Ron I was happy to hear your verdict as I bought a load of the connectors and Dannys wire to re wire my active Linn Keltik speakers. Good that you got the improvement even though you didn’t connect them as recommended, you’re expected to do a point to point wired crossover and have the wires tip to tip inside the tube connector, from speaker cable to solid core wire to the crossover.
I have one of these that I purchased back in 2005 that I had put away for a few years. Is it possible to find parts for this to upgrade? It powers up but runs very slow. Any ideas of what I should do? I would love to bring this back to life
@@williambermudez204 can't say what issues would slow it down, could be a number of things. I had a hard time finding all the original software, especially the Promise technology drivers. If I recall I ended up slipstreaming them into a copy of XP to get the hard drives working upon installation as they weren't included with normal Windows XP installation CD.
A lathe to cut vinyl has an a/d converter in it for the look ahead for the cutter. There are purist who even want that analog, which is possible but needs a lot of experience and not many master tape machines have the option to do that and those machines are rare and really expensive. In The Netherlands we have a vinyl factory that has a studio and they can record straight to the cutter, even removing the need of a master tape. About quality it's known that above 88.2 sample rate audio quality doesn't improve in the audible spectrum. Mastering is mostly done at 88.2 kHz. Higher sample rates are being used for time stretching and editing audio in a DAW but it's pretty useless because extreme high sample rates don't make an audible difference. Doubling the sample rate doubles the load on the computer and tracks get extremely bigger, some sessions could have over 200 tracks these days. Also it's impossible to upsample audio quality, if I would upsample a 44.1 file to 96 kHz the quality remains exactly the same, the 96 file will be filled with zero's, the file size will increase but the quality remains the same. And for the record, I love analog and still mix old school on an analog console with outboard gear 🙂
At 7:50 mention is made about aging electrolytic capacitors measuring higher in capacitance than when they were new. My understanding is that this is due to increased internal resistance in series between the plates of the capacitor. It forms an RC filter, and due to the increased R, it then takes longer for the C to charge to the same level. The net effect is that an LCR meter reads BOTH a higher value of C and also displays the increased R. A theoretically perfect capacitor would have zero ohms of R, but that is impossible in the real world. Hope that helps you electricroo. Keep up the good work.
@@kdomster9141 With people like that, all you have to do is ask him to explain how he's a con job. You'll never get an answer, and that means he was just making it up.
@@052RC He explains it all the time , and I have been tweaking speakers for many years , all the things he does and says makes total sense and is backed up by many listening tests over the years .
I’ve been in this hobby a long time and heard most of the major brands. Danny’s designs have consistently shown me that he knows what he’s talking about. Being able to optimize crossovers and adding No Rez improved clarity top to bottom. I started upgrading crossovers for Polk, Klipsch, and other brands and they were always an improvement over stock. I was fortunate to hear a few of Danny’s designs before buying and I fell in love with his X-Statiks. They pretty much smoke nearly every speaker I’ve heard under $2k. I have his X-SLS which is the tower version of his award-winning X-LS bookshelf speakers and they consistently impress me. Danny has earned his place in providing excellent speaker performance. He gives excellent customer service. I’ve sent him speakers to see if he can optimize them and he said they weren’t worth the trouble. This is just one example of his integrity. Am I a fan? You bet!
@@Corndog642 Danny is spot on with his approach and makes total sense . I wish he would also offer schematics of his redesigned crossovers for sale ...
I did the upgrade on my 602 S2's and it is certainly worth it. I did do somethings beyond the GR Research kit though. I took the plastic faceplate off and filled the voids with bondo to deaden the hollow nature of it. I left room for some sound barrier 40 mil before remounting. I'm a huge believer in working to remove cabinet resonance with will muck up the sound and make the crossover upgrades pointless.
Hi Ron - interesting video! I was curious to hear whether the tube connectors make a difference or not. I rewired some Mission 700 speakers and fitted new tweeters and was wondering what other mods at reasonable cost could make a difference. All the best, Rob in Switzerland.
@@RobWhittlestone There are a few other reviews on RU-vid about those. I wasn't expecting a difference but there is some truth in using low mass non magnetic connectors. Makes me wonder what would happen if I installed them to replace what I have on my amplifiers that I built.
As long as i don't use proprietary systems, i can run a lot of modern applications on old 486/586 and 775 computers, if i don't have too much ram or graphics capability, i can just use a low footprint window manager. Welcome to Linux btw
I've used it off and on over the years but never for a main OS. I also like to use Puppy on some of my older laptops. I stream my music to my tube amps from an old medical touchscreen device using Puppy. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KybiF8JlBvQ.html
What was your setup for double blind testing that you used to arrive at your assessment that these connectors are better? Please advise since it matters.
A comparison (not planned) with another set of speakers. And I was surprised, I realized something was missing. I suppose it would be useless to use them unless the speaker had good quality crossover components. I found over the years some things may not be snake oil after all and the effects better components are cumulative. Don't take my word as I have stated that I am not high end, just "Sound for the regular guy"! Check out some of the other reviews of Danny's connections on RU-vid, and other low mass speaker connectors which I would think give the same results.
i have a sony with 3 2020 tripath chips, that mean the L and R front channels are mono amplificated, pairting with a philips tda1305 dac, and a small infinity speakers and a sub, im not lying when i tell you to all is the most realistic sound sistem i ever ever heard, you cant belive that holography and realism coming from those tinny speakers and a tinny amplificator, no mosfet jfet etc, or even tube amps sound like a tripath its a clean, fast and "analogish" sound
Oh, about one a year for the past 10 - 12 years. Sold a few. Costs have risen on parts so I don't have plans for another this year unless I sell another. I figure if you're going to go through all the work you might as well make it look good also! Working on an old radio restoration at the moment.
Really, that's interesting. How are you viewing these? I just got a new cable in the may for my mic as the old cable failed. Anyway I always adjusted the volume in the videos the same whether I used the Sony mike or the built in one. I'll increase volume on the next one which will be a radio restoration. Thanks for the input!
For the Radio Shack Linaeum line, there was also an Optimus center speaker with a monopole tweeter. They then rebadged (and slightly redesigned) many of them with the RCA label. It's also my understanding that the original Linaeum tweeters used a thinner (and thus lower mass) diaphragm than the RS speakers (which I guess in theory would make it more responsive). I don't know about the Kenwood and Toshiba models. We've discussed these tweeters quite a bit on Audiokarma.
No he cannot do that as the new circuit is intellectual property of GR-Research, you only get the circuit when you buy the upgrade from GR-Research, so go ahead and do it
hi very excellent video I have no direct experience with GR Research parts that i guess are very good indeed But i really think that the quality of connections is very important starting from rcas Speaking of speakers connection i got much cleaner sound and more dynamics when i started using BFA type speaker plugs like these www.avoutlet.com/images/detailed/51/sbfa50-co-l.jpg before i was using just bare wires screwed in the binding posts My guess is that the better contact efficiency decreases the signal loss
Of course, changing from a standard 30+ gr. connector to a smaller one will LESSEN any strange metal into the precious original recording. The ones I make have only 0.65 gr. pure copper, and I also make my own outer shell to complete it. Each component (s) including the microphone, its cable and the mixer console are included WILL add, and introduce and change recorded material. The golden rule in audio............the less, the better.
Could be, as I have no way to prove it. When Danny published his test results of course it was with all the upgraded components. I hadn't listened to the Linaeum tweeters since before I did the upgrade, always liked them. So before installing the tube connectors I used two of the same amplifiers playing the same music that's how I noticed the difference. After connector installation the outcome was apparent. There are a few things in audio that I have re-evaluated that I used to think would not matter. What I have learned is that some changes are cumulative, but not all. I mean c'mon, some are paying $200 for one capacitor. My ears are not that golden!
@@electricroo I remember about 2 decades ago when I made a DIY active subwoofer crossover with a potentiometer for adjustment. I tried to adjust the level so that the sub integrated perfectly to the main speakers. Then I listened and felt like I needed more bass. I walked to the XO and adjusted and was happy to the increase in bass. But soon after I still wanted more bass. Adjusted. Happy. Then one day I pushed the potentiometer a little differently and all of the sudden my sub exploded to life. I had a bad solder joint in one of the legs so my adjustments didn't do anything in reality :D But I was 100% convinced I heard a difference...
@@Munakas-wq3gp just a bit of tongue in cheek here, but I bet if you did the exact same thing now, now, meaning you have 2 more decades of listening experience, you wouldn't be fooled at all - all your comment means is that you were an inexperienced listener - pun intended, there's no connection to your experience and tube connectors.
@@skip1835 I wouldn't be so sure. Placebo effect is very real and we all are subject to it. That's why I do all my testing and tuning based on objective measurements nowadays. I used to try to tune my system using recordings back in the days but then I understood that what I was tuning in reality was trying to make the way the recording was mastered sound good with my system. Unfortunately every recording is mastered different and there is no 'perfect' recording to tune by. So I came to the conclusion that I was chasing my tail, got rid of EQ etc. and moved to measurement based DSP. That takes the guess work out of the equation. My speakers really don't even need any adjusting except on lower frequencies where room modes need to be handled (by placement / number of woofers mainly and to a lesser degree trying to use EQ).
Thanks for the video. Don't assume that tweeter wires don't make a difference. My amp isn't super hifi either (Crown D150), and it definitely made a difference in my Polk 7Bs 🙂
Yes it did make a difference as I replaced them later. Still haven't installed the tube connectors. For some reason the speakers that Danny worked on had steel terminal strips and binding posts coated with a brass look. Mine were brass, non magnetic. Possibly mine are an older earlier version where they didn't skimp on the materials?
Yes, it's all in the manufacturer maintaining a price point. If you watch any of Danny's videos you will see cheaper crossover components unless you're getting into really expensive speakers.
I've since switched music players to the Linux version of Audacious with a Winamp skin. It runs quicker and more stable than Winamp running in Wine on the old Atom processor.
Another great informative video. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge regarding these tri path amplifiers. I have had quite a few different amplifiers and speakers in the past and now due to personal circumstances I have to start from scratch with not as big of a budget as I used to have. This might be a blessing in disguise as I’m learning about these cheaper alternatives and I’d like to see what it can do for me. So now I’m going to stray tracking a lp2051 down. Thank you again and God Bless.
The LP-2051 is my favorite. Check out the 2nd video which covers the LP-2051. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WAkS9K0L-GY.htmlsi=Bd2iVK5LDY3xp-a0
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I had quickmenu and loved creating the different pages for my apogee and epic games. You've got a solid collection there :)