[jsolin@mac.com]

Looking for details on what the $250 kit includes, what it doesn't include, how hard it was to install. and how much of a difference it made?

Photos would be great.

I did watch Danny's Magnepan upgrade discussion video on the 1.7/1.6's, but it didn't have LRS details and didn't show the parts involved on the install process.

Thanks for any assistance.

[Skilly]

Post removed due to ignorance. 

[mlundy57]

I know he has also done an upgrade for the MMG but don't know about the LRS.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Yes Danny does have a kit for the LRS.
Ill see if I can get the measurements from him tomorrow to share here.

I know most of the upgrades for the Magnepan speakers have been pretty simple crossovers overall. But I haven't seen a maggie in person yet to know how they're put together beyond Danny mentioning how they have staples on the bottom holding the fabric sleeves over the diaphragms that must be removed to get to where the components are.

Ill update once I know more.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Okay i've got the before/after for the LRS Kit.

Stock crossover:






Updated crossover response:

[hawkeyejw]

Dang, those things were really mid bass heavy to start with

[Tyson]

Wow, that's a pretty intense lower midrange hump in the stock speakers.  Looking really good after the upgrade though.  And looking at the Spectral Decay plot, the nastiness at 1kh also got cleaned up a fair bit.  After the upgrade, these speakers should sound MUCH cleaner and more detailed. 

[jsolin@mac.com]

Yes Danny does have a kit for the LRS.
Ill see if I can get the measurements from him tomorrow to share here.

I know most of the upgrades for the Magnepan speakers have been pretty simple crossovers overall. But I haven't seen a maggie in person yet to know how they're put together beyond Danny mentioning how they have staples on the bottom holding the fabric sleeves over the diaphragms that must be removed to get to where the components are.

Ill update once I know more.

Thank you.

Joe

[jsolin@mac.com]

Okay i've got the before/after for the LRS Kit.

Impressive. Thank you.

So does anyone know what's involved in the actual upgrade?

Danny sent me this:
"The kit comes with all new crossover parts using Erse air core inductors and a Sonicap. It also comes with new wiring, a set of tube connectors, solder, and heat shrink."

But I didn't get instructions on how I access the components and what is involved in removing/replacing them. I don't want to trash a new pair of speakers, so I'm a bit hesitant.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

There are staples along the bottom holding the sleeves over the ribbon panels.
Those need to be removed and fhe sleeve lifted up in order to access the components under the binding post plate, the original crossover needs to be desoldered, and removed after marking the position and polarity of the connections. Then the crossover is assembled point to point on a small separate board and the crossover leads connected to the panel leads with the included wire. And tube connector installed as the inputs, to replace the binding posts from the original crossover.

Then re-stapling the sleeve back in place once the upgrade is complete.

[trebejo]

How does this modification affect resale value?

[Danny Richie]

Usually our upgrades improve resale value.

[westly197]

I’ve been very interested in this kit, but really wish there was more information. Has no one used this kit and posted photos? Danny mentions it may be challenging to fit all the parts in on the video, but I can’t find what parts are included or how large they are?

[Hobbsmeerkat]

I’ve been very interested in this kit, but really wish there was more information. Has no one used this kit and posted photos? Danny mentions it may be challenging to fit all the parts in on the video, but I can’t find what parts are included or how large they are?

Not that im aware of. The new parts will not fit inside the LRS, they will need to be mounted externally.

The kit is just 3 parts, a cap and 2 inductors along some wire and a set of tube connectors.
The back panel will need to be replaced with something made from 1/4" MDF or acrylic and just allow the wire to pass through. Then youll need to solder the wires from the crossover to the tabs.
Also be sure to mark which leads are positive and negative they are mirrored/opposite order compared to the other speaker.

[westly197]

Hmm, that’s a bummer, would almost want to put tube connectors going directly to the panels and have the crossover further away.

One question, do the tube connector female jacks also work with a banana plug or are they different sizes completely? Asking because I sometimes swap speakers around and wondering if there is compatibility at all or are they totally different things? I know you would loose the advantage of the better surface area of the tube connector if they do fit.

[trebejo]

Is it possible to make a mistake and ruin the Magnepan LRS speakers?

[corndog71]

While I can’t speak for Danny and his crew, I will say this is DIY.  If you’re going to mod a speaker you will sometimes have to get creative and think outside of the box.  For new speakers you will be voiding your warranty.  So if you’re worried about risking your investment then maybe just don’t do it. 

[trebejo]

While I can’t speak for Danny and his crew, I will say this is DIY.  If you’re going to mod a speaker you will sometimes have to get creative and think outside of the box.  For new speakers you will be voiding your warranty.  So if you’re worried about risking your investment then maybe just don’t do it.

Hence, the lack of explicit instructions can encourage someone to get in over his head and ruin a fine pair of speakers, is that correct?

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Correct.
It is certainly possible, and the most common mistakes are bending the leads of caps an resistors too many times so they snap off.
The next is leaving the soldering iron on the leads of a driveror cap for too long. Best way to avoid this is to add solder to the tip of your iron and apply it to the terminal and the wire before trying to solder them together.

If you have everything pre-tinned before you solder them, it will all happen much faster without over heating the components.

The reason we don't have a more detailed guide is because we didn't install the upgrade for the one that was sent to us. If we had the speaker here we could take pictures for everyone to follow.

We currently have a pair of 3.7i in the shop we will be installing the upgrade for so we'll be taking pictures of the process as we go. But it will be somewhat different than the others as it's a 3-way design.

[trebejo]

Seems pretty irresponsible to make money by aggressively promoting such a modification while failing to document your own path  to that upgrade.

There is really no excuse for putting up a long video on youtube without showing what was actually done.