Infinity Infinitesimal 0.1 Crossover Re-Capping

[Jumanjii1]

Hi everybody,

What's the story on re-capping crossovers on these speakers? Has anyone done it and where did you get the parts? I'm having a hard time locating these 1200 and 700uF 50 volt capacitors. I guess they're non polarized and that's what the schematic reads. One speaker has very little bass and the other has very little highs. And I already swapped the speakers with the same results.i did notice a conflict between what's in the box and what's on the schematic. The little yellow cap in the box say 4.5K100V and the schematic says 1.5uF, a huge difference.

Any help will be hugely appreciated.

 

[F1nut]

It took me less than a minute to find your 1200 uF. https://www.ebay.com/c/1270656217

Get your Goggle on to find the other.

 

[goodolpg]

I'd check the mid/woofs first. If they have proper drivers they have two voice coils, each with a different resistance, check those with a multi meter on the lowest ohm setting.
As for the EMIT's, check the fuse and contour switch. You can also check the EMIT resistance, same as the mid/woof procedure. Drivers must be disconnected from the crossover to accurately check resistance.
MARK THE WIRES AND TERMINALS and/or TAKE PICTURES (especially the dvc mid/woof) before disconnecting wires.

As for the difference in yellow cap values from the official schematic, that does appear to be an OEM cap. Could have been a revision, or could have been a change made in production due to inventory. Are they the same 4.5uf caps in both of your speakers? If yes, I'd replace with the same value.

Some people say the yellow EMIT capacitor is part of the magic and they rarely go bad. Mid/woof caps may be more prone to drifting from spec over time.
Size is a factor when replacing, especially in an Infinitesimal as there is not a whole lot of extra room.

 

[seifreit]

The little yellow cap in the box say 4.5K100V and the schematic says 1.5uF, a huge difference.

If you look at the schematics for the .2 and .3 they show 4.5uf and 6uf respectively. Wouldn’t be unusual for Infinity to make a change mid-production and incorporate it into the next version. Personally, I would leave the yellow caps alone unless they check bad.

 

[F1nut]

The yellow mylar cap is easily bettered.

 

[Jumanjii1]

Yes I did see that one 1200uF capacitor on Ebay but I was looking for fresh capacitors from a reputable company. eBay has way too much junk and I've returned lots of it for a refund. Actually I'm getting sick and tired of Ebay junk.
OK so tomorrow I'm gonna check the speaker resistance but like I said, I swapped the speakers and all four were working good. Speaker "A" had good bass but bad highs and speaker "B" had poor bass but good highs. I guess I can combine capacitors to get to the proper values if I can't find the correct ones.

Well thanks you guys for all your help. I'll be doing some more troubleshooting tomorrow and will let you all know how I make out.

 

[goodolpg]

My .2 Infinitesimals have putty where the EMIT wires pass through the baffle.
For a while I had one Infinitesimal that had noticeably less EMIT output than the other. Both measured the same.
Finally discovered some of the putty was in one of the wires crimped end, removed and cleaned the putty from crimped part and full output was restored.
Kind of an oddball problem, took me a while to figure it out. Still seems hard to believe that was the problem but the cleaning restored full output.
Putty was in the metal end (not the red end) of this type connector that pushes onto the EMIT terminal.

As mentioned, check the fuse and it's holder, if you don't have spare fuses swap the fuse from the "good" speaker into the bad speaker. Also Deoxit the contour switch.

 

[Jumanjii1]

These are the readings I took:

Speaker "A" EMIT 3.4 ohms, Woofer- 4.3 and 2.4 ohms. Capacitors- 2139 (700), 2138 (1200), 4.41 (4.5)

Speaker "B" EMIT 3.4 ohms, Woofer- OPEN and 2.2 ohms. Capacitors- 772 (700), 1237 (1200), 772 (4.5)

So where do I go from here? I'm sure those speakers are not available anymore. Should I just gut the speakers and start all over with new components or should I just replace the caps and live with one bad speaker voice coil?
What are other people doing with these speakers? I'll never throw them away and would just use them as decoration. It would be a shame though.

 

[Jumanjii1]

No putty around the EMIT's but found putty around the inside of the main input terminals.

How do you remove the crossover, do I just remove those 4 screws holding the transformers?

 

[goodolpg]

These are the readings I took:

Speaker "A" EMIT 3.4 ohms, Woofer- 4.3 and 2.4 ohms. Capacitors- 2139 (700), 2138 (1200), 4.41 (4.5)

Speaker "B" EMIT 3.4 ohms, Woofer- OPEN and 2.2 ohms. Capacitors- 772 (700), 1237 (1200), 772 (4.5)

So where do I go from here? I'm sure those speakers are not available anymore. Should I just gut the speakers and start all over with new components or should I just replace the caps and live with one bad speaker voice coil?
What are other people doing with these speakers? I'll never throw them away and would just use them as decoration. It would be a shame though.

Bill LeGall at MillerSound can fix that woofer, he fixed one of mine with the same problem.
Your other readings for the EMIT's and other woofer are good.

 

[goodolpg]

No putty around the EMIT's but found putty around the inside of the main input terminals.

How do you remove the crossover, do I just remove those 4 screws holding the transformers?

Yes, those 4 or 6 black headed screws hold the crossover plate on. Be careful you don't lose the small washers under the transformers.
And mark the wires and terminals .

The lack of "highs" in the one could be crossover related but I'd still clean the contour switch and make sure the fuse and holder are good. And clean.

Were those the cap readings in your other post? You need at least one leg disconnected to get a true reading and a cap meter to measure true capacitance.

 

[goodolpg]

If you look at the schematics for the .2 and .3 they show 4.5uf and 6uf respectively. Wouldn’t be unusual for Infinity to make a change mid-production and incorporate it into the next version. Personally, I would leave the yellow caps alone unless they check bad.

My .2 Infinitesimals have the 4.5uf caps.

 

[Jumanjii1]

Last night I finished re-capping a Technics SA-300 and was gonna test it this morning when my Chihuahua chewed thru the line cord. I should have had it plugged in, LOL, and the Infinity 0.1's are all disassembled on our bed. Yeah I'm gonna remove the caps and test them proper. And I just cleaned all the pots on my B+K-Precision 1477 it was flaky, good as new now. And the Right channel on the Technics is still out so I'm gonna replace the 2SA798's, I'm just a parts changer. Never a dull moment around here.

I just checked out MillerSound's web page and will give him a call.

I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I think.

Thanks a million.

 

[Jumanjii1]

All capacitors checked out but that doesn't mean they're good. After 40 years of service you almost have to assume they're bad.

I wish I had one of those capacitor testers from Mr. Carlson's Lab.

Her's some pictures of the guts:

 

[Jumanjii1]

I'm so lucky. It was a broken wire at the back side of the cone. I just re-soldered it and the speaker is good again.

And Bill LeGall at MillerSound never called me back. He must be real busy.

 

[Jumanjii1]

Here's the completed Crossover:

 

[Jumanjii1]

Has anyone got one of these?
I just pulled it out one of my drawers, still in its zip lock bag.
I think I"m gonna use it.

 

[goodolpg]

All capacitors checked out but that doesn't mean they're good. After 40 years of service you almost have to assume they're bad.

I wish I had one of those capacitor testers from Mr. Carlson's Lab.

Her's some pictures of the guts:

That looks very nice. Well done.
Do some listening and let us know how you like them.
Most people seem to say stay with a poly (the yellow cap that was in there originally was a poly cap or mylar, not sure), not an NPE). or even a film for the EMIT and use the NPE's for the mid/woofer. You used all NPE's. And it may be just fine.
I used a poly cap for the EMIT in my RS II's, then used Dayton 5% NPE's with small value film bypass caps for the midrange circuits (yes, the RS II mid range circuits are a bit complicated).
Since the original caps were 10% NPE's I figured modern day 5% NPE's would be at least as good if not better than as produced at the Infinity factory, especially with the film bypass caps. I left the bass NPE's alone in the RS II's.
There are countless opinions on what type of caps to use. You can read opinions until your head spins.
IF you think the EMIT is lacking clarity or whatever you could put the yellow poly back in (if the leads are long enough) or just get new poly caps, they are not that expensive.

 

[Jumanjii1]

They sound really well, considering the ringing in my ears. One EMIT wasn't working and thought I did something wrong. Pulled the speaker apart and ohm'd out the wires to no avail. Lastly I checked the fuse, like a dope, the fuse was blown. I've been driving them all day using a Technics SA-300, 35 watts. Heck at quarter volume was all I could take. I listened to them 25 years ago when my brother had them so I can't remember what they are supposed to sound like. I'm calling it Job Complete and gonna use them for the next 25 years, if I last that long.

My next project is to tackle a pair of Criterions I found on the curb many years ago. The highs are sounding quite muffled these days. Or perhaps I'll work on the Fisher WS-80 Speakers. They're kinda weird looking up firing speakers, that's why I like them.

Toodle loo