So the x-overs are built and hooked up and the speakers play! After testing the phase of the drivers individually (I disconnected the tweeter and then in turn the mid-panels); I can say that everything worked as it should. What did I hear?
The first night right after connecting the new x-overs I only had a few minutes to listen as it was a school night and I still work. The speakers weren't in the same position I had them in before the project so I was really just listening to hear that everyone sounded in phase. I found them to sound a little bright. Of course, this was immediately after connecting them. If a break in period was necessary for the new crossover components it certainly hadn't happened yet. The next night I moved the speakers where they were before, a location that gave me a great, often 3 dimensional soundstage.
I played with them for a couple of days, played with my NAD M 3 tone controls to tone down the 8-10Khz treble bump, moved them around a little bit, and I found they sounded better after a couple of hours of playing and fiddling.
Then, Friday night I had time to really listen to them. The bottom line is that the sound had improved remarkably. The before and after graph shown on the G R Research web site tells the whole story. The midrange was always a little recessed from the factory. You would have to turn them up quite a bit to get some life in the vocals, for example. Now, from the lower midrange to the mid treble the detail heard is amazing. Everything is "lit" up but not edgy or strident. Sounds that were buried because they were 10 decibels below the mid bass are now easily heard. The frequency balance is much better.
Bass lines are easier to hear, presumably because the woofer plays flatter through a greater range of frequencies. Of course I turned off the REL T5x sub and listened to Papa Legba from Talking Heads. The drum at the beginning had much more weight than previously. If you haven't heard this cut check it out. It is recorded to sound like a binary recording, its great fun. The tweeter, unburdened by playing below 500 hz, reproduces more of the shimmer of cymbals and the envelope of sound around bells and the like. They don't sound very "different" but to my ears the result of creating a more flattened freq response in the middle of the freq response does wonders for the sound.
Some recordings have a little sizzle to them. But, even though I haven't listened for more than about 3 hours, good recordings sound so much more alive and small details like cymbals in the back of the soundstage are easily heard. I have done the majority of my listening with the tone controls set to defeated; this after playing with the tone controls for a couple of nights.
I'm early on in the evaluation of this x-over change. I am very happy with what I have heard thus far. What I described above is exactly what I hoped to hear after looking at the before and after graph. I loved doing this project and educating myself, with GR Research's help, on reading, planning and executing a passive crossover.
In the interest of giving you all some context, I can't hear anything above 5 Khz in my right ear. With my left ear I can hear to about 10 K. I'm 64 years old. I have never been a detail hound, preferring a warmer tone and a realistic soundstage. This crossover change only added to the positive characteristics of the .7. You don't know what you are missing until it is there.
I say go for it......
