New Crossovers For 1961 University Speakers?
- Thread starter mikey5967
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I doubt if any identical crossovers would be available. But you don't need completely new crossovers, and, depending on the type of capacitors used, you may not need to do anything if the speakers work and sound good. Some caps age, but generally, resistors and coils do not, so unless you want to increase power handling (and the liklihood of blowing your drivers), replacing them shouldn't be your first move.
The whole recapping thing is mostly related to old electrolytic capacitors, which can (but don't always) dry up and wander off spec, sometimes a very long way. Other caps, oil filled and others, are pretty long lasting, and often highly desireable, so reflexively replacing them would be misguided. Simply using off spec electrolytics for a while may reform them, but many people like to replace them with new, usually film, caps. Because film caps typically have lower ESR (equivalent series resistance), the tweeters will be brighter sounding, which, for many people, seems a good thing, especially if the original sound of the speakers was a bit dim.
That said, older tweeters sometimes aren't the smoothest in response, and after a brief love fest, you may realize that the speakers have too much, and too uneven, treble energy.
So I would suggest starting by checking if the capacitors are within spec - you will probably have to unsolder one side to measure. If they are, maybe leave well enough alone. If they are out of spec, replace them, but I would suggest starting with modern electrolytics - cheap, and have the ESR the speakers were designed with. If you want more high frequency, you can always switch to film caps.
The whole recapping thing is mostly related to old electrolytic capacitors, which can (but don't always) dry up and wander off spec, sometimes a very long way. Other caps, oil filled and others, are pretty long lasting, and often highly desireable, so reflexively replacing them would be misguided. Simply using off spec electrolytics for a while may reform them, but many people like to replace them with new, usually film, caps. Because film caps typically have lower ESR (equivalent series resistance), the tweeters will be brighter sounding, which, for many people, seems a good thing, especially if the original sound of the speakers was a bit dim.
That said, older tweeters sometimes aren't the smoothest in response, and after a brief love fest, you may realize that the speakers have too much, and too uneven, treble energy.
So I would suggest starting by checking if the capacitors are within spec - you will probably have to unsolder one side to measure. If they are, maybe leave well enough alone. If they are out of spec, replace them, but I would suggest starting with modern electrolytics - cheap, and have the ESR the speakers were designed with. If you want more high frequency, you can always switch to film caps.