[Brian Cheney]

In the best situation the factory would do all mods on the speakers, including the passive CD EQ xover, which requires the system spend a few hours in my sound room so I can optimize the values.

I am certain the owner in the field can get 90% of the factory mod results by himself from parts we send.  Moving the xover outside the speaker is a tremendous amount of work and mistakes can happen that the user might overlook, such as wiring one section out of phase.

The 40's do not ship well or cheaply.  Freight lines have cut back on essential personnel to save money in these times of high fuel prices, and are very rough.  We keep beefing up the packaging.

[Roc]

Further Thoughts

While B, and I have been working on this project for "The ROC", not all the loose ends are totally cleaned up.

I will post the pricing for the "stock" 3 input 2 output version soon, however we will also have a 3 in 3 out version for those adventurous individuals, who live on the edge of "Tri-AMPing".

Big John,

Just want to remind everyone what I ordered on the "supermax".

The outboard cross-over "black boxes" have 2 sets of input binding posts.
There are NO OUTPUT BINDING POSTS.
Inside the boxes I had Brian provide all Bolder/silver wiring.
For interconnecting wiring I had Brian provide 24" long silver wire, uninterupted between the cross-overs/Lpads and speakers.
On the speaker end of the interconnecting wiring we used spade connectors.
The speakers are "direct drive" and have the normal 3 sets of binding posts.
Inside the speakers we used all bolder/silver wiring also, plus all the best goodies available.


Boy am I excited to get these babies !
Maybe you should stop by my house after your Ohio trip !

Dave

[John Casler]

Further Thoughts

While B, and I have been working on this project for "The ROC", not all the loose ends are totally cleaned up.

I will post the pricing for the "stock" 3 input 2 output version soon, however we will also have a 3 in 3 out version for those adventurous individuals, who live on the edge of "Tri-AMPing".

Big John,

Just want to remind everyone what I ordered on the "supermax".
Each outboard crossover "black box" has 2 sets of input binding posts and NO output binding posts.
Black box internal wiring is all bolder/silver.
I had Brian provide 24" long silver interconnecting wiring, uninterupted between the X overs/Lpads and the "direct drive" RM-40's.
Direct drive speakers have 3 sets of binding posts.
Interconnecting wiring has spade connectors (speaker end only) for connection to the speaker posts.
Speakers have all silver wiring inside also, plus all the normal goodies available.

Boy am I excited to get these babies !
Maybe you should stop by my house after your Ohio trip !

Dave   

Hey Dave,

I'm already back.  Can't wait to hear how it all sounds in your room, and after days, weeks, and months of your tweaking.

Just so you know, I added a "quote" adjustment on your post above since somehow the bottom quote bracket didn't take, and it read like one big quote

[Roc]

John,

I caught that too and rewrote the reply, with the same result.

What am I doing wrong?

Dave

[John Casler]

John,

I caught that too and rewrote the reply, with the same result.

What am I doing wrong?

Dave

Now that is a good question

With the quote button, it looks like you don't select the text you want in a quote block, or else you begin typing "before" the closing quote brackets, placing your new info inside the quote.

As far as VMPS, nothing.  I think you're doing it all right.

PS I edited it again to re-correct it, so it is now correct again

[Bob Wilcox]

The 40's do not ship well or cheaply.  Freight lines have cut back on essential personnel to save money in these times of high fuel prices, and are very rough.  We keep beefing up the packaging.

2-way coast to coast shipping is quite expensive. In addition to the cost and risk of damage, last time the local shipper refused to do an in-house delivery (despite my willingness to pay for it). The wood crates add a lot of weight and getting the speakers off the pallet in front of my porch and indoors was quite an adventure.

I don't have much in the way of tools or shop ability so the idea of a field swap installation has a lot of appeal to me. It would be great if it just required removing the old parts, installing a prefab board for the binding posts, making the internal wiring  connections and hooking up the pre-built box. That procedure could probably done in an hour or two and is within my abilities.

Bob

[Brian Cheney]

If you got new outboard factory crossovers plus new boards with three sets of binding posts, you're talking $450pr plus shipping.

[James Romeyn]

Sounds like the retrofit requires only to go inside the speakers & cut the driver wires at the xo side.  If I read B's post correctly you get all new xo parts for $450.  The original xo parts can sit inside unused & do not need to be removed. 

Inside the speaker you can forgo soldering to the terminals & instead choose the mechanical anchor point architecture (nylon screws/nuts/washers OR original binding posts).  You will only need to drill small holes in the terminal boards next to the screws or posts, then insert the wire ends through the holes, then seal holes internally; can use hot melt glue or silicone sealant; must not move the wire during silicone's longish setup time or a leak will likely result.  Crimp appropriate gold spades (the spades must fit around the screws/posts) to the wire ends & lastly attach the spades to the screws/posts. 

Sounds a lot better than packing/unpacking & paying for shipping speakers round trip.  If you don't feel comfortable doing the work inside the speaker it should be relatively easy to find a hobbyist nearby up to the task.  It's pretty easy to use a 9V battery to personally confirm the driver polarity is maintained, & that's about the only thing anyone can screw up inside the speaker during the update.  Brian can even include a battery w/ wires soldered to it for a few extra bucks.   

[Brian Cheney]

No, the old crossovers would have to be removed from the cabinets and sent to the factory first.

[James Romeyn]

Oopps.  Actually that makes sense concerning the lowish price.  Sorry I misread.  Well, in that case you gotta use a heat gun to melt the glue to remove the xo parts.  Beware because bare skin & melted hot melt glue are an unkind combination.  Do NOT scrape the glue after it contacts your skin!  That will be your first response, which will only remove more skin.  Just have some ice cubes handy to cool the glue asap, after which it pretty easily falls off your skin.  But it hurts till it cools.

Removal is easier on the 40s vs. 30s.   

[John Casler]

For $999, a R/T Plane ticket, and a Sirloin w/ Vegetable and Baked Potato, B might be enticed to make a house call.

[Bob Wilcox]

Jim

Actually, I recall being able to pry the crossover off the MDF without needing the glue gun when I sent my parts to Brain for a MLS rebuild. The hot glue stayed stuck to the parts but tore off the MDF.

$450 sounds reasonable but the main hangup for me is the downtime. I would be willing to pay for the whole crossover if I could return the old one for credit (like buying a rebuilt alternator).

Bob

[Brian Cheney]

I'd be sending out new crossovers and getting back used ones.  I don't think that will work.

[James Romeyn]

Bob
Yes that rings a bell, that sounds familiar.  Sometimes you get a layer of the mdf w/ the glue. 

Brian
Once you get one used set of xo components to ship out, all subsequent "new" xo's would be made w/ used componenets.  They'd be someone else's used parts, like when you purchase a rebuilt alternator. 

[Bob Wilcox]

Brian

The trimmed  TRTs are pretty pricey. Don't the used crossovers have some value for warranty repair or as a 'used'  purchase option?

You could charge more for a swap both to make sure you get the old ones back and to take into account new versus used value. One price for factory rebuild and another for swap?
 
As Jim suggests, as long as the crossover was fully functional and appropriate (same cap option, values correct for customers tweeter, midwoofer and CDW or not), its not important to me whether the parts are brand new. Don't know how other customers feel about this.

I'll let it rest now.

Bob