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Realistic Optimus 9- has anybody actually heard these??

OK my verdict is in after putting at least 15 hrs. on these. The good: Very nice and accurate tweeter that's seems just right and never breaks up or sounds harsh.The bass is pretty tight and accurate, not boomy or mushy but could be a little faster.
The bad: My gut told me the cab design with open back and 3 mids might sound off and it does. The mids just don't mesh well. To make them close to enjoyable I had to turn them down to around 1/4 on the pot, then lost the mid presence that you want. The mids sound papery and hollow, detatched and above the speaker but not in a good way.I found mysrlf constantly playing with tone controls and tweaking my EQ settings .I moved them in and out from the wall and while not BAD they sounded too east coast and wrong after a-b-ing against the Technics SB-L300,200 and even brought out CV E-712 to verify these aren't my cup of tea as-is. I was close to ordering some small value caps to try- .22uf - .47uf to tame the mids but I doubt they will ever be what I had hoped without modding and trial and error. Maybe seal off the mid panel and buy cups? Disconnect 1 mid? Anyone have a suggestion for "quieting "the mids and adding depth to their sound? Any thoughts are welcome and appreciated.
EDIT maybe an inductor change? If so same value? Is it worth it? I feel these have potential but I'm only a hobbyist not and engineer and my ears are the only test equipment.
 
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So, trying to change the voicings I doped the mids this morning and added insulation to the mid enclosure and a nice improvement has happened here. Now I can turn the mid pot up to 12 O'clock and the shouty mids are tamed and tonality is bettered for zero dollars spent and a little time. Still may try adding a .22uf cap inline and see what happens there. Any ideas or suggestions?
 
IMO, I would not do anything to change the crossover. The manufacturer chose those points based on their drivers and are probably optimized. You can probably get more improvement by adjusting the tone controls as well as speaker placement changes.
 
Adam S said:
Still may try adding a .22uf cap inline and see what happens there.
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Not following the logic here. Caps wired in series always results in total capacitance that's lower than the lowest value, which would be the 0.22uF in this case. That would reduce your total midrange circuit capacitance from about 3uF to about 0.2uF. Which would cross over at a waaay different frequency than it does now.

But maybe I've misunderstood your post. :idea:
 
Drugolf said:
I recapped them. Don't like them. But to be fair, I probably need to give them a better effort in terms of listening etc.
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What exact caps did you get? I have these same speakers that i want to fix up, but ive never done a recap job. Where do you order them from? Also, did you glue them onto the board after you soldered them in? Thanks
 
If you go to Parts Express they have every thing you need. I bought the Audyn Q4 because they were on sale but the Dayton caps are excellent for the money as well. Yes you need to glue down the caps after installation. I have used a hot glue gun and Aileen's clear gel on various recaps and it works well.
Creach Dude said:
What exact caps did you get? I have these same speakers that i want to fix up, but ive never done a recap job. Where do you order them from? Also, did you glue them onto the board after you soldered them in? Thanks
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Bodyblue said:
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Thanks for sharing, it is of interest as I have just bought a pair.
 

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Adam S said:
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So, trying to change the voicings I doped the mids this morning and added insulation to the mid enclosure and a nice improvement has happened here. Now I can turn the mid pot up to 12 O'clock and the shouty mids are tamed and tonality is bettered for zero dollars spent and a little time. Still may try adding a .22uf cap inline and see what happens there. Any ideas or suggestions?
Click to expand...
I am curious on how this turned out?

I have a friend who has a set of these he will sell me but I am wondering if they are worth the trouble of modding. I own 2 pairs of Nova 7Bs and am curious how these Optimus 9s would compare before I go bother him with setting them up out of storage.
 
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