Altec Santiago Crossover Help Please

[dgwojo]

I re-capped and re-coiled my N801-8A's, they sound excellent, the metal covers play havoc on the air coils so I added aluminum strips inside the cover to cure the problem, I still like the Eminence the best with it's 18db high pass and 12db low-pass at 800hz; 290-632

The re-capped Eminence mounted to Santana crossover plates;

 

[Brad Muller]

Those are Purdy! :yes: Brad

 

[Zilch]

18 uF and 2.2 mH, symmetrical, Wojo, as in N809-8A?

 

[Brad Muller]

Perhaps I may have to grab a set of those crossovers?:scratch2: Brad

 

[Zilch]

Perhaps I may have to grab a set of those crossovers?:scratch2: Brad

Implicit in the math.

I look forward to your listening impressions with and without the supplemental compensation filters running.... :yes:

 

[dgwojo]

18 uF and 2.2 mH, symmetrical, Wojo, as in N809-8A?

The N809 and N801 are the same, just the input jacks are different. I did use 18mfd Jantzens and 2.2 mH 18 gauge coils, the thicker gauge wire coils wouldn't physically fit. I was shooting for 2.3 mH, I hit it right on once the coils picked up on the surrounding metal, I switched the coil fastening screw from steel to stainless steel to not impact the inductance any further. I was shooting for a 780hz frequency point, I use these with 902-8B drivers coupled to 511B horns. I sure wish I had your test gear for some tweaking!! Dave. :yes:

 

[Tom Brennan]

"They're going for stupid money now, of course.... :banghead:"

Oh, I knew I was offered a great deal Zilch, as did the person who offered them to me. The offer was from a friend but I simply didn't want them. And of course it wouldn't be seemly to buy something from a friend at a friend's price to then resell at a profit.

Regards

 

[Zilch]

The N809 and N801 are the same, just the input jacks are different. I did use 18mfd Jantzens and 2.2 mH 18 gauge coils, the thicker gauge wire coils wouldn't physically fit. I was shooting for 2.3 mH, I hit it right on once the coils picked up on the surrounding metal, I switched the coil fastening screw from steel to stainless steel to not impact the inductance any further. I was shooting for a 780hz frequency point, I use these with 902-8B drivers coupled to 511B horns. I sure wish I had your test gear for some tweaking!! Dave. :yes:

Thanks, Dave.

RTA is essential gear for this stuff. Look what's happening (and has happened) here:

http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=18913

 

[dgwojo]

Thanks, Dave.

RTA is essential gear for this stuff. Look what's happening (and has happened) here:

http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=18913

Zilch,
That's one long thread but it's loaded with good info, thanks for the link, Dave. :yes:

I picked up some Selenium drivers from PE on their $25 deal of the day, they now have them on special for $31, they sound amazingly good for the price, wish they could be RTA'd on the 811B!! Selenium

 

[Brad Muller]

Last question for awhile. The hole in the back of my speakers looks larger than the N801-8A crossovers. Was there a larger stock plate that covered the hole? Thanks, Brad

 

[Zilch]

Last question for awhile. The hole in the back of my speakers looks larger than the N801-8A crossovers. Was there a larger stock plate that covered the hole? Thanks, Brad

I noticed that also. According to the Altec system specs I linked, your system came with no crossover, so the configuration was "Custom."

One way or another, you're going to have to close that hole. Closed-box means just that, and quite specifically. The performance of the woofer depends on it.

You can likely mount N801 on a larger piece of hardboard and use that to accomplish it, with gasket tape around the existing opening.... :yes:

 

[Brad Muller]

Thanks once again Zilch. I'll have to secure some crossovers. The holes are framed on the inside, they are closed. It's not like you can see the woofer or horn through the hole. Thanks, Brad

 

[Zilch]

I picked up some Selenium drivers from PE on their $25 deal of the day, they now have them on special for $31, they sound amazingly good for the price, wish they could be RTA'd on the 811B!!

That's a $300 Behringer DEQ2496 setup he's using.... :yes:

 

[Punker X]

Thanks once again Zilch. I'll have to secure some crossovers. The holes are framed on the inside, they are closed. It's not like you can see the woofer or horn through the hole. Thanks, Brad

Attached is what you would need. Its the original adaptor plate that was on my 9846's. Came with the terminals for external amplification. Removed that plate and the N501-8A bolted right in the hole. I made a board like this without the big hole and mounted nice speaker terminals and L-pad, then mounted an Eminance 500Hz C/O to it with some stand-offs.

 

[bowtie427ss]

Punker's got it, many but not all Altec crossovers are mounted to 3/8 thick plywood collar.

This allowed the speaker to be fitted with 1 of 2 different bi-amplifiers that they offered without making any modifications to the cabinets.

 

[Brad Muller]

I think I got it. Thanks guys, Brad

 

[Brad Muller]

I just got the crossovers for the Santiago's. The woofers are refoamed and ready to go. Who wants to help with the correct crossover hookup? Thanks, Brad

 

[Zilch]

I just got the crossovers for the Santiago's. The woofers are refoamed and ready to go. Who wants to help with the correct crossover hookup? Thanks, Brad

Any wires on your new crossovers, or just the Fastons as shown in Dgwogo's pic?

What terminals are on the crossover inputs?

Are the compensation networks in the cabinets still connected? What are the wire colors, and where do they go?

Do the compensation networks match the schematic I posted earlier in this thread?

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1575885#post1575885

Complete 30904 below:

 

[Brad Muller]

Thanks Ziltch. The crossover inside my cabinets look like post #17. Here is a picture of the crossovers I just obtained. One white wire from high and low frequency output, two black on common, and one black, one white, from input. Thanks again, Brad

 

[Zilch]

I'd be putting different color wires on the outputs, maybe green and black on the LF output vs. red and black for the HF. It's too easy to get confused doing this.

Do it with wire nuts to the existing leads if you don't want to get involved with soldering at this point.

The connections are what they say, and you can connect directly to the HF and LF drivers, assuming the crossovers are functional. You might want to try them on some junk drivers first to be sure.

The HF is going to be mostly midrange until you get the compensation network wired in. I'm going to need a better quality pic than you have @ #17 to figure it out, something more like what I posted immediately above, showing the component values. I tried sharpening and blowing up your earlier pic, and that's just not good enough.