bob412
Active Member
I thought about doing the x-over mods on my Realistic Nova 8b's but decided against it . I found that the mod changed the x-over from a first order to a second order . For some reason I've never been attracted to the sound of speakers that used higher order crossover networks . Sure they play louder , handle more power but it's something about a speaker designed and wired in positive polarity that's appealing to me . The late Roy Johnson of Green Mountain Audio once said that the best sounding bookshelf speakers he heard before he actually started building speakers was a lowly pair of Fisher bookshelf speakers heard at a stereo shop in Colorado Springs,Co .
Here's the exact quote copied from one of articles ,
"Shortly after earning his driver's license a few months later, the teenager drove 20 minutes from his family's home in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, to Colorado Springs to see what was new at the local stereo store. "I passed in front of a Fisher bookshelf speaker that was playing music from a local FM classical radio station," he recalled. "For the first time, I heard the concert hall's echo. It never occurred to me that I could hear reality from a box. It was as if there was an alternate universe. I did not know such a thing was possible, this reproduction of spatial information. In that instant, I became curious about the time-domain. Only later did I learn that the speaker had a first-order crossover."
Here's what Roy said about speakers wired in inverted polarity , " Inverted polarity means those drivers ‘suck’ inwards for a positive voltage. Imagine a trumpeter ‘sucking in’ on his horn, instead of blowing outwards through his instrument. That is the difference between inverted and normal polarity. Hopefully, each of your stereo components was made with normal polarity. If one component has inverted polarity, you will then need to re-invert it by reversing the wires on each speaker, from plus-to-minus to minus-to-plus. This will not hurt your equipment if left uncorrected, but normal polarity results in better sound."
The Realistic Nova 8b with upgraded parts to the original x-over sounds best to me . It might not be able to blow the plaster off the walls but it just sounds correct . Each driver is moving in and out in positive unison instead of one driver wire out of phase(2nd order) . Even thought the Nova 8's is large and has 4 drivers on the wide front baffle I can easily hear good imaging and echo on good classical music recordings . This is why I love the sound of EPI speakers , they're also great at conveying spacial imaging for a box type speaker . The drivers are all wired in positive phase ,all in positive unison to the input signal . This is why I won't alter my Nova 8b's . Just not a fan of speakers with higher order networks .
Here's the exact quote copied from one of articles ,
"Shortly after earning his driver's license a few months later, the teenager drove 20 minutes from his family's home in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, to Colorado Springs to see what was new at the local stereo store. "I passed in front of a Fisher bookshelf speaker that was playing music from a local FM classical radio station," he recalled. "For the first time, I heard the concert hall's echo. It never occurred to me that I could hear reality from a box. It was as if there was an alternate universe. I did not know such a thing was possible, this reproduction of spatial information. In that instant, I became curious about the time-domain. Only later did I learn that the speaker had a first-order crossover."
Here's what Roy said about speakers wired in inverted polarity , " Inverted polarity means those drivers ‘suck’ inwards for a positive voltage. Imagine a trumpeter ‘sucking in’ on his horn, instead of blowing outwards through his instrument. That is the difference between inverted and normal polarity. Hopefully, each of your stereo components was made with normal polarity. If one component has inverted polarity, you will then need to re-invert it by reversing the wires on each speaker, from plus-to-minus to minus-to-plus. This will not hurt your equipment if left uncorrected, but normal polarity results in better sound."
The Realistic Nova 8b with upgraded parts to the original x-over sounds best to me . It might not be able to blow the plaster off the walls but it just sounds correct . Each driver is moving in and out in positive unison instead of one driver wire out of phase(2nd order) . Even thought the Nova 8's is large and has 4 drivers on the wide front baffle I can easily hear good imaging and echo on good classical music recordings . This is why I love the sound of EPI speakers , they're also great at conveying spacial imaging for a box type speaker . The drivers are all wired in positive phase ,all in positive unison to the input signal . This is why I won't alter my Nova 8b's . Just not a fan of speakers with higher order networks .
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