2"polydomes

Thanks for that. I was afraid that the improvement I heard was just my imagination, due to the fact that I expected it to sound better.(although I was pretty sure it wasn't). Chasing these bogeymen can sometimes drive you a little crazy, especially when the changes are subtle. Hopefully the 16.5 will be a dramatic improvement. I received the 6.8's and 15uf's yesterday and hoping the 1.5's come today. I'll keep you posted, when I get everything installed.
Just wondering, what drivers are in your 6b's, and how do they sound?
 
You're welcome. I asked about the 6.8 uF sonic differences mainly out of curiosity. It blew my mind that a parallel cap made such an impact on you, when many say that the parallel caps don't affect sound quality. Glad to find out different (and that you have good ears). Especially since I'll be recapping my AR90's soon, and I want to do it right. For best sound.

As to the 6B's, they're not functional. They are a project in waiting. Found the cabinets, bought the drivers, and crossovers, cheap on the Bay. But, the crossovers were broken in half, when I received them, so I haven't moved forward yet. I'll still use the crossovers, after I repair them, and then get the speakers rebuilt.

Oh yea, your replacement caps? What did you get? Poly or NPE; brands? Curious as always. Definitely looking forward to your impressions!
 
When you say that the crossovers were broken in half, do you mean the plastic plate that holds the pot and speaker terminals. If that's the case, I found a pair of RS6 (not B) plates in my junk box. A guy gave me a box of "junk" a few years ago and being the pack rat that I am I kept it. You are surely welcome to them if you can use them. There are no pot's, or other components, but the speaker terminals are there and also fuse holders.
As for the caps, I got poly Daytons. I wouldn't call it "such an impact", but noticeable. I've been using a live acoustic Neil Young cd to do the testing. It doesn't get real busy, so when the edginess shows it's ugly head, I can easily hear it. After this repair is done, I don't think I'll be able to listen to that cd again, I can hear it in my sleep.
 
When you say that the crossovers were broken in half, do you mean the plastic plate that holds the pot and speaker terminals. If that's the case, I found a pair of RS6 (not B) plates in my junk box. A guy gave me a box of "junk" a few years ago and being the pack rat that I am I kept it. You are surely welcome to them if you can use them. There are no pot's, or other components, but the speaker terminals are there and also fuse holders.

Yes, it was literally broken in half. The mdf board is split in t(w)o. Fortunately the plastic plate is fine, but I'll have to make a new masonite board, and rebuild the crossover. And it was a RS6 crossover too. I probably bough them, since it used the external fuse holder, and the dual binding posts. I hated the spring clips that the B Series crossovers use. So, thanks for the offer of the plate, but I shouldn't need them, unless I get really heavy handed in my rebuild! :confused::confused::confused:

As for the caps, I got poly Daytons. I wouldn't call it "such an impact", but noticeable. I've been using a live acoustic Neil Young cd to do the testing. It doesn't get real busy, so when the edginess shows it's ugly head, I can easily hear it. After this repair is done, I don't think I'll be able to listen to that cd again, I can hear it in my sleep.

Sorry to embellish on your experiences. :whip: I was just surprised that 6.8uF swap made any difference, hence my over-enthusiasm! I hope the true recap makes even more difference! :banana:

Glad to hear that you went with Dayton polys. They're made by Bennic for Parts Express, and are supposed to be very good for the money. Even better than more expensive boutique brands! :)
 
Just finished putting the new caps in, and I think it might sound a little worse than before. Don't know if going from 15uf to 16.5 is the cause, but it definitely didn't help. I'm wondering if the previous owner was trying to cure the problem, by using the lower uf cap since the schem. calls for the 16.5. I'm thinking now that I need to check the resistance of the coils, to see if they match the ones that were in my junk box. They look like they are the same, and since there was the RS6 crossover plate in the box, I'm betting that the coils are from them. I have already ck'd the resistors and cleaned the pot's so as far as I can see the coils are the only thing left to ck in the crossover.
 
Give the new capacitors time to break in first, before doing anything hasty. I'd let them play off and on for a couple of weeks, before making a final judgement.

Poly caps take time to settle in. They'll probably be a bit bright until then. If still too bright after that, you can solder in low value resistors in series with the new caps, to help with the brightness. New poly caps will have a lower ESR value, than NPE caps, which will make the dome mid a little more efficient and a bit brighter. Adding about a 0.5 Ohm 5 watt resistor will help with the change in ESR, from old to new, if still needed after burn in.
 
I guess I can do that till my renters are out of my camp, then I can swap out drivers from my RSIIIIa's if the burn in doesn't help. I would think though, that if the caps were the problem, I would have heard at least a little improvement, when I changed them out. Also, the caps I removed were poly's not npe, just different values.
You don't seem to think that the coils could possibly be the problem(sorry if it seems I am trying to read your mind). What would be the probable result of bad coil's and what could cause them to go bad, and why not at least ck the resistance, to see if they are shorted or open? I'm probably just grasping at straws, but would rather cover all bases, before waiting around for a month and then possibly being back at square one.
 
I wouldn't think the coils would be the issue. The coils are the low pass filters, to blocks the highs from the woofers, and to block the highs from getting into the domes. It wouldn't hurt to check them. Though, I'm not sure if reading resistance would show much. But it would at least let you see if the coils in each speaker, matches the other. If you do find a damaged coil, I'd think there might be visual evidence of a failure as well. A burnt or darkened area, especially if it's a coil wound on a plastic bobbin.

If you really want to properly test the crossovers, you need a multimeter, that has an inductance setting, for measuring henries (mH). And for capacitors, it's the same thing, you need a meter with a capacitance function too. Remember, you'd have to unsolder one end/lead from each part before testing with the meter, as you can't accurately read the correct values with the part in circuit.
 
All the coils in my junk box and in the midrange crossover all measured about the same, about 1.5 when I ck'd the resistance. There was no sign of overheating on any of them so I will assume they are good. Will keep burning in the caps as suggested until I can get to my iiia's to swap out the polydomes. In the meantime I will look for a trashed polydome that I can take apart without worry of damaging it. I'll post, if I find the problem.
 
Well, I swapped the drivers from the IIIA's into the 6's and still have the problem. I also put the 6's drivers into the IIIA's and they work fine Kinda at a loss of what to do next, maybe a problem with the cabinet, I dunno??
 
Well, I swapped the drivers from the IIIA's into the 6's and still have the problem. I also put the 6's drivers into the IIIA's and they work fine Kinda at a loss of what to do next, maybe a problem with the cabinet, I dunno??

Well, that's a start. Plus, it's good to know that all the drivers are functioning properly.

So, it sounds like suspect crossovers. As such, have you compared the crossovers (for proper wiring) to the schematic that I linked? Maybe a component is miswired? Check for cold solder joints too. If it's helpful, I could dig out the set of crossover boards that I have, and take a few pictures of the component layout. Maybe you could spot a mistake between yours and mine? It couldn't hurt to have another reference. It wouldn't be until Saturday, when I could take pictures, if OK?

Oh, one other thing. Check the surrounds on the woofers. Around the whole outer and inner edge. One might be loose. I had a pair of ADS speakers, and one had a loose surround; not glued in a small area. While it looked fine, on certain frequencies, it would buzz. On louder passages, it would let out a loud "blat/fart" sound. I re-glued it, and it was fine afterwards.
 
Thank you Stimpy, the pictures might help, but please don't go out of your way, there is no hurry. I will be staying at the camp, finishing up a landscaping project, getting in firewood, and prepping for winter, so I won't be able to get back to the 6's for a couple of months. The 6's are at the "in town" house and I won't be spending any time there til Dec or so. As far as the schematic, everything appears to be correct, but I'm not an electronics guy, so I could definitely be missing something. One thing for sure, I won't give up on these, I'm determined to figure it out.
 
Thank you Stimpy, the pictures might help, but please don't go out of your way, there is no hurry. I will be staying at the camp, finishing up a landscaping project, getting in firewood, and prepping for winter, so I won't be able to get back to the 6's for a couple of months. The 6's are at the "in town" house and I won't be spending any time there til Dec or so. As far as the schematic, everything appears to be correct, but I'm not an electronics guy, so I could definitely be missing something. One thing for sure, I won't give up on these, I'm determined to figure it out.

Well, it only took me 3 weeks to get the pictures, so I'm glad it wasn't a hurry! I compressed the files, so they would upload. But, I left the files high resolution, to help with zooming in and seeing details. Hope they help? And I hope they work?

RS6 1 P_20160925_110247_NT.jpg RS6 3 P_20160925_110314_NT.jpg RS6 3 P_20160925_110314_NT.jpg RS6 4 P_20160925_110341_NT.jpg
 
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