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Post by hifijunkie on Jun 1, 2009 9:25:08 GMT
I own these speakers for atleast 2 years. This also happens to be my first floor standing speakers. Now i want to mod these to improve SQ. Been trying to open up them but could not find any screws Is there any trick to open Jamo ?? ; it looks completly sealed from all sides.
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robertkd
Been here a while!
Electronics Engineer from sunny Queensland
Posts: 111
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Post by robertkd on Jun 1, 2009 9:43:30 GMT
I own these speakers for atleast 2 years. This also happens to be my first floor standing speakers. Now i want to mod these to improve SQ. Been trying to open up them but could not find any screws Is there any trick to open Jamo ?? ; it looks completly sealed from all sides. I am not familiar with the jamo's however modern construction tends to be an assembled box, screwed and glued as an assembly, with internals mounted from the woofer opening and speakers mounting from the front. Robert
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Post by hifijunkie on Jun 1, 2009 14:53:18 GMT
thanks robert... It seem like it might be difficult to mod ! I was interested in replacing wiring and capacitors ...... can this be performed from the woofer's hole ??
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Jun 1, 2009 19:32:46 GMT
this is the pic i cam up with and if this is the speaker in question then access is simple-just CAREFULLY remove one of the front mounted Mid-woofers (whichever one happens to be closest to the rear speaker wire connecting board which is where your crossover likely resides),disconnect it (hopefully it has quick-disconnect terminals but if not snip the ires after noting the polarity-VERY IMPORTANT !). you best bet is to get a schematic of the crossover network so you are not guessing at what is related to what (there may be various phase shift/delay/compensating filters on board ) because to be honest willy nilly parts swapping on a circuit that has been optimized to work in a particular box with particular drivers is not the best idea going unless you have experience in that area just my 0.02 centavos
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Post by hifijunkie on Jun 2, 2009 11:54:12 GMT
Hi Rick, That is the speaker i have !! I have no experience in modding speakers. I was hoping that the speaker may sound good if parts are replaced with OFC wires and Jensen or Mundorf caps.... do you think this won't work ??
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Jun 2, 2009 18:17:18 GMT
Well the truth is it is more of a mix-and-match thing with the "match" part being of ultimate importance so for instance what you may THINK is a great part may in fact be exactly the WORST part to add in some cases because the voicing "mix" was off. 1-never hurts to use good quality wiring but the truth is the runs are so short inside a loudspeaker box I highly doubt you will hear any changes whatever 2-use too "soft-euphonic" sounding a cap with a dome tweeter or too "hard-detailed" with a flat panel or horn tweeter and you run the risk of totally ruining the SQ In my personal experiements in trying to upgrade XO's unless it was a true "update" of the same but newer/more modern materials parts the actual sound of the speaker changed to such a degree that it could be hardly considered what it said on the label and where that becomes a problem is we ALWAYS think "different" is "better" until we have time to live with a thing and realise we were better off leaving things alone. In my case it was air core inductors replacing the iron core devices,better wiring,better caps,non-inductive resistors repalacing the "coffin box" wire wounds........and the results sucked every single time,a thing I had to actually ponder on it was so baffling and it came to me it is not the individual parts that count but the SUM of the parts working in unison and that the designer actually chose the part that would get a certain "sopund" for as little as possible in cost so while there may be so called "non-audiophile" parts inside they may in fact compliment one another in unison with the drivers to produce a sound that is better than the parts would suggest (and why you can hear examples of systems using the very same drivers that go from unlistenable to beeeutiful music depending on the choices made ) On "upgrade" that never is a step back is better connectors.No matter how good a speaker is designed or how well it sounds if you don't get a good transfer between the amp and the speaker you are losing music so look to that area first and if the speaker lugs are spring clips or are in any other way a flimsy connection GUN 'EM and replace them with something better-heavy duty binding posts and spade lugs on the speaker wires CRANKED DOWQN HARD has never failed me in over thirty five years of screwing with domestic audio (though I tend to barrier strips and spades ) Next I would look to the pcb.Is it rigidly mounted ? Can it "flex" when high level bass notes are banging around inside the box ? Another "Quick 'N Dirty" but effective mod is to address the actual wiring.Is the wiring "floating" out in the open ? If yes then it too will be banging around and worse case can even scrap the back of a cone driver causing a VERY HARD to identify (unless you have heard it before ;D ) distortion on peaks yetr the fix so simple there is no reason for it to EVER happen-firmlu attack those puppies to a solid surface and it is done ! Look to the connectors INSIDE also.Are you confident they are making a good electrical contact or do they appear "iffy".If the latter adress that also (solder the bitches right to the drivers !) As you can tell most of what I have found to be an actual upgrade tends more to the mechanical and contact integrity than to parts replacement unless i KNOW via having more than a few other users of the SAME system do an upgrade and then all report that yes,the system was bettered,When this happens you will usually find there is a standard "upgrade kit" available which means if someone went to that much trouble sales must be fairly good and if so means pleased customers otherwise i tend to be very shy about replacing parts. If you must ? Do Google on modifying your actual system and you MAY just get lucky enough to find a forum thread on what does and does not work for YOUR speaker rather than try and find a general "speaker mod" thread which at best would be a crap shoot. and finally Get the XO out of the "box" and make it external so you can experiment at will or better yet keep the original and build a "clone" with better parts then switch between the two and listen for what you think sounds better,Getting the XO outboard is a well known (in some circles) upgrade that works even if you Don't upgrade the actual crossover I'm not trying to discourage you man,just vocalize some of the pitfalls i have come across over the years.pitfalls that it seems hit me EVERY TIME i thought i knew better than the original designer and that have convinced ME to never even attempt a design of my own or do more than a minimum upgrade of something unless it is so bad to begin with even a bad upgrade would be an improvement
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Post by hifijunkie on Jun 3, 2009 16:37:41 GMT
Thanks a ton rick! Those are very valid thoughts! I don't want to experiment at all with my equipment. I have been fed up with many people saying my speakers are not accurate and that they sound like Disco speakers and they are not meant for home. So i thought why not replace some parts with 'boutique' caps and better wires ? Well, as you rightly pointed out it might not be so easy Anyways....is there a sure shot way of improving sound quality , no matter any speaker you lay your hands on ?? Regards, Cha
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Jun 3, 2009 21:25:47 GMT
yeah, concentrate on the front end (CD player,tape deck,vinyl playback system,etc) because no matter what follows your end results can only be as good as the "source" of the music and that means max information retreival at the beginning of the food chain. Next would be to optimize the speaker location 1-if bass is too heavy,and your post suggests it does (according to others anyway but the truth is YOU need to decide what YOU like then ignore the nay sayers because when they go home you still need to live with your own system !) then a repositioning may be in order.If against a wall and/or in a corner move them out into the room.If that seems to help but not correct the tonal imbalance then raise them a bit via stands and "spike" 'em to the floor via sharp cones under the stand and finally if neither of the above works you may have to move the speakers to the LONG wall which is usually the best position anyway 2-If it is the treble that is retricent rather than the bass being too ponderous then maybe your listening room is a bit "overdamped".That is,not ENOUGH reflective surfaces with the giveaway being if your furniture is plush,has a large amount of throw pillows,you have thick rugs on the fllor,your room has filled bookshelves (filled with actual books which make for a GREAT absorber/diffusor in a too live room ),if your walls have a lot of "soft" hangings made of fabric,too many large potted plants in the room and finally if you have an acoustic tile ceiling. A "dead" room works in the studio but NOT in a domestic setting unless your monitors were designed from the start to play in such an environment and environment is everything sometimes,the make or break" that can make an average loudspeaker sound good and a GREAT system sound bad so play around with the acoustics first (hell,except for stands/isolation,and even thses can be had from things around the house if you are imaginitive enough,they are mostly free anyway ) Finally,if you LIKE your speakers the way they sound then don't let others tell you what they need to sound like because the truth is,once they leave it is YOU that needs to enjoy the system and not them. good luck rickster
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2009 21:44:33 GMT
yeah, concentrate on the front end (CD player,tape deck,vinyl playback system,etc) because no matter what follows your end results can only be as good as the "source" of the music and that means max information retreival at the beginning of the food chain. Next would be to optimize the speaker location 1-if bass is too heavy,and your post suggests it does (according to others anyway but the truth is YOU need to decide what YOU like then ignore the nay sayers because when they go home you still need to live with your own system !) then a repositioning may be in order.If against a wall and/or in a corner move them out into the room.If that seems to help but not correct the tonal imbalance then raise them a bit via stands and "spike" 'em to the floor via sharp cones under the stand and finally if neither of the above works you may have to move the speakers to the LONG wall which is usually the best position anyway 2-If it is the treble that is retricent rather than the bass being too ponderous then maybe your listening room is a bit "overdamped".That is,not ENOUGH reflective surfaces with the giveaway being if your furniture is plush,has a large amount of throw pillows,you have thick rugs on the fllor,your room has filled bookshelves (filled with actual books which make for a GREAT absorber/diffusor in a too live room ),if your walls have a lot of "soft" hangings made of fabric,too many large potted plants in the room and finally if you have an acoustic tile ceiling. A "dead" room works in the studio but NOT in a domestic setting unless your monitors were designed from the start to play in such an environment and environment is everything sometimes,the make or break" that can make an average loudspeaker sound good and a GREAT system sound bad so play around with the acoustics first (hell,except for stands/isolation,and even thses can be had from things around the house if you are imaginitive enough,they are mostly free anyway ) Finally,if you LIKE your speakers the way they sound then don't let others tell you what they need to sound like because the truth is,once they leave it is YOU that needs to enjoy the system and not them. good luck rickster Rick I couldn't agree more. Guys, there you have it in a nutshell ! Alex
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