What did the xo set you back? I'm diggin' the red and green coils on the red circuit board. That's a pretty set up. I'm seeing that raw insulation around the port and wondering about that. Is it sprayed with adhesive to seal in the fibers? What's the scoop there?
X-overs were $200 shipped as you see them, about an even split for the build and the components. So not cheap, considering the original A/V-1 kit is $229, but considering how they sound, I'm not complaining
Notice any differences in sound? There's a line of objectivists wanting to say it's all in your head.
That's mineral wool. All of the enclosures I have came lined with it already. Sort of like fiberglass only made of rock that is melted and spun like cotton candy. It is supposed to help damp the back wave/standing waves and reduce cabinet resonance. I considered upgrading to the
No-Rez that GR offers, but these cabinets are small and are already very inert. These small speakers weigh about 30lbs each, the majority of which are the enclosures.
Definitely interested to hear if you feel there is a noticeable difference in the crossover.
Definitely a fan of the GR drivers though, the X-Statiks using the M-165 (equivalent) is extremely smooth. I am just waiting for the upgraded versions that Danny supposedly has...
I've previously done the Sonicap upgrade on my A/V-2s. When I bought them, they also had the old version tweeters, one of which had a broken tab on it already when I disassembled them. I think it actually caused a short and fried one speaker, so I ordered new drivers (and the new T3 tweeters for both) for that one and the upgrade x-over components and rebuilt the A/V-2s from the ground up. I could immediately hear the difference as I had owned those speakers for a few months before performing the upgrade. The Sonicaps/Mills resistors actually seem to soften these speakers a bit and I noticed it with the A/V-1s too. Though they are already fairly laid back, in critical listening I do actually find that there is a distinct improvement in depth and detail. For lack of a better term, the "3D" or dimensional extension of the music makes them sound as if your room larger than it is. That's one thing I've always loved about these speakers. It is a subtle thing, that is audible. My other pair of A/V-2s does not have the upgraded X-overs so it is easy for me to compare them back to back and hear the difference between them.
This pair of A/V-1s already sounded very good; I've had them for years. What I hear with the upgrade to these is a wider, deeper sound stage and more detail in general. I actually had a problem right off the bat - I had put on some Rage Against the Machine, since that's what was already in there and it instantly sounded bad, with what sounded like distortion or crush or almost like they were struggling (shouldn't be the case since they are getting 200W). I was concerned I had connected something wrong or something got damaged!
I checked a few other tracks on that album and they still sounded like something was not right. I switched to some of my "audition" tracks though and found that the issue was that the speakers were actually identifying poor recording/mastering. Whew.
