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Snell Type A (original) crossover update


montaldo

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I have a wonderful pair of original Snell Type A's. The drivers have been resurrounded and the woofer spiders replaced. They sound great, but I have had to change every cable in my system to tame the treble. I've owned two other pairs of Type A originals in the past and don't recall them sounding bright. Now this may be solely because my system is less warm than my systems of old ... However, I do wonder if at ~40 years old now, would the aging crossover start to make the treble sound hard? Or might it be the opposite?

If the aging crossover parts could be responsible for hardening of the treble, is there any sense is replacing some of the parts? I'm very reluctant to mess with Peter Snell's genius and I know these are all hand-tuned. Might I screw them up by changing any parts, or if it is done with great care and parts selection, might the result be good?

Thanks for any thoughts, experience or advice.

 

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"Or might it be the opposite"? That is way much more likely to be the case if old electrolytic caps are drying out. They begin to behave more like resistors and the result is lower output thru any driver with those caps in series. That's usually the tweeter and midrange circuits. Thus the highs become less apparent the music sound 'softer' because the woofer is beginning to play more of a role in the overall frequency response of the system. 

So, seem to have the opposite problem from what a typical audio engineer with loudspeaker experience would expect. A diagnostic exercise is next in order.

1) are you sure your A's crossover still have all the original crossover parts? Is there a possibility someone who owned your speakers before you did a DIY XO upgrade?

2) Are the balance setting set to minimize the highs? 

3) Are you certain the polarity of the woofers match via the wiring hookups both internally and externally?

 

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 That is very interesting. Thank you! I don't know for certain that the crossovers are untouched, but they are supposed to be original. How do i access the crossover? My grilles are removable now, fortunately, if it is done from the front.

I have the tweeter attenuation switch on (attentuated). 

Woofer polarity should be proper within  the speaker because Lloyd Faulkner here in St. Louis rebuilt the woofers and double checked the wire markings and polarity. (he showed me the cool 9v battery trick to check driver polarity!!!). The bass sounds excellent and full. I would notice if one were out of phase. If both were out of phase with the top module I assume there would be mid-range suckout? mid-range is incredibly good.

All in all the speakers sound pretty amazing so they are not egregiously bright... So it is  ery possible nothing is wrong. It sounds like changing caps, even to very wat caps like Audio Note, might actually give me more treble balance ... I really don't want that.

 

 

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9 minutes ago, montaldo said:

 That is very interesting. Thank you! I don't know for certain that the crossovers are untouched, but they are supposed to be original. How do i access the crossover? My grilles are removable now, fortunately, if it is done from the front.

I have the tweeter attenuation switch on (attentuated). 

Woofer polarity should be proper within  the speaker because Lloyd Faulkner here in St. Louis rebuilt the woofers and double checked the wire markings and polarity. (he showed me the cool 9v battery trick to check driver polarity!!!). The bass sounds excellent and full. I would notice if one were out of phase. If both were out of phase with the top module I assume there would be mid-range suckout? mid-range is incredibly good.

All in all the speakers sound pretty amazing so they are not egregiously bright... So it is  ery possible nothing is wrong. It sounds like changing caps, even to very wat caps like Audio Note, might actually give me more treble balance ... I really don't want that.

 

The xo is covered with black cloth and a cardboard-like form that is stapled to the sides of the cabinet IIRC. 

In any case, judging from your response, I'd say don't 'fix' what ain't broke!  :-)

 

 

 

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  • 7 months later...

Bought 2 pairs of type Aiii about 2 months ago, unfortunately, I do not have the same money to drive them with 2 Conrad Johnson as the previous owner did.. I am very sure that my old Sansui Quad QRX 7001 isnt even near of delivering the power for those beasts, and imagine I hooked up the 2 pairs to it... 

So to say, I find that the mids and highs are harsh too, but in my mind, it could be the caps from the receiver too right? what do you do when you're only a music lover with great ears? I ve had hi fi before with Celestion A2 and McCormack amp and preamp... 

So here comes the question; are we supposed to take out the crossovers and have them maintenanced? is it mathematically sure that you have to change the caps after many years?

A preamp and 2 amps will come in before 2 to 3 months, by then I will be able to tell if the harsness comes from my old amp

Thanks guys!

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  • 7 months later...

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