Replacing components ?

[sw3ll3r3]

So is replacing speakers in a premade cabinet as simple as just buying new ones and plugging them in? I have dayton T652 towers and I was just thinking about replacing the 6.5"s with better 6.5"s. Is this as easy as it sounds or is there more to it.

I also noticed that the tower has a tweeter and 2 woofers connected to one speaker terminal. Is the crossover for the tweeter built into the tower?

 

[j_garcia]

No, it isn't that simple. New driver means new x-over, even if there isn't one there.

This unit probably has a very basic crossover, which may be on the tweeter only and may physically be on the tweeter on the terminal cup.

 

[sw3ll3r3]

No, it isn't that simple.

This unit probably has a very basic crossover, which may be on the tweeter only and may physically be on the tweeter on the terminal cup.

Well you answered the second question, but what about the first one? Swapping out the 6.5 woofers?

 

[lovinthehd]

Different drivers have different characteristics (look up Thiele/Small parameters). Likely would need to change the box and/or the crossover. Did you take the drivers out and see if they were connected to a crossover network or you did so and you see all drivers connected directly to the terminals without a crossover? Usually the crossover network is mounted somewhere in the cabinet...

 

[sw3ll3r3]

I haven't checked yet.

 

[j_garcia]

Well you answered the second question, but what about the first one? Swapping out the 6.5 woofers?

You'll usually need the tools to measure the speaker's response and see how to integrate the new driver to the cabinet and tweeter to achieve something better. Just swapping them out can be done for sure, but without measuring the response, you are just shooting blind.

 

[sw3ll3r3]

Crossover: First order high-pass, 4500 Hz

Thats what the specs say.

 

[lovinthehd]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-pass_filter

 

[j_garcia]

So you need a mid/woofer that can play that high. Means the tweeter probably has little or no response or poor response below that.

I think Dennis Murphy played with the bookshelf version of that speaker and he swapped out the tweeter and kept the midbass with a new x-over.

 

[sw3ll3r3]

So you need a mid/woofer that can play that high. Means the tweeter probably has little or no response or poor response below that.

I think Dennis Murphy played with the bookshelf version of that speaker and he swapped out the tweeter and kept the midbass with a new x-over.

Wouldn't that be the crossover for the tweeters or for the whole cabinet?

 

[j_garcia]

Wouldn't that be the crossover for the tweeters or for the whole cabinet?

Main purpose of the x-over is to blend the two drivers together so they reproduce frequencies as seamlessly as possible ideally. The combination of given drivers may benefit more from a certain type/order of x-over.

 

[Dan Madden]

I find this whole concept fun! Expect your sound to change quite dramatically......Either for the better or worse. As mentioned above, the crossover will be key but also, finding woofers that will mount properly into you cabinets will likely be the biggest problem.

 

[highfigh]

Well you answered the second question, but what about the first one? Swapping out the 6.5 woofers?

The act of changing drivers is usually simple, getting good results isn't. If you need to replace the drivers, use the same as what are in it. If it's a matter of wanting to change them, you might end up with good results, but it's unlikely unless you choose replacement that work, by chance.

Good speakers are a mix of design goals and a cycle of testing, tweaking and re-testing, with tests including listening sessions.