Fantastic
Well-Known Member
This can be quite an interesting thing to do to an old speaker. I say that because if it's old and you ruin it you won't feel so bad as compared to a new unit ! I'm however a habitual offender!
All new systems must be opened for inspection !
First thing to do would be to inspect the crossover and use better /modern parts. All capacitors could be replaced with better types.All inductors could be made air core if possible. Wire wound resistors could be changed to non inductive types. One would need to open up the system to know what type of parts would benefit from a change .
This could be a challenge. Some crossovers are soldered to the input sockets and so just removing the rear connector panel will give access to the crossover. Otherwise the bass driver would need to be removed. If one is ham fisted it's better to avoid doing anything as you don't want to destroy a driver due to a clumsy attempt at removing them. A replacement could be very expensive or impossible ! Not to mention the damage you can do to the cabinet surface by using careless procedures.
Note that the speaker could be converted to a bi-wireable system if it wasn't already so. You can also strengthen the cabinet walls with cross braces and do some panel damping with adhesive dense felt.
Is it all worth the trouble ? I can say that it made a big difference to one of my older speakers. Some speakers might not benefit as much, as they would already be be using very good parts. But people not wanting to spend on a new speaker might get a better speaker by just upgrading their existing speaker.
You might also note that MOST small bookshelf speakers do not have much bass weight . The drivers are too small. It would be very helpful if an active crossover was used and a sub added. The performance of the bookshelf will increase very noticeably ( due to reduced LF activity) and you would be able to play louder and cleaner than before. Not to mention the overall increase in "power" due to the added sub.
All new systems must be opened for inspection !First thing to do would be to inspect the crossover and use better /modern parts. All capacitors could be replaced with better types.All inductors could be made air core if possible. Wire wound resistors could be changed to non inductive types. One would need to open up the system to know what type of parts would benefit from a change .
This could be a challenge. Some crossovers are soldered to the input sockets and so just removing the rear connector panel will give access to the crossover. Otherwise the bass driver would need to be removed. If one is ham fisted it's better to avoid doing anything as you don't want to destroy a driver due to a clumsy attempt at removing them. A replacement could be very expensive or impossible ! Not to mention the damage you can do to the cabinet surface by using careless procedures.
Note that the speaker could be converted to a bi-wireable system if it wasn't already so. You can also strengthen the cabinet walls with cross braces and do some panel damping with adhesive dense felt.
Is it all worth the trouble ? I can say that it made a big difference to one of my older speakers. Some speakers might not benefit as much, as they would already be be using very good parts. But people not wanting to spend on a new speaker might get a better speaker by just upgrading their existing speaker.
You might also note that MOST small bookshelf speakers do not have much bass weight . The drivers are too small. It would be very helpful if an active crossover was used and a sub added. The performance of the bookshelf will increase very noticeably ( due to reduced LF activity) and you would be able to play louder and cleaner than before. Not to mention the overall increase in "power" due to the added sub.
