XPL200 Rehab

[Titanium Dome]

Purchase of mucked up XPL200 pair, as is: $360.
Refoam of 2214H-1 woofers: $60.
Glue, stain, sanding block, blue tape, Watco oil, filler: had it all except for stain: $5.
Purchase and shipping of 095Ti diaphragm: $82.

Total: $507.

Personal satisfaction: Priceless.


Below: Ti Dome and four Ti Domes! Sweet!

[jbl4ever]

Nice job Ti Enough them for a 5.1 system

[QwertyAccess]

you know, now that you mention of touching them, it does make me want to touch those domes.... >_<, they must be very easy to ruin :P, i noticed u took off the protectives on the domes on that shot,

[Regis]

Allright! They look beautiful! I want to hear your impressions of how they stack up, for sure. Can't have too many JBL's now, can we? We have three pairs at the house (the 4310's are at the girlfriends). If I could, I'd have even more! That you can indulge and enjoy JBL-maximus sounds good to me! The bad part is, that I haven't met a pair of JBL's that I haven't liked yet....

[Titanium Dome]

you know, now that you mention of touching them, it does make me want to touch those domes.... >_<, they must be very easy to ruin :P, i noticed u took off the protectives on the domes on that shot,

Actually, the screens are on all four Ti domes. I guess the light obliterated them. The screens must stay on for the safety of the domes!

[Robh3606]

Those came out really nice! Very nice selection in the back as well. Do you rotate them in and out of your set-up??

Rob

[northwood]

perfect job
http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/a...1&d=1144536043
nice ti

[sa660]

Well done, I am jealous of you spare time for doing all this well done again

[Titanium Dome]

Here's a little bump for old time's sake.

Soon you'll see the XPL200s along with some other JBLs in my new JBL two-channel shrine, soon to be completed.

[VSN]

After many months of being an outsider, I have finally become part of the LH forum and this is my first post, so go easy on me guys....

I am building a set of XPL200A clones, and I need a few measurements in order to 'get it right'. Hopefully Pasadena, Ti Dome or some other member would be willing to take a few moments with a tape measure or point me to a post I overlooked.

Set Back Distance of Upper Baffle from Lower Baffle?

Center point of 115H-1 from floor?

Center point of 093Ti from floor?

Port Diameter and length?

Thanks so much for your help,
Vintage Stereo Nut

[sourceoneaudio]

Very nice indeed. Great job Mr. Dome.

I like the picture shot with the big brother over the shoulder lurking in the background. That is a classic image all in its self.

[Titanium Dome]

I finally got around to setting up the DX-1 that Greg Timbers built for me a couple of months ago to use with these rehab XPL200s.

From a previous home theater system, I had a Citation 5.0 AV pre/pro sitting in its box. For some reason I just couldn't part with it. Happily, it came to mind that it would be a sweet stereo preamp for the DX-1 and XPL200 with its Jim Fosgate designed analog stages and incredibly low analog noise floor. The DX-1 and the Citation 5.0 get along just fine.

I connected the DX-1 to a pair of Hafler SR2300 amps, which as the name implies run each channel at 300W @ 8 Ohms. Since these are pro amps, they have impedance switches and individual gain knobs for each channel. I decided to use one amp for LF for both speakers and one amp for HF for both. Not surprisingly, I used the gain knobs on the HF amp to dial back the gain a bit, as the HF just doesn't need as much to drive it. With the signal lights on the amps and an SPL meter, I was able to get both HF and LF set to identical levels.

As an aside, these Hafler amps are the latest (and last) of the vaunted Hafler line. As reported in another thread:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...2C+JFET+SR2300

I bought them from the factory after Rockford Fosgate decided to close down Hafler and Fosgate Audionics. They're the trans•ana design with JFET front ends and MOSFET outputs. I love the clean, strong, full-bandwith power they deliver.

Now, as for the XPL200s--amazing! The DX-1 and the cards GT built have given them a whole new life. Previously I was not too fond of the 2214H, but I have a whole new appreciation for it now. It now has the ability to pound with the best of them, and with the DX-! and the Hafler's ample power, it has moved into unheard territory. I honestly did not think it would improve this much.

I've always admired the 095Ti, but with the DX-1 and the power from the Hafler, it's an even more impressive driver. Along with the 046Ti, it produces some of the finest sound I've heard from direct radiators. The danger is that I'l burn out my ears listening to them. They're so effortless and clean in this Citation 5.0/DX-1/Hafler SR2300 chain that they get absurdly loud with no hint of clipping or distortion.

Realistically, this wonderful combo still does not eclipse either my full Performance Series multi-channel system or the Synthesis® One Array, but it has launched the XPL200 to another level of performance.

Thanks to Johnaec (RIP) and pasadena for their past contributions to the XPL legacy and again to Greg Timbers for taking the time to build the cards and for digging the last unsold unit out of his closet for me. I deeply appreciate this and will treasure this system for a long time to come. Now I am doubly glad I saved these abused, "basket case" XPL200s from the pawn shop and took the time to restore the cabinets and rebuild the drivers.

Thanks also to Techbot for posting the XPL200 system info.

Now, if I could only find some grilles and maybe some stands...

...a little

[Titanium Dome]

I'm getting confused as to what I should post where, so here's a (requested) shot of the DX-1, Citation 5.0, Hafler SR2300s, and one XPL200. I'll post a close up or two of the equipment stack in the Hafler thread.

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...l=1#post290204

In this shot the top two Haflers are running the XPL200s. The top unit handles HF and the middle unit handles LF. The HF amp has its gain knobs a few dB lower to equalize the output.

EDIT: Oops! Nix that last comment. We had house guests, and it looks like one of the kids was fiddling with the gain knobs. I've since rebalanced the output.

[pasadena]

Hey Ti,

Excellent to see you've gotten the DX-1 working with your XPL200's and I love the pick of haflers giving the XPL's a great workout.

The DX-1 does truly take the XPLs to the next level and until you have experienced this, you're missing out on an awesome experience.

I will never have a collection of speakers as you will and have not had the opportunity to own or listen to a lot of speakers but I ended up with the XPL200's after first starting out with a pair of Cerwin Vega concert monitors, which I still have and use for parties out the back yard, to may last pair prior to my XPLs being B&W 801 Matrix Series 3's. I have listened to B&W's 802D's run by a pair of McIntosh 1200 monoblocks which were something but I still stick by my DX-1/XPL200 combo run by a pair of Pass Labs XA100 Monoblocks kindly built for me and greatly appreciated by Ian Mackenzie for HF and NAD 208THX for LF. The sound IS truly amazing and it's as if having the singer and the band in your lounge, literally.

When I first listened to the XPL200A's, they were a lot brighter to listen than my B&W 801's but the detail in the XPL's were uncanny and spine tingling. The DX-1 added amazing clarity but introduced some harshness in the top end, which after a long journey, was subdued by a combination of the right power, speaker and interconnect cables, as well as amps and receivers as well as modification to the DX-1. For me, the processor made the biggest difference when I switched to a Meridian 568.2mm, absolute night and day difference between anything I've heard or tested. I also found that most if not all pre-out sections on home theatre receivers were absolutely garbage so it really does come down to picking the right combination for your ears as well as setup, which is also governed by how many money trees you have hidden in the back yard. I have since gotten rid of my Meridian 568.2mm as it blew my 046Ti-1 drivers on both speakers but was luckily enough to get help from here and source a pair from Japan.

As with yourself Ti, I will be keeping my beloved DX-1 forever and I'm happy that I have MTX200 stands to go with the XPL's. I was truly sad when I departed with my two previous DX-1's a few years ago, which I sold to a chap in Hong Kong who was going to run them balanced for his Everest DD6600's. Here's a pic he sent me of his setup. Some basement job:




I attach herewith some pictures of my playroom. My h-fi combo consists of mainly Mark Levinson gears:
pre-amp: No. 32
power-amps: No. 33H mono block 150w (for HP), No 33 mono block 300w (for LP)
CD-player: No. 31.5
DAC: No. 30.6
speaker: JBL DD66000
electronic crossover: FM Acoustics FM236

So, I missed my DX-1 and I just so happened to pickup the second last brand new DX-1 in existence from Greg. I am eternally grateful to you GT.

Ti, I'll have to keep an eye out on a pair of MTX200 stands for you. Funnily enough, I've seen a pair of MTX stands for the 140's and 160's go here in Australia some months back but not the 200's. I guess I must have been lucky because I haven't seen a pair sold since I bought mine about 4 years ago.

Unfortunately, my setup is in mothballs (DX-1, Pass XA100 monos and NAD 208THX all packed/sealed and put away) as I explained to Ti, as the Pass monoblocks require more space than I can afford to run them, otherwise they'll overheat and cook, which they have once already so I'm not prepared to go down that path again until we move house, which I hope, fingers crossed, will be in the next 6 - 9 months and I get a large theatre/music room to play with.

Over the past few years, I have been on a parts collection drive and so far, the additional parts I have collected for my XPL-200A's are: a pair of 115H-1's, a pair of 093Ti's and a pair of NXPL200A crossover notwork boards. So, if something pops or fizzes out, I have something to replace them with. I'm in the hunt for a pair of 046Ti-1's and a pair 2214H-1's to complete my parts list.

VSN (Vintage Stereo Nut) - with regards to your measurements, I have stands on mine but I have measured all the drivers from centre to the bottom of the speaker as best as I can measure with pirate eye (just kidding). Hope this helps.

046Ti-1 888mm
093Ti 767mm
115H-1 530mm
2214H-1 260mm

Note: The lip to the bottom of the speaker actually slants upwards from the floor by about 3 - 4 mm, so you will need to add this to the above measurements.

Port Diameter is 75mm and length is 103mm.

Set Back Distance of Upper Baffle from Lower Baffle is 26mm.

Hope this helps.

Keep up the great work everyone and keep this thread and the XPL-200's going. Great stuff. Thanks to everyone here for all your help in the past. This is such a great place with a wealth of information for everyone to share and enjoy.

Cheers
Pasadena

P.S It's been a long while since I've been on these forums or contributed to any posts as I've had some health issues I've had to deal and it's not because I've ignored this forum, I just needed some time out but I hope to be more of a regular in the future.

[Titanium Dome]

I had the opportunity to help out a forum member by doing a little experiment with the XPL200As in stock bridged form, in separate passive bi-amp form, and of course in full active bi-amp using a DX-1.

Wow! What an object lesson!

Going from standard stereo format to active bi-amping was naturally quite an eye and ear opener when I did it earlier this year. Nonetheless, going back from hearing these marvels in active bi-amp to regular stereo amplification with the bridging switch back in normal mode was an even bigger wake up call. HOLY COW! (RIP Harry Carey) Are these the same speakers? What happened to that amazing sound?

So Brett, wherever you are, good luck active bi-amping these. There are no doubt more educated people than I in the art of crossover design who can help you get close to the perfection of the DX-1.