4301B Crossover Rebuild

[peterz]

JeffW,
All 6 caps have been ordered. Thanks for the clarification and help. More on this after the work gets done.

what a simply amazing site this is!

thank you
peter

Right. Just lay the caps along side each other, parallel as it were, and gather all the leads coming out each end together. You can see it in the pic Zilch provided.



Nope, they are the same in either direction.



Something along those lines, yes. There's more to it, of course, but adding them adds little cost or complexity.



Looks like.

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-...capacitors.cfm

http://www.parts-express.com/audiocap-capacitors.cfm



No problem. Good luck on your project!

[JuniorJBL]

Good luck with your project!!

[JeffW]

JeffW,
All 6 caps have been ordered.

Remember, it's 6 caps per speaker.

[peterz]

ahhhhhh hahahahahaha!!!!!

see? even the most BASIC of repairs or improvements is a mild exercise in futility for the uninitiated! stay tuned, I'll be calling cust svc at parts express here shortly attempting to amend my order for 12 caps!

that is just too funny. Can you imagine the look on my face if I had gotten all the way to planning a night of repair, getting all the tools out, cleaning off the workbench, etc. only to find I needed a second set?!?! you saved me!

thanks again.
peter

Remember, it's 6 caps per speaker.

[peterz]

thanks to the fast responses and my general intrigue into 'how I did', I was able to void the PE shipment and create a fresh new order with 12(!) caps, 6 for each speaker!

anyone need to find me, I'll be putting the dunce hat away ...
peter

[pos]

HOLD ON!
Did you order new L-pads?

[peterz]

haha. errrr..... what are L pads?

in other words - nope. I have to assume L pads are related to another upgrade that can be done on these or other JBL's and if I had ordered them I would have saved on shipping by including them in this order.

Otherwise, if they are pertinent to upgrading the two in parallel capacitors in the 4301b's it appears I'll be 1,000,000 L pads short.

but thanks for sharing!
peter

HOLD ON!
Did you order new L-pads?

[JBL_620]

haha. errrr..... what are L pads?

in other words - nope. I have to assume L pads are related to another upgrade that can be done on these or other JBL's and if I had ordered them I would have saved on shipping by including them in this order.

Otherwise, if they are pertinent to upgrading the two in parallel capacitors in the 4301b's it appears I'll be 1,000,000 L pads short.

but thanks for sharing!
peter

So you're planning on reusing the original L-pads then? This should work if you don't want to order new ones.

[peterz]

JBL620,
Glad to hear it will work. But I never saw any mention of the L pad upgrade in this thread... so what I was doing was what Zilch had laid out for 'sonic improvements' related to the crossover.

Is the L Pad the dial that changes the frequency in the speakers' response - the High and Low dials? I read it keeps the impedence presented to the amplifier the same. Is that a 'must have' upgrade relative to upgrading these crossovers? I mean, without doing the L pads ...

Anyway, I've kind of bitten off as much as I can chew and don't want to go any farther until after break in of my new crossovers. Much easier for me to take on one thing at a time. I'll complete this thread with a few pics/questions, and then any post upgrade thoughts I can come up with. And then if I feel the bug, maybe do the L pads and start a different thread...

thanks for everyone's help. Parts Express shipped yesterday, I should have the parts next week sometime.

take care, have a nice weekend
peter

So you're planning on reusing the original L-pads then? This should work if you don't want to order new ones.

[pos]

Zilch said that in his particular case "Original L-Pads were fine" so he didn't had to change them.
If you do not hear noises or silent spots when turning your lpads you should be -relatively- safe keeping them. They are cheap to replace though, and those things do tend to oxide over time, and contacts get instable...

[JBL_620]

If it was me, I would build the upgrades from scratch and keep the stocks in case you want to go back for whatever the reason.

[peterz]

parts express sent exactly what I asked them to, so tomorrow (time permitting) I'll be upgrading the crossovers with the 12 (!) new caps.

pretty excited to get my hands dirty in this project.
now if someone would just start stocking the JBL blue grill cloth fabric again...

stay tuned.
peter

[JuniorJBL]

Sweet!!

[peterz]

well I should probably look for some threads on good clean soldering stations and techniques, because my 'new' crossovers aren't exactly as pretty as the ones Zilch did in this thread.

All the same, the upgrades went MUCh easier than I expected and would easily suggest the information in this thread is enough for just about anyone to take on.

And I'm probably going to be splitting hairs and certainly don't want to step into the morass of 'upgraded crossovers vs originals' debate, but I am really liking the immediate 'improvements' I'm hearing. Immediacy. Pace. The veil that felt like an extra grill cloth or something, are all improved immediately upon completing. They are now 'burning in' (again, please let's not go there on burn in or not) or at least getting put through their paces all afternoon.

Thanks again for everyone here. Looks like the bug has hit, I'll probably be looking for a thread on upgrading L Pads next! ha.

take care and thanks again everyone, a VERY happy 4301b upgraded crossover user.
peter

[mech986]

Now that you've lived with it for a few weeks, how's the 4301B sounding now?

Anyone ever decided to go with a charge coupled crossover? That might be interesting too!