HELP!!! Speaker Cables for Monitor Audio RS8 system
HI everyone,
Thanks for the advice but i have changed my mind on the GSW12. I will be going with either SVS PB13 ULTRA or Mark Seaton Submersive.
Both of these 2 subs are slightly better than JL Audios F113 and Velodnes DD18 and DD15, w will be going to here the seaton subwoofer very soon at this guys house who is letting me adution them. If you look on the web there are so many links referencing them, with graphs and stats.
When i went to 2 high end audio stores and said i needed a sub and requested the GSW12 they shot it down do to my room size and shape they showed me F113 and the DD18 which blew the GSW12 away when i her all 3 wow what a huge diference.
Everyone should check them out unless you know about those 2 subs already lol I am a newbie after all thanks again
If you need some links to the 2 subs that i decided on let me know
Hi,
Trevor, just a few questions...
Instead of Claritycap could it be say Jantzen Superior Z-Cap 800-1200 VDC 2% 3.9 uF and 6.8 uF? It's only a matter of availability in our region.
How do you estimate difference between standard 4 / 6 uF and 3.9/6.8 uF capacitors - is any significant change in crossover frequency separation heared?
And the last...Have you experimented with coils, not only with capacitors?
Thanks in advance.
jaxwired:Gerrardasnails:whasaaaab:What speaker cable is go for the sub silver RSW12? there are so many on this site with great 5 start ratings looking to spend $100 to $300?You don't need to go for anything like that price range. I use the Qed Performance Miniature Sub-Woofer cable which is about £35 for 3m or try Chord Crimson (about the same price). If you want to splash out a bit more, and need a bit longer in length, I would suggest this would be a decent cable (and about as much as you need to spend) but spending a third of the cost of the sub on cable ($100-$200) would be a bit silly in my opinion.
But you use Chord Odyssey 4 with MA RS6's yourself. That's spending more than 1/3 the price of the speakers on the cable... No offense, just saying...
I've only just seen this jaxwired. No offence taken. I think a subwoofer cable is going to have far less influence on the sound than a speaker cable to your main speakers. I doubt that many would notice the difference between a £30 sub cable and £100 one, whereas changing to a decent speaker cable for your stereo speakers is obvious to hear.
ag777:Hi,
Trevor, just a few questions...
Instead of Claritycap could it be say Jantzen Superior Z-Cap 800-1200 VDC 2% 3.9 uF and 6.8 uF? It's only a matter of availability in our region.
How do you estimate difference between standard 4 / 6 uF and 3.9/6.8 uF capacitors - is any significant change in crossover frequency separation heared?
And the last...Have you experimented with coils, not only with capacitors?
Thanks in advance.
Hi, just picked up your post.
Tony Gee who has done much work testing and reporting on Caps (www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html) rate the Jantzen Superior-Z-Caps.
He says.....
Jantzen Audio Superior Z-Cap MKP 800VDC - 2% tolerance
Sound: Very neutral and coherent balance, they don't seem to highlight anything and I mean that in a positive way! They are a little flatter in presentation than their more expensive brother, the Silver Z-Cap but still better than the Clarity Cap SA in depth and spatial information. In direct comparison with a Clarity Cap SA they are less up-front in the lower treble and have a very good texturing of acoustic instruments like a violin for example. In the upper treble they are slightly brighter than a Mundorf Silver/Gold which probably explains the good spatial information and separation. Compared to the Jantzen Audio Silver Z-Cap I find them the more musical of the two and I will definitely add them to my favourites list.
See if you can get some Vishay MKP1837 to bypass them with as they improve things further still.
I have found the 3.9uf and 6.8uf to work very well, have no cross over frequency issues with them on listening, transparency, depth, detail and as Tony says spatial information is amazing in comparison to the replaced items.
Coils? Oh yes!
Have used the Mundorf foil-coils CFC-14's on my RS8's and centre speaker so now my crossover units are really 'high end' having musical texture and unfounded detail in many tracks played.
My AV system now sounds 'Valve like' on music. So am very pleased with how I have tweaked it.
www.hificollective.co.uk/components/mundorf_foilcoils.html
Hi,
I did the crossover mod with ClarityCap ESA with Vishay bypass and they sound much better.
How much time do you thing it takes to run them in.
What values of Mundorf foil-coils CFC-14 have you used.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks a lot, Trevor!
Just in addition to what defjam1975 asks you - which coils have been replaced -L1, L2,L3, L4? Or you mean only L2 (0.8 mH) in midrange speaker crossover?
Thanks in advance.
Hi guys, replacing with Clarity Caps SA does make quite a difference doesn't it. Sounds like a much better speaker with timing, openness and detail much improved.
Mine sounded better and better over about 2 months, and seeing they are used for watching TV that's a few hours!
L2 coils were replaced with .8 and .6 BA140's on the RS8's and Centre respectively.
L3/L4 0.2mf CFC-14 on all.
Oh wired internally with 4TC Kimber Kable and crossovers hard wired with solid copper wire. A big job, took me around 6 Hrs a speaker.It's a tight fit getting the Crossover units into the cabinet, careful positioning of the much larger (and heavier) components.
The speakers have disappeared now, all I have is beautiful sound and presence. Even the TV sounds brilliant.
Acoustical music played off the HD is like it is live in the room.
trevor79:Hi guys, replacing with Clarity Caps SA does make quite a difference doesn't it. Sounds like a much better speaker with timing, openness and detail much improved.
Mine sounded better and better over about 2 months, and seeing they are used for watching TV that's a few hours!
L2 coils were replaced with .8 and .6 BA140's on the RS8's and Centre respectively.
L3/L4 0.2mf CFC-14 on all.
Oh wired internally with 4TC Kimber Kable and crossovers hard wired with solid copper wire. A big job, took me around 6 Hrs a speaker.It's a tight fit getting the Crossover units into the cabinet, careful positioning of the much larger (and heavier) components.
The speakers have disappeared now, all I have is beautiful sound and presence. Even the TV sounds brilliant.
Acoustical music played off the HD is like it is live in the room.
Trevor, serious question here. How much would it cost do you think to buy the necessary caps etc, and pay for someone to do the work? And more importantly, how much do you think it would cost to buy a speaker that would better my RS6s once this work has been done?
Just replacing the Caps is a straight forward job once you have stripped the Crossover from the speakers and got them on the bench.
It always takes longer to do the 1st one as you work out where to re site the larger caps.
You will have to get some quotes as I do the work myself for myself so have little idea what is charged by professionals.
The caps cost me around £50 and the Inductors £120 for the front 3 speakers. Add the cost of 4TC Kimber @ £27 mtr and that is the parts costs.
Just upgrading the Caps and bypassing them will make them sound better than the Golds giving a Spendor type sound. Doing the full upgrades I would put the RS8's in a blind test against the Monitor Audio Platinum's priced around £6k. Even they do not have this quality of crossover components in them.
Upgrading speaker crossovers on decent equipment is excellent value for money. If done well you will not come across many original speakers that match the performance in my opinion.
Hi, everybody!
Trevor, do you think that implementation of 6.8uF instead of 6 and therefore putting down tweeter crossover frequency (it should be approx 2700Hz with 6.8uF- like of Gold Signature) contributes to overall improvement as well?
trevor79:Just replacing the Caps is a straight forward job once you have stripped the Crossover from the speakers and got them on the bench.
It always takes longer to do the 1st one as you work out where to re site the larger caps.
You will have to get some quotes as I do the work myself for myself so have little idea what is charged by professionals.
The caps cost me around £50 and the Inductors £120 for the front 3 speakers. Add the cost of 4TC Kimber @ £27 mtr and that is the parts costs.
Just upgrading the Caps and bypassing them will make them sound better than the Golds giving a Spendor type sound. Doing the full upgrades I would put the RS8's in a blind test against the Monitor Audio Platinum's priced around £6k. Even they do not have this quality of crossover components in them.
Upgrading speaker crossovers on decent equipment is excellent value for money. If done well you will not come across many original speakers that match the performance in my opinion.
Surely though, if those sort of improvements (£800 speaker + £200 say of mods) can be made to get the equivalent of a £6k speaker, everyone would be doing it? Is it just the caps that make such a difference with the speakers sound? I love my RS6s but I'm always open to learn and improve things. I have to say I'm a little sceptical. Would be interested to hear what Clare, Andrew, and any others think about all this.
ag777:Hi, everybody!
Trevor, do you think that implementation of 6.8uF instead of 6 and therefore putting down tweeter crossover frequency (it should be approx 2700Hz with 6.8uF- like of Gold Signature) contributes to overall improvement as well?
It is a step to the positive in bringing out benefits in using high end components in the crossovers.
Gerrardasnails:
trevor79:Just replacing the Caps is a straight forward job once you have stripped the Crossover from the speakers and got them on the bench.
It always takes longer to do the 1st one as you work out where to re site the larger caps.
You will have to get some quotes as I do the work myself for myself so have little idea what is charged by professionals.
The caps cost me around £50 and the Inductors £120 for the front 3 speakers. Add the cost of 4TC Kimber @ £27 mtr and that is the parts costs.
Just upgrading the Caps and bypassing them will make them sound better than the Golds giving a Spendor type sound. Doing the full upgrades I would put the RS8's in a blind test against the Monitor Audio Platinum's priced around £6k. Even they do not have this quality of crossover components in them.
Upgrading speaker crossovers on decent equipment is excellent value for money. If done well you will not come across many original speakers that match the performance in my opinion.
Surely though, if those sort of improvements (£800 speaker + £200 say of mods) can be made to get the equivalent of a £6k speaker, everyone would be doing it? Is it just the caps that make such a difference with the speakers sound? I love my RS6s but I'm always open to learn and improve things. I have to say I'm a little sceptical. Would be interested to hear what Clare, Andrew, and any others think about all this.
I understand your point, one of the big things that influence the sound produced is the quality of the crossover components.
Every one is not doing it because few have the knowledge/inclination or ability to build a decent crossover unit using high end parts. Unless you have hands on experience in doing so a reviewer will have little listening experience to evaluate such things. Quite simply it is not there area of expertise.
Many years ago I was myself amazed by how my Rogers speakers (regarded then as something special) could be taken to such heights that I never heard anything to even get close to the mid range perfection on anything at any price that I heard in quality Hi Fi dealers.
They are still a reference point for me.
My RS8 system is now another. Complete with dedicated 40A Mains Spur, BT conditioning Units, Kimber power kords, 4TC cable, 125CT coax cable feeds, hard wired CB supplies, excellent equipment supports, room furnishings, and one or two internal tweaks to equipment. = Total enjoyment! No compromise
I have just looked inside my Bronze speaker and found the same XPP capacitor as in my RS8!!! Coils seem to be similar as well.
- Login to post comments
DO to my large living room space i have to go with the gold gsw12. I have an L shaped living room inbetween 600 and 700 square feet closer to 700sqft.
any set up advice?