[drphoto]

I rebuilt the x0ver in my Maggie 2'c using a pair of Hovland Musicaps per side (two 10 microfarad) Do you think a single 20 Sonicap would be an improvement? I read somewhere to avoid multiple caps in parallel as it leads to a 'smearing' effect.

How about replacing the stock air-core wire wound inductor w/ an AlphaCore? What kind of gain should I expect?

Any recommendations on internal wiring? I was thinking of using 22ga  solid silver in a twisted pair for the tweeter and a double twisted pair for the bass, but is there a better option? Do you sell a good wire?[/u]

[Danny Richie]

I rebuilt the x0ver in my Maggie 2'c using a pair of Hovland Musicaps per side (two 10 microfarad) Do you think a single 20 Sonicap would be an improvement?

Better in some ways, maybe so. Different, more neutral certainly.

The Hovlands are Aluminum foil and tend to be a bit to the bright side. Since the Maggies are a little soft on the top end the Hovland may not be a bad choice for them.

I read somewhere to avoid multiple caps in parallel as it leads to a 'smearing' effect.

Not with two caps of the same value. There is a minor shift in phase when using a small cap to by-pass a larger one since the dissipation factor of the smaller cap is less than the larger one. It is a pretty minuet difference that is really hard to measure or hear.

How about replacing the stock air-core wire wound inductor w/ an Alpha Core? What kind of gain should I expect?

Some people claim they can hear no difference. A/B test I have made clearly shows more of an airy open sound using the foil inductors.

Any recommendations on internal wiring?

The Silver wire will be a good choice with the Maggies.

I often use a Silver coated Copper from Apex Jr. and like it very much. The price is very good too.

http://www.apexjr.com/wire.html

I do not re-sell it.

Twisted pairs offer no advantage. Braiding it though is a different story.

[drphoto]

Danny,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I'm still waiting on a quote from a local builder on the Alpha cabinets. Just hoping to squeeze the last bit out of these old panels in the mean time.

[jonwb]

I'm still waiting on a quote from a local builder on the Alpha cabinets...

drphoto, be VERY careful when you get these cabinets quoted/built for you.  

I bought what was supposed to be a mostly finished set of Alpha enclosures last fall from a guy that needed the money and couldn't finish the kit himself.  Well, to make a long story short he had apperently dropped off Danny's drawings to the cabinet shop and didn't check in w/ them until they were (supposed to be) done.  Among other atrocities, they made two RH enclosures, the driver holes didn't allow for the drivers to be recessed, the tweeter slot was biased to the wrong side of the tweeter cavity and if I told you what they did w/ the braces you wouldn't believe me.  

Basically, Danny's drawings (for the Alpha LS at least) are fine for someone who has half a clue about how to make speaker enclosures, but they are not detailed blueprints.  This is NOT a knock on Danny's drawings, they are fine for me, but you'll need to make sure you give your cabinet guys decent & DETAILED instructions above and beyond the drawings from Danny.

You may have already caught on to this, I just would hate for you to have any problems.  I have (finally) given up on repairing the enclosures I got from the guy and am going to start new boxes from scratch (pretty depressing, wasted a bunch of money & time).

Anyway... good luck!  

I know you'll love them when they are done and I will too!

[azryan]

jonwb,

Oh MAN, that's a sad cabinet story.

Hope you get them done yourself. I'd like to see pics of these suckers in other people's homes (and what the laminate or paint them). Someone needs to do them in 'gloss black' for a friend of mine to see. hehe

dr.photo too! Good luck.

I agree jonwb about making sure a cabinet builder knows exactly what these are supose to end up being. I know on the simple PDF file I got from Danny (sorry Danny) some things were a bit off and some things missing.

I just emailed Danny a couple times throughout asking 'what's this measurement?' or 'is this what that means?', etc.. and he got back to me right away with the exact info. I needed.

Never had any probs or got 'stuck', but you do need some logic skill to figure out an order to the steps of building it.

Good luck getting finished pairs guys!

Perfection? No.
Sickeningly good deal and world class. I think so.

[Danny Richie]

Sorry guys, I did not do the drawings on them.

[Hank]

jonwb, I'm sorry to read about your cabinet problem.  I built Danny's Alpha cabinets, and they require lots of careful, detailed work, but are worth the effort.  There was a mistake on one of the drawings that the CAD person made, but Danny has probably corrected it by now.  If you get a cabinet shop to cut the MDF for you, be sure to check every measurement before you pay for the work.