I just had an interesting experience modifying my pair of Snell model E V towers. I had these speakers for many years and rotated them in and out of both my home theatre and hifi systems.
Being on the upgrade bug, I listened to several speakers up to around $7K- $8K but none convinced me that the move was worth the money. As I pondered what to do I researched more into my Snell speakers and found that the drivers (one tweeter and 2 woofers) one handling only under (200hz), has older inexpensive vifa drivers. I think one can forget that in the context of overall manufacturing costs, marketing and running a company, research, and profit and mark ups along the way, the cost of a speaker can be 15-20x or more the cost of the drivers. And the drivers are the transducers, the most fundamental part and the part that will ultimately limit the sound the most.
Considering that the cabinet seemed very well built and I didn't want to mess with the crossover I began to search for better quality drop in replacement drivers. I figured if they fit in dimensionally and had the same impedance and sensitivity, maybe even the same mounting hole positions, it was worth a try.
I looked through the listings from companies that supplied parts to speaker builders and found some suitable drivers and installed them.
The results were impressive, a vast improvement in sound. I now have a "new" and much better speaker. The process did't take much time, was simple to do and was of very reasonable cost. Outside of building your own speaker from scratch, has anyone else done or considered such a project and want to share their experience?
