My Fortes sounds like crap...what did I do?

[bored184]

I just finished building and installing the ALK Forte crossover. I hooked them up to my First Watt F6, 25 watts class A and they sounded veiled with no bass. In other words, like crap!!! I have attached a photo of one of the crossovers, maybe a second pair of eyes looking at it will help find if I made a mistake in it. I am wondering if I did not do the best of job removing the lacquer from the solen braided inductors.

What it should look like.

 

[bored184]

I have looked and looked and looked with no luck why the highs and mid's sound veiled with a lack of bass. Both speakers sound about the same which is why I am lead to believe it's the crossover. I would think 25W into 8ohm amp would be more then enough to handle these with their sensitivity rating.

Could the braided inductors be causing my problems? When soldering the braided inductors I placed heatsinks on the parts and let the solder heat up and remove the lacquer finish. I left plenty of excess on the inductors just incase it didn't work.

 

[Jirachi]

Did you wire the positive and negative backwards?

 

[jdsalinger]

Layout looks good to me. It appears to match the diagram.

Looking closely at the photo, I agree, you may want to investigate the lacquer coating issue some more.

Have you verified continuity between each component and even wire leads one-by-one?

Did you solder all of the lead wires to their terminals or just crimp? Personally, I like to solder.

You have some nice components there, I would expect great sound, even if not broken in.

 

[Dingman]

Looks like some of your joints still have lacquer right up to the joint. I've not removed lacquer before, so can't help there. But looks questionable.

 

[whoaru99]

I'll 2nd or 3rd that many of the solder joints look like rework is necessary, and that they are most likely the problem.

 

[bberkom]

Remember, those coils and terminals are acting like big heat sinks when you are soldering, so make sure your iron is hot enough and up to the task. I’ve had problems getting good joints with heavy gauge coils before for this reason.

 

[whoaru99]

That is why I keep my old Weller soldering gun around. Works well for large connections, chassis lugs, etc.

 

[bored184]

Thank you all for the input. I spent a good bit of time today going over one of the crossovers. I found a connection in the bass portion of the crossover unsoldered and I undid the braided inductors. I then took emery paper and cleaned off each individual strand before soldering in back place.

I did not use any solder on the crimp terminals. The original plan was once I get all the kinks worked out I would loose the crimp terminals and solder directly onto the crossover. At the moment the crimp terminals make it quick and easy to remove the crossover.

When it comes to the autotrasformer, the diagram is labeled showing 0, 2, and 5. Im assuming because its using the universal one. My autotrasformer has 0, 1 and 2. I'm wondering if I have it wired backwards.

 

[Mike Stehr]

https://community.klipsch.com/uploads/monthly_10_2013/post-9312-13819359502326.jpg

 

[bored184]

https://community.klipsch.com/uploads/monthly_10_2013/post-9312-13819359502326.jpg

Interesting...if that link is to the original crossover even it shows posts 0, 2 and 5 on the autotransformer. I wonder how those numbers correspond to mine that say 0, 1 and 2.

 

[Coytee]

If I understand (part of) your situation correctly.... you might be able to strip the finish off those wires with a dremel type tool with a wire brush on it. I think it was Al himself who said that was how he did it.

 

[bored184]

If I understand (part of) your situation correctly.... you might be able to strip the finish off those wires with a dremel type tool with a wire brush on it. I think it was Al himself who said that was how he did it.

That's not a bad idea. What I ended up doing was taking emery paper to the braided inductors. It worked great but it was a bit time consuming. When I first did the crossovers I used the same method on the single wire inductors. I was hoping to find a better method for the braided but in this case I should of shown more patience and do it right the first time.

My current problem is trying to figure out the auto transformers. The diagram and schematic show using 0, 2 and 5. The problem is mine shows 0, 1 and 2. I apologize for the photo being upside down.

 

[bberkom]

I’d heat the inductors and apply solder to the ends before trying to solder to the terminal and other components. That way you can make sure you got enough coating off for it to stick, and tinning the ends makes the solder flow better when you solder it in.

 

[barbarian]

I built the same crossover a couple years ago, but I didn't snap a pic with the transformer in place. Using 0, 1, 2 it has less volts out than 0, 2, 5.

 

[kink56]

Lacquer thinner dissolves lacquer paint. Dip, soak for a little while and wipe.

 

[bored184]

View attachment 1136504 View attachment 1136505I built the same crossover a couple years ago, but I didn't snap a pic with the transformer in place. Using 0, 1, 2 it has less volts out than 0, 2, 5.

What is your impression of the crossover?

 

[barbarian]

Didn't do a before and after with the crossover, however I did with the Crites ti tweeter diaphragm and really liked it. P.S. why did you use 0, 1, 2, on transformer?

 

[bored184]

Didn't do a before and after with the crossover, however I did with the Crites ti tweeter diaphragm and really liked it. P.S. why did you use 0, 1, 2, on transformer?

My is transformer is a T10a with posts labeled 0, 1, and 2 I DO NOT have any posts labeled 0, 2 and 5. After scouring of the internet I found the below with what I think is how the T10A tranfromer correlates to the ALK Crossover diagram. When I did the crossover I kept posts 0 and 2 the same while treating post 1 as 5. I will make the changes to the crossover tonight and see if that changed the mids any.

T10A = ALK Crossover

0 = 0
1 = 2
2 = 5

 

[DavidF]

My is transformer is a T10a with posts labeled 0, 1, and 2 I DO NOT have any posts labeled 0, 2 and 5. After scouring of the internet I found the below with what I think is how the T10A tranfromer correlates to the ALK Crossover diagram. When I did the crossover I kept posts 0 and 2 the same while treating post 1 as 5. I will make the changes to the crossover tonight and see if that changed the mids any.

T10A = ALK Crossover

0 = 0
1 = 2
2 = 5

That will work. Connect the signal-in lead to the highest number and the return to ground to the "0". The middle numbers (in this case a single output, or "1") are the lead-out to the driver.