Sander's amp seem like a steal when you compare their statistics and price to competitors.
Guide for active crossover for Prodigy?
- Thread starter 18000rpm
- Start date
Help Support MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum:
Not to mention that Rodger Sanders designed the amp specifically to work with electrostatic speakers
Yes. I believe the warranty is pretty good too. Cant remember how long. A pair of his monoblocks would probably blow my socks off.Not to mention that Rodger Sanders designed the amp specifically to work with electrostatic speakers
Ok I’ve come to a decision about actively crossing over my panels. For now I an going to leave the passive crossover to handle the task for now, what I want to do is upgrade the capacitors or at the very least one of them for sure in the high pass. The Bennic 47uF has got to go, there are far better choices out there than those, really disappointing that the factory uses such low quality parts in these speakers xovers. So if there is anyone out there that has upgraded their caps I’d like to know what you used and what results you got from the changes. Also the Solen caps are of fairly high quality but I’m wondering how good some Mundorfs would sound in there. And really the only way to find out is to put them in the circuit and see how they sound. The pics show the Bennic I’m talking about.
Attachments
Also I am not well educated on capacitors so I have to ask this. Do the specs on that capacitor (100vac/160vdc) have to be matched exactly on the replacement cap?
It is my understanding that using a higher voltage cap is not a problem, the voltage rating is a maximum not to be exceeded in the circuit
I am VERY interested in how this goes! Considering the age of my Prodigies I'd also like to replace all caps that can benefit from replacing. If you go ahead please keep a list of what you replace and pics if possible.
Since this is not specific to Prodigy or ML, you may want to do some searches on diyaudio.com forums. Or make a post, the people there are VERY knowledgeable and helpful. One of them helped me diagnose my dead Descent subwoofer (dead amplifier board), found me an online retailer that still had the very obsolete amplifier module for sale, and I managed to bring the sub back to life.
Here's an example thread Would changing to better capacitors make a difference
Yes I sure will keep a list and I love the name 18000rpm
, my bracket truck taps out at 7000. I think I’m going to start with replacing the Bennic with these to start with and if I get a good improvement I’ll move on to the Solens. I have to find this other post on here where the member listed the caps he replaced and with what. When I find it I’ll link it here.Attachments
Russr
Well-known member
I've always wodered about this... how much do those components cost?
Well as you will see this is why they don’t use them as “original equipment” and this may seem like a lot to some people but keep in mind I have a total of $5000 invested into these speakers now which includes the speakers bought used new panels and 2 amps to drive the woofers, which is a far cry from the $16,200 that a pair of 13A cost which have basically the same size panel, that being said between Parts express and Madisound Speaker the total was $427.02. Now is it worth it only time and my ears will tell whether or not it is. The Jantzens are known to work very well in speaker crossovers when used in conjunction with the Mundorfs.
And the factory caps they are replacing are all available at parts-express for a total of under $150 for all 6 caps.
Last edited:
Here is a link to a pretty useful explanation of many different capacitors that are out there. In researching the caps I was astounded at the price of some of the top of the line units some exceeding $300 each. For my purposes I set a budget of $500 max and for once I stayed within it
Humble Homemade Hifi - Cap Test
Humble Homemade Hifi - Cap Test
Russr
Well-known member
From my perspective (and this is all incredibly subjective), if I was faced with a potential bill of $500 or so to replace X-over components, and ASSUMING I could get away with just ONE additional amplifier to go active (like a 2nd hand Crown with built in low- or band-pass filters for $500), I would absolutely go Active. Might leave some vestigial high-pass X-over in place, tho preferably go active crossover throughout and power the panels with my good ol' Class AB amp. Then again, to each their own! Good luck with the project... I'll be watching (and waiting... too broke to do anything right now!)
Well your assumptions are wrong for sure, you need TWO amps to go active on the woofers on a pair of Prodigy speakers you need TWO channels for the front woofers and TWO channels for the rear woofers. Also going active on the panel involves quite a bit more there is a notch filter in that high pass and you have to be careful not to over saturate the transformer for the panels so there’s more to that than just disconnecting the high pass part of the crossover like you can with the low pass side controlling the woofers. So you're looking at a bit more than $500 to go fully active, but my guess is it very well may be worth it. The part I agree with you here is all of this is incredibly subjective.
Heyfey
Well-known member
I replaced all the caps in my Odysseys about 10 years ago and have not regretted doing so. There is a very detailed set of posts on this from a fellow who went by Spectral, and I mostly used the same parts he did, relatively cheap Mundorfs for the woofers and mid-level Mundorfs for the panels. I also replaced the binding posts and bypassed the woofer switch. Got everything from Parts Connexion, list is below. Had to double up on some to get the needed values. I replaced the panels two years ago, and every time it crosses my mind to get new speakers, I go and listen to what I have and ask myself "why?"
| 2 | Mundorf Film Cap 68uf / 250V, M-CAP® MKP | MUNDORF-71345 | $41.51 | $83.02 | |
| 4 | Mundorf Film Cap 100uf / 250V, M-CAP® MKP | MUNDORF-71346 | $62.34 | $249.36 | |
| 2 | Mundorf F_Cap 1.5uf / 600V, Supreme | MUNDORF-70327 | $22.08 | $44.16 | |
| 2 | Mundorf F_Cap 4.7uf / 600V, Supreme | MUNDORF-70333 | $33.18 | $66.36 | |
| 4 | Mundorf F_Cap 6.8uf / 600V, Supreme | MUNDORF-70335 | $41.51 | $166.04 | |
| 4 | Mundorf Film Cap 10uf / 600V, Supreme | MUNDORF-70337 | $52.07 | $208.28 | |
| 2 | Mundorf Film Cap 15uf / 680V, Supreme | MUNDORF-70338 | $69.28 | $138.56 | |
| 6 | Mundorf Film Cap 22uf / 600V, Supreme | MUNDORF-70340 | $87.33 | $523.98 |
Heyfey, thanks for that man I appreciate the list! And I couldn’t agree more with the Why statement when you think about new speakers
. Mine just keep sounding better and better with each step I’ve taken so far. And yes I’ve been back thru the old posts and read them. There’s a lot of good knowledge to be gained on this site.
Heyfey what did you use for the 13uF in the x3 spot on the high pass side. That’s an odd value and I don’t see a 13uF on the list you posted. Did you use that 15uF???
I do believe those are resistors. If you have a schematic they will be noted as RX1-RX8 or some sequential series of numbers
Heyfey
Well-known member
Sorry, I'm currently traveling and will have to get back to you when I get home at the end of the month and check my notes from the project.
Similar threads
