Taking the Infinity WTLCs to the next level

[DTS_ManiaC]

Hi folks, it's been years since i've restored my beloved pair of these beauties. Now it's time to take them to the next level.

Actually, this project created itself with an unfortunate accident. One of the towers snapped in half from middle section when i was putting them down in process of moving to a new home. Fortunately, none of the drivers or cables were damaged. So i disassembled everything, made a 3D model of the cabinet with exact dimensions and started thinking over rebuild strategy. Regarding the cabinet rebuild, i have a monster advantage. I work as a CNC operator at a furniture production factory and i have unlimited options and supplies of materials. So i'm thinking using 1" MDF (or HDF if i can source) and here's what it will look like from the inside:



New cabinet's outside dimensions will be larger, so i can keep internal volume same (even added lost volume back caused by the braces i've put). The design is not finalized, still brain-storming with some of our master carpenters. So i'm open for suggestions.

Let's get to the second part: electronics. In this area, i have ever bigger advantage because i already have a full set of drivers for a second pair that i was gonna build (plus some more spare drivers). So here's everything i have:

10x original woofers
2x original Walsh tweeters
2x custom made Walsh tweeters
4x original Peerless MTR-25 tweeters
4x Peerless MT-25 tweeters (square ones)
Complete set of Jantzen Superior Z-Caps for one pair of speakers (from my current pair)

Currently, i'm waiting for surround replacement for woofers. I'll get all woofers refoamed, and use best four of them on my towers. Here's the kicker: "What are you gonna do with all the leftover drivers?" you may ask, and that's the funny part. I'll use four pairs of woofer\tweeter, build half-sized cabinets and use them as surround speakers in my HT setup After all this, there will be 2x woofers and 2x custom made Walsh tweeters left. I'll keep custom walshes as backup, and as soon as i get my hands on another pair of peerless tweeters, i'll build a ginormous center speaker with those 2 woofers i have. Probably will made them same size with the towers, but it will be a complete redesigned horizontal cabinet (preserving the original internal volume).

But i have few questions before i begin the process.

1- Is it beneficial of making Walsh tweeters play louder? If yes, how it can be done?
2- I'm thinking about adding bypass caps to tweeters, so i'm open for recommendations regarding of which tweeter (or both) to be bypassed, and what brand\value of cap i should get?

Any help and\or suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

 

[swechsler]

1- Is it beneficial of making Walsh tweeters play louder? If yes, how it can be done?

Louder than what? Presumably they were originally balanced properly between woofer, tweeter and Walsh tweeter. I'd think you would want to maintain that balance

2- I'm thinking about adding bypass caps to tweeters, so i'm open for recommendations regarding of which tweeter (or both) to be bypassed, and what brand\value of cap i should get?

Here's an old discussion (not WTLC specific) on bypass caps in crossovers. TL;DR: seems people can't agree on whether they help or not.

 

[RVT1K]

Awesome project!

And kudos for making use of company resources. I have done that many, many times.

Maybe make use of the CNC capabilities and make all the holes in the internal braces round or oval. Because you can.

 

[DTS_ManiaC]

Louder than what? Presumably they were originally balanced properly between woofer, tweeter and Walsh tweeter. I'd think you would want to maintain that balance


Here's an old discussion (not WTLC specific) on bypass caps in crossovers. TL;DR: seems people can't agree on whether they help or not.

That is the exact reason why i asked if it's beneficial. I've read that super-tweeters generally being used to add "air and spaciousness" and have way lesser volume than the other drivers. If they were intentionally balanced as they were, i'll leave them as is.

Regarding the bypass caps: There are more positive comments than neutral and\or negative comments about them. Plus, i have so much free budget as i only pay for the MDF sheet, all the machining and building process will be free. I can even go nuts and buy Duelund caps Most probably I'll go with Jantzen caps again, because i will be building seven speakers in the end. So it leaves us with only one question: What value should i get?

Awesome project!

And kudos for making use of company resources. I have done that many, many times.

Maybe make use of the CNC capabilities and make all the holes in the internal braces round or oval. Because you can.

Thank you sir! Pardon my laziness, that model was a quick sketch that i've made in SketchUp, i'll draw final models piece by piece in our CNC's CAD software. And of course i'll cut the braces chamfered, i even stashed a brand new chamfering drill bit on my toolbox ahead of time


By the way, i wonder if there's a necessity of an inductor on woofers. Shouldn't i benefit crossing woofer and tweeter properly?

 

[RVT1K]

By the way, i wonder if there's a necessity of an inductor on woofers. Shouldn't i benefit crossing woofer and tweeter properly?

I know enough about crossovers to know I don't know enough to make changes like that.

Upgrading components is one thing but making changes to the circuit can significantly alter the way the crossover functions.

 

[DTS_ManiaC]

I know enough about crossovers to know I don't know enough to make changes like that.

Upgrading components is one thing but making changes to the circuit can significantly alter the way the crossover functions.

Yeah, doing that would basically end up being a complete crossover re-design which afaik would cost more than a thousand dollars with speaker measurement equipment plus whole new set of components etc. So that would be out of questioning too. I don't believe i'm saying this, but most challenging part seems to be finding a replacement for speaker port with same dimensions. I wonder what's gonna happen if i use slightly larger port.

Also, i guess i'm gonna go with Duelund JDM Pure Copper Foil caps as bypass caps on tweeters (both peerless and walsh).



Today, i sketched a brand new bottom plate like this. The tips on corners will be shorter and its shape will be half circle. Planning to do it with 10mm (0.4") stainless steel.



And this is the isolation feet that i've designed several years ago. Still haven't designed spikes, but probably will do something soon. Never had an opportunity to bring them to life, but now is the time


Long story short, i wanna MAX it out and see what WTLCs are capable of. But as always, i'm open for any suggestions to make it even better, looks or performance wise

 

[James Comer]

Uh, those Walsh tweeters are really fragile. They will smoke from a loud spike. You can't really hear the frequencies, maybe it's harmonics you hear/ feel but I'm with you they are there. If you mess with the power level, they'll smoke. If you leave out the 3.5uf 100v non polar cap....they'll smoke. Thought about installing a toggle switch for higher listening levels. Conclusion: If you want it really loud without damage use the 901s. No highs no lows but really loud without damage. If you want to listen to Symphony from the New World, these speakers are your huckleberry.