Lets just say for the sake of conversation that I snuck into essNeff's house and snapped a picture of the back of one of his AMT's and DID NOT drink his liquor or take any liberties with any of the women sleeping there at the time. Here's what he has:
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The hot (positive) wire to his tweeter does not come from the crossover. It comes directly from his amplifier, which has a cat sleeping on it, by the way. Before it gets to the heil, it's interrupted by/has to pass through a capacitor. The capacitor filters out frequencies below a certain value depending on the value of the capacitor (in MicroFarads - uF - for speakers, pretty much). Thus, if this was an 80 uF capacitor, nothing below 500 would be able to get to the tweeter at full strength. It's lower frequecies that damage tweeters, so capacitors are wired in a way to provide them with protection. The lower the value in microfarads of the capacitor, the higher the bottom of the range of frequency can get through. A 40 uF cap. would block out everything below 1000. A single cap on a tweeter is a first order/six decibel per octave crossover.
But isn't this what my active crossover does? To an extent. I mean, both amps go into the active crossover (800hz), one here, one there. Should I open up my new-old stock active crossover, see what's inside? Replace some shlt?
I am using 45uf as seen by the 2 NPE's in the pictures. I've been experimenting with XO points and slopes so I figured 45uf @ 900hz or so would give me some room.
I have the Alpha 6A and the Heil crossed @ 1500hz for now 3rd order Butterworth.
I have 2db cut on the Alpha's and 1.5db cut on the Heil.
Jeebus, what kinda homebrew is THIS? Is it entirely homemade?
I assume that you lowered the levels with resistors when you refer to a decibel cut.
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Why not an L-Pad?
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I like where this is going, but I don't quite understand it on first look. If I study it, I see things, but I'm not sure I see all the things.
On a side/related note, one of the reasons why I like the AMT-1a over my AMT Monitors is the mid-range brilliance L-Pot knob. In non-scientific butt-dyno cases, I like the way it sounds more than my Monitors without it. Though, if I bi-amp, that wouldn't really matter, huh?
You've got your work cut out for you. That old presto log will drink up a ton of paint. I had to glaze mine a bit with thin joint compound and quite a bit of primer. Did I mention the wet sanding between coats and the large number of coats that made me miss my labor day deadline. It was a great exercise of the patience that finally seems to be getting better with age. Keep on working it until you're truly happy with the results.
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On my knees for this one. Those motor boards looks incredible. I hope I can get close to that.
I did not primer. I'm using flat black paint, applied via foam brush. Last night, I did the first coat. Tonight, I did a heavy sanding with 320 grit, then a second coat. When that dried, I did a third coat, no sanding in between. I think tomorrow I'll do a light sanding then fourth coat. Second coat had me worried, but third coat is coming together very nicely. I think I'm headed in the right direction.
I used Sandable primer, Black or Dark Gray, Plastic filler (Bondo)
Satin Black Lacquer. I Clear coated just the top with Satin clearcoat.
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If you spray, pull the Xo's with the knobs, mask off the lower cabinet and block the speaker cutouts with cardboard or Rosin paper.
Nice job so far..............I hope you don't get ADDICTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I left the XOs in on this run, but I've painter's taped the knobs. I'm getting very excited for how good it looks.
Addicted? I've got two rolls of Walnut veneer sitting next to me... And, I haven't even begun playing with the AMT Monitors!