[Stampeder]

Hi,

Since I heard about his revised norh 9 crossover here first, it seemed like the logical place to post some thoughts on the crossovers.  After reading about it here and reading more about it on Dennis's site I contacted him and he offered to send them to me two of his boards to put in my 9s.

I put them in about two weeks ago and left them in for a few days, and they sounded like crap compared to the stock crossovers.   Total loss of transparency and focus.  As it turns out, due to some confusion, I had wired the tweeters in reverse.  After correcting that, they sounded much better.  My notes to Dennis were:

a more coherent sound, more natural in the midrange and less confusion in general.  A bass and piano sound more distinct from each other and when they both play at the same time its easier to discern one from the other.  And that midrange just seems more full or natural or something.  And if I'm not mistaken the highs seem a little sweeter and natural (bell sounds like a bell with more detail/ring/metalic tone)... or less of an edge or something.  Can't say the bass seems much different at this point.

I listened to them for a about a week and just removed them today.  Going back to the stock crossover was a very large let down.  The sound was more compressed as if there was a large amount of missing information being held back.  The was a distinct lack of energy in the midrange and it was leaner and dryer sounding.

I can't believe that I have been listening to these speakers for so long not realizing that this was going on, or what was missing.  I guess its a classic case of not knowing what your missing until you have it and then you lose it.  Anyway, I highly recommend this crossover over the stock crossover.  I'm going to be building an ourboard version with primo parts asap.

[MaxCast]

Exactly how was the tweeter wired before, during, and after?
Isn't the correct way for the tweeter to be wired with the nOrh xo reverse polarity?

[nathanm]

Hmph, now I wish I still had mine now just for curiosity's sake. (if the 9.0s benefit from this then the 7.0s probably have the same deficiency)  I wonder if I'd like them any better than I did.

So would you categorize this as actually fixing something objectively wrong with the sound vs. just offering a different albeit mostly "correct" subjective sound?

I can't believe that I have been listening to these speakers for so long not realizing that this was going on, or what was missing. I guess its a classic case of not knowing what your missing until you have it and then you lose it.

Mmmmmmm...indeed.  Makes one wonder how many speakers people have gone through when all that might have pushed them over the edge was a little boost or cut here and there with the 'ol XO.  Let us not even dwell on that depressing thought... Ha!

Now, if Dennis Murphy is up for a REAL challenge he could fix his gaze upon the Norh Pyramid.  Either that or work on building a time travel machine, which is far more feasible.

[Stampeder]

Exactly how was the tweeter wired before, during, and after?
Isn't the correct way for the tweeter to be wired with the nOrh xo reverse polarity?

My 9 crossovers required the tweeter to be reversed.  Dennis's crossovers are reversed on the board so I didn't need to reverse them on the driver but I did the first time when I got it wrong.

When I reverted back to the stock crossovers today I hooked the tweeter with the (+) crossover to driver (+) and same for the (-) which is wrong, and then I reversed them which is supposed to be right.  When I did this I was able to determine that when its done wrong there is a loss of focus just as I noticed with Murphy's crossover.  The interesting thing is I didn't notice that the loss of focus was as obvious by quite a large margin.  As if Murphy's crossover has more information to loose if you do it wrong, and when its wrong you really notice it.

[Stampeder]

So would you categorize this as actually fixing something objectively wrong with the sound vs. just offering a different albeit mostly "correct" subjective sound?

Tough question.  I never thought the 9s were wrong before, but objectively they must be.  Its not like this makes for a smoother sound, or a more transparent sound, or a deeper bass or what have you.  Its like its sounds more natural and complete which would mean the original one was unnatural and incomplete which is wrong isn't it?

[Jay S]

This is great news.  How difficult was it to put in Dennis' new boards once you removed the bass driver?  Is it necessary to attach the boards to the wall of the cabinet?

Thanks!

[Stampeder]

This is great news.  How difficult was it to put in Dennis' new boards once you removed the bass driver?  Is it necessary to attach the boards to the wall of the cabinet?

I had to remove the bass and tweeter to do this.  Whether you build your own boards or get Dennis' to do them, you might want to put them outside the cabinets.  For one thing, there isn't a lot of room in the cabinets for them with the existing crossover in there.  My stock crossovers are impossible to remove because of they way they are glued in.  If you wanted to, or had to, you could put them on a board and mount (glue?) them on the opposite side of the cabinet on the side wall just as the stock ones are.

After that, it is pretty simple to hookup the wires but you will have to make sure that each male and female connection is correct and of the right size.  Thats a bit of a pain and its another reason I am going to put them outboard, which requires only some simple soldering.  Plus I believe that solder is better than those tabbed speaker connections.