Unsatisified with the Sound of My Newly Built Amigas - Options?

[audiojerry]

1st (and easiest) is to try your tweeters "reverse polarity" (to the way you have them now).
Beyond that, if you want them "bluer"? - (not sure about using colors to describe speaker "coloration" - Oh WAIT ! - I get it? ?) - you COULD swap the position of the tweet's L-pad resistors ... THAT should brighten up the tweeter quite a bit (like maybe +5dB? - use the 2.4n in series, and the 5n across the tweeter).
If they're too bright (blue?), then you'll be happy somewhere in-between there.

Great advice - I'll try both, but it will take a little time to judge results or each.

[Kornbread]

Wasn't polarity mentioned in post #2? Which was met with

I have both speakers connected in phase. I'm new at building speakers and xover's, but I know enough about wiring to ground and knowing the difference between + and -

[Blenton]

Wasn't polarity mentioned in post #2? Which was met with

Maybe audiojerry doesn't like southern cooking?? Or maybe you just didn't use colors to describe things. Next time, try color by numbers maybe? Or maybe use verbiage describe a psychedelic trip with prancing elephants?

[audiojerry]

I made a couple tweaks. I replaced the 2.4 ohm resistors of the tweeter L-Pads with 5.1's that I had on hand, and I removed about 30% of the stuffing from the upper third of the cabinet,
and magic occurred. The coloration and darkness have disappeared, and I am now smiling when I listen to the Amigas.

It's hard to believe such small changes made such a huge difference.

[a4eaudio]

...and I removed about 30% of the stuffing from the upper third of the cabinet, and magic occurred. The coloration and darkness have disappeared, and I am now smiling when I listen to the Amigas.

Per Paul's write-up there would not be stuffing in the upper 75% of the cabinet, but rather lined with some sort of open cell foam.

"The interior walls of the enclosure need to be lined with some sort of convoluted foam or BlackHole (honestly, I use mattress topper from Wal Mart). There is also a wad of stuffing resting in the bottom 1/4 portion of the cabinet."

[djg]

Reading instructions and following plans, what a concept.

[speedle]

At the rate you all are going, no one (besides you) will ever build another speaker again.

[audiojerry]

Per Paul's write-up there would not be stuffing in the upper 75% of the cabinet, but rather lined with some sort of open cell foam.

"The interior walls of the enclosure need to be lined with some sort of convoluted foam or BlackHole (honestly, I use mattress topper from Wal Mart). There is also a wad of stuffing resting in the bottom 1/4 portion of the cabinet."

Yes, I used 1/2" acoustic insulation on both sides and back of cabinet, and a loose application of polyester stuffing in the bottom 2 thirds. I did lots of testing with varying amounts of stuffing by temporalily attaching the front panel without the drivers and shouting into the woofer opening and listening for the cabinet to honk back at me. I wanted to put in just enough to stop the honk. (There is no scientific method for doing this that I know of) In the end I removed the stuffing from the driver compartment (the space above the last window brace). That along with changing the R2 from 2.4 to 5.1 did the trick. I am now thrilled with the sound quality.

Any members living near Brookfield Wisconsin is welcome to listen to the results (when Covid immune)

I appreciate everyone's advice and suggetions and enjoy the snarks too.

[speedle]

" (There is no scientific method for doing this that I know of) "
Actually, there is.

[billfitzmaurice]

You will see the effects of both lining and stuffing in SPL charts, waterfall charts and impedance sweeps. Some modeling software will show it, but only if you know the airflow resistivity of the material used.

[audiojerry]

You will see the effects of both lining and stuffing in SPL charts, waterfall charts and impedance sweeps. Some modeling software will show it, but only if you know the airflow resistivity of the material used.

requiring equipment I don't have, would not know how to use, and would not know how to interpret the results. All I have to go on at my level of inexperience is how it sounds to my ears.

[audiojerry]

For anyone inerested, after reporting great sound after replacing the 2.4 ohm resistor with a 5.1 ohm in the tweeter l-pad, I noticed the sound getting brighter and brighter after seveal hours of continued listening. Could this have been continued break-in burn-in of the xover? I don't know, but I went back and replaced the 5.1 with the 2.4, and let the speakers play burn-in sounds for another 100 hours. And now the Amigas sound wonderful. I am extremely pleased, although like others have reported, they have a limit to how loud they can go. When I want to go really loud I use my modified 1979 vintage Klipsch LaScalas.

For 80% of what I listen to the Amigas equal or surpass any floorstanders I have used including some $6k models. Now I have to wait for warmer weather for finishing and painting outdoors.

[Steve Lee]

Your speakers needed break-in.

I've noticed this as well whenever I use a new driver - it's response changes over time until it stabilizes.

Enjoy!

[johnny5jz]

I did not notice that so much with my Amigas, but I just recently finished a pair of Classix 2.5, and had the same problem. I was very unhappy with their sound at first. I thought I wired them wrong. I let them burn in, and I love them. Totally different speaker. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[billfitzmaurice]

Crossovers don't burn in. They can't, they don't have moving parts. Drivers do burn in, especially woofers, but not by that much. If you had a new driver next to one with forty or more hours on it you'd probably notice the difference, but your hearing memory is far too short to notice the difference over time. You do get used to the sound of a new speaker over time, so to some extent you could say that your hearing burns in to the speaker.

[johnny5jz]

Crossovers don't burn in. They can't, they don't have moving parts. Drivers do burn in, especially woofers, but not by that much. If you had a new driver next to one with forty or more hours on it you'd probably notice the difference, but your hearing memory is far too short to notice the difference over time. You do get used to the sound of a new speaker over time, so to some extent you could say that your hearing burns in to the speaker.

That's not totally true. Capacitors are known to burn in. Again not a huge difference, but they do. There was just a slight harshness in the midrange with my speakers. I did an A B comparison with other speakers, then let them burn in. Afterwards it was gone. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[fpitas]

That's not totally true. Capacitors are known to burn in. Again not a huge difference, but they do. There was just a slight harshness in the midrange with my speakers. I did an A B comparison with other speakers, then let them burn in. Afterwards it was gone. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

I'm having a very hard time believing that film capacitors "burn in", unless someone showed me before and after measurements. NPE's characteristics may drift a little just from aging.

[billfitzmaurice]

Ever seen 'Waiting for Godot'?

There are even those who believe that wire burns in, and will pay people to do it for them. Worse, they'll even have them periodically repeat this magical burn in process, also for a price. And somewhere beyond 'The Great Egress' P.T.Barnum is smiling.