Ultimate XL7F's...???

[1BAD50]

Not sure if there is such a thing...
After owning some large JBL bookshelves for way too long... last fall I'm burning down the net looking for a nice pair of towers. Having owned a Cerwin Vega SUB-150 for over 15 years I'm intrigued by the floor firing woofers, twin 6-1/2 midrange drivers and the positive reviews of the XL7F's. After years of listening to "bright" speakers...I'm in love...
So after a few months my critical ears have agreed with the professionals that the upper bass emphasis is a bit much...so we took advantage of the great bi-amp abilities of this nice looking tower and now have a little sub-amp driving those floor firing woofers...using my SC-95 LFE I am experimenting between 100-200hz crossover settings...very very nice...much more precise...why do I need a subwoofer when I have two ???
Ok...next...yes the highs are ahhh..."laid back"...need some help here please...should I purchase a two-way crossover with a lower setting and direct wire the woofer??? Should I replace the tweeter??? Maybe get a ribbon style???
Thanks in advance...

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Good speakers are an intricate design with carefully-selected drivers and a crossover designed to optimize their performance in the cabinet they are designed to work in. You just can’t go willy-nilly replacing woofers and /or tweeters and expect an improvement. You’re more likely to end up with worse performance rather than better.

Bottom line, if you’re unhappy with the speakers it’s best to replace them with something else.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[1BAD50]

First of all Wayne I want to say Thank You for your reply and your opinion. I will consider what you have to say with the highest regard. I wish also to convey that I am thrilled with these speakers, but we all know that they are far from perfection...if there is such a thing at any price...
And as a mechanical design and automotive engineer that has a very competitive nature...having designed and built racing engines for 30 years...opening up these boxes and replacing parts...going A to B...back to A...is a walk in the park...
But I know audio technology is obviously not my forte...such is why I am soliciting help from the finest audio site on the net...
I think Fluance is on to something with the basic design of this speaker...I held Gene's review of these speakers as gospel...such as why I bi-amp with the LFE...and Gene was on the mark...
And if I may quote Gene now on the upper frequency issue..."The 1” silk dome tweeter is ferrofluid cooled and features a neodymium magnet structure. Although it’s not vented with a heatsink, it appears to be encased in an aluminum frame to help cool the magnet. Typically these tweeters don’t offer a lot of low end extension (as far as tweeters go), since they lack a rear chamber, so that is why Fluance chose to employ a higher than usual crossover point (3,500Hz)."
So having great success on the low frequency issue and Gene's recommendation...I now seek the advice and great expertise of the very intelligent audio experts that frequent this forum that together we may create the Ultimate XL7F...

 

[9Fingers]

Finally! I found someone with exactly the same thoughts about theses towers. Last night I just finished, what I consider, a MUCH more ultimate XL7F than there stock configuration. I've had these speakers for a few years now and always liked them but yes they have a few flaws. Boomy/bloated low end even with the ports plugged. I too tried the LFE to amp to bottom 8s and it's definitely an improvement. However I thought they could still do much better. So I finally bit the bullet and ordered new crossovers (2Khz) for the mid-tweeters, new low pass filters (150hz) for those bottom 8's and last but certainly not least two new tweeters (1 1/8 inch silkies). All Dayton parts that came to $100. I can list part numbers or show a pic or two if anyone's interested. So after a couple hours/beers the super X's were born. All I can say is it's an incredible difference and you won't believe how much better they sound without hearing them. Much much more balanced and musical IMO. One warning though if your thinking of undertaking this project. Those giant ridiculous binding posts are the worst thing I've ever tried to solder to. Torches are great. While I'm VERY far from any kind of audiophile or expert of any kind I couldn't be happier with these beauties now.

 

[9Fingers]

I just realized it's been seven months since I posted and it's much more than likely no one will give even a quarter poop but they still sound great to me.

P.S.

That last one? Because I had to.

 

[9Fingers]

Thanks.

 

[rojo]

Thanks.

Hey, I'm sorry for my post. Re-reading it this morning, what I said was pretty harsh. I deleted it. You're obviously excited about the improvements you made to your XL7F towers, and your post was not deserving of such blunt criticism. I still suggest that there are more economical options for anyone looking to follow in your footsteps, but I shouldn't have criticized your speaker hack so harshly. I'm sorry I was a jerk.

 

[Pogre]

Finally! I found someone with exactly the same thoughts about theses towers. Last night I just finished, what I consider, a MUCH more ultimate XL7F than there stock configuration. I've had these speakers for a few years now and always liked them but yes they have a few flaws. Boomy/bloated low end even with the ports plugged. I too tried the LFE to amp to bottom 8s and it's definitely an improvement. However I thought they could still do much better. So I finally bit the bullet and ordered new crossovers (2Khz) for the mid-tweeters, new low pass filters (150hz) for those bottom 8's and last but certainly not least two new tweeters (1 1/8 inch silkies). All Dayton parts that came to $100. I can list part numbers or show a pic or two if anyone's interested. So after a couple hours/beers the super X's were born. All I can say is it's an incredible difference and you won't believe how much better they sound without hearing them. Much much more balanced and musical IMO. One warning though if your thinking of undertaking this project. Those giant ridiculous binding posts are the worst thing I've ever tried to solder to. Torches are great. While I'm VERY far from any kind of audiophile or expert of any kind I couldn't be happier with these beauties now.

Did you just order parts off the shelf and change them out, or did you have everything modeled with the new tweeter and have the crossovers built? Most likely what you have is probably not balanced at all (unless you did the modeling and had crossovers built).

You can't just order new tweeters and off the shelf crossovers for an existing design and expect good results. Every speaker has to have crossovers specially built (based on cabinet size, drivers, Thiele/Small parameters, f3, etc) so everything plays well together and you get a flat response across the frequency band. Tweeters and drivers are also carefully selected to match up.

That being said, if you're happy with it, then right on. I highly doubt they'll measure very well with the modifications you made tho...

 

[Pogre]

Hey, I'm sorry for my post. Re-reading it this morning, what I said was pretty harsh. I deleted it. You're obviously excited about the improvements you made to your XL7F towers, and your post was not deserving of such blunt criticism. I still suggest that there are more economical options for anyone looking to follow in your footsteps, but I shouldn't have criticized your speaker hack so harshly. I'm sorry I was a jerk.

It takes balls to apologize in public Rojo. You're a good guy.