Hi,
I've messed about with crossovers on several speakers and built some really good speakers in the past. Has anyone had a look at upgrade components for their Focal Aria speakers? I have the 906.
I've messed about with crossovers on several speakers and built some really good speakers in the past. Has anyone had a look at upgrade components for their Focal Aria speakers? I have the 906.
i believe with
You should also have upgraded woofer capacitor too, telling you by experience, I will do both considering it is a low value capacitor capacitor and will be cheaper, often woofer capacitors have large uf values. what was value voltage of electrolytic. Also will you care to explain how did you connect shunt capacitor, by shunt capacitor didn't you mean bypass capacitor?
thanks, woofer circuit has 5.6uf 63v BP+/- 10%. However the ones I removed measured 5.86 & 5.94 uf. My speakers are six years old. Tried Mundorf fast caps but not happy with sound. one measured 5.45 and the other 5.84. The 5.84 reduced the volume in the crossover region noticeably more than the original 5.86 focal cap. What brand of caps do you recommend? I just ordered Dayton metal caps
yes shunt cap is the Bypass cap. as you may be able to see from the pic, the left lead on the clarity cap has the bypass lead soldered to it. I also made use of the unused hole on the board to the right of the clarity cap as it’s much larger than what focal uses.
yes shunt cap is the Bypass cap. as you may be able to see from the pic, the left lead on the clarity cap has the bypass lead soldered to it. I also made use of the unused hole on the board to the right of the clarity cap as it’s much larger than what focal uses.
you can go for jentzen superior, silver-z or mundorf supreme, these should be the easiest or say safest. going higher Alumen z-cap can be better than the last two, owing to low uf value it is also doable, also in the range would be supreme evo oil. this is great resource for capacitors https://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html . Personally i would select any of these based on the what budget allows.
I could not understand why you chose to use expensive bypass capacitor and cheaper series capacitor, you should have used alumen z-cap or supreme evo oil and miflex bypass capacitor for tweeter circuit.
I could not understand why you chose to use expensive bypass capacitor and cheaper series capacitor, you should have used alumen z-cap or supreme evo oil and miflex bypass capacitor for tweeter circuit.
I have a similar set of speakers, use nearly the same crossover component values, metal home tweeters…
I found the best setup for near field listening was 4.7uf Clarity MR + 1uf polystyrene for the woofer, and 3uf (Russian K71-4) polystyrene for the tweeter. The latter might be hard to get these days however.
I found the best setup for near field listening was 4.7uf Clarity MR + 1uf polystyrene for the woofer, and 3uf (Russian K71-4) polystyrene for the tweeter. The latter might be hard to get these days however.
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Humble rates the CSA as a 9. The Mundorf MCap Supreme MKP 800VDC is only slightly better at 10 and at 800v I suspect way too large to fit on the factory crossover board.
Jantzen superior was sold out when I ordered, so I went with the clarity cap. Deulund copper cap was my first choice for the tweeter bypass so I stuck with it.
Are folks building separate crossover boards to fit massive capacitors into the circuit? Also what does a bypass cap on the woofer circuit accomplish?
Jantzen superior was sold out when I ordered, so I went with the clarity cap. Deulund copper cap was my first choice for the tweeter bypass so I stuck with it.
Are folks building separate crossover boards to fit massive capacitors into the circuit? Also what does a bypass cap on the woofer circuit accomplish?
Please let us know the caps you selected and what you think of the sound. Also what do you like about the the Alumen z-cap In the tweeter circuit. Thanks
I received my aria 906 yesterday, I will decide from humblehifi after 10-15 days of listening. so whosoever changes the crossover first should post for other to take into account its results. So far from listening, i can tell you I would like a capacitor that would mellow the tweeter just little bit, for woofer the capacitor should increase the soundstage. I have used CSA in my other speaker in both tweeter and woofer, in woofer it decreased soundstage but increased clarity. Thing to note is results will vary by speaker system.
Based on price and review ratings this is that I will probably go for, for tweeter alumen z-cap for woofer clarity mr or cmr or Audyn Tri reference
After upgrading the tweet section on one speaker I did a side by side comparison with the original. Vocals opened up from being concentrated 6” in front of speaker to having noticeable depth. Width was better as well. Adele’s vocals are much more enjoyable.
Hi there, thanks for sharing your project and details.
I intend to do a similar tweak to my brothers Aria 906 , and I have bought the parts already .
Clarity CSA 2.7uf + AudioCap PPT film foil 0.01uf and Mills resistor for the tweeter .
Jantzen Std Z cap 5.6uf and Jantzen 1.2ohm resistors for the woofer.
I have a question of how did you remove the binding post terminals, woofer and tweeters from the cabinet ? Did it require silicon or glue to re glue the metal trim around the woofer or rubber trim/guide around the tweeter?
Also I have some Audioquest 16ga long grain copper that I want to use for internal wiring and solder it with Wonder Solder direct into crossover and drivers (with major care around the tweeter terminals)
Can you speak of the sound quality improvement/changes after your project and how long was the break-in process , how it affected the sound ?
Regards Karl
Hi Karl, awesome another Aria upgrade. I do enjoy listening to the upgraded speakers. The upgrade is an on going journey with more to do. I had to remove the woofer, but not the tweeter as I didn’t change the internal wiring.
the ring surrounding the woofer is glued into place. I’ve seen folks online use a plastic bicycle tire tool to remove. Once woofer is out disconnect wires. The crossover and back plate can be pushed out of the cabinet by depressing the two plastic tabs.
Good luck and keep us updated. I read somewhere that the cap requires a minimum 100hr break in. I have a work room system and connected the cap externally for the break in. In addition, the CSA cap is more dynamic than stock (which is good). I now plan to experiment with different resistor values in the tweeter circuit. I’ve ordered the mills 5.1 and 5.6 to try in place of the 4.7ohm.
finally, purchased dowel rods and will reinforce cabinet front to back.
Paul
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Thanks Paul!
It is a ton of fun for sure , especially on a speakers using great quality drivers and rather cheesy components in the crossovers , that leaves so much room for improvement in SQ.
These Arias are perfect examples .
I will try to unplug the tweeter wires and reuse the connectors but solder in Audio Quest wires , in the past I did older B&W speakers with Cards 15.5ga wires and it really improved tonality and clarity .
As far as extra bracing is always a good idea or application of sound dampening panels like the ones from part express or Danny's GR research No Rez, it should tame some of the resonance and interference it creates... somehow when I did that it made the speakers sound cleaner when louder and bass got tighter and better controlled ....
I will fly over the Jersey to see my Brother in May and will spend an afternoon with these Arias...