuse holder ... but I had to build a little bracket to hold it, see here:
http://www.audiocircle.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=626&pos=2Regards,
(nt)
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