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Post by southpaw on Sept 11, 2011 18:12:01 GMT
With that as a start price, I think you might struggle to find upgrades that make economic sense.  Having said that, I see that Technics SB-F2 go for about £75 on Ebay, which is about 3 times what Goodmans Maxim 2s fetch. The cap values you need are similar to the ones I bought, so it's going to be around £15 to £20 for those alone. I actually have two pairs - the first cost about £50. Having two will be useful for A/B tests. I'll be interested to see just how much improvement the Mundorf and Mike's super caps add  I'd built some crossovers before with bits from IPL acoustics but they got lost somewhere along the way. |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 11, 2011 21:06:31 GMT
With that as a start price, I think you might struggle to find upgrades that make economic sense. Having said that, I see that Technics SB-F2 go for about £75 on Ebay, which is about 3 times what Goodmans Maxim 2s fetch. The cap values you need are similar to the ones I bought, so it's going to be around £15 to £20 for those alone. I actually have two pairs - the first cost about £50. Having two will be useful for A/B tests. I'll be interested to see just how much improvement the Mundorf and Mike's super caps add I'd built some crossovers before with bits from IPL acoustics but they got lost somewhere along the way. I could have elaborated on my "Super" 450uF cap but feel this is MORE than enough for a Goodmans maxim 2 (pretty shite speakers IIRC) I don't understand what all the fuss is about with the Goodmans speakers.... didn't want a pair "then", don't want a pair now... cheap drivers / vinyl wrap enclosure.... If I owned a pair I'd "give" somebody a tenner to dispose of them..... Why are they "all of a sudden" worth holding onto? Some weird stuff going on at the moment and a "Goodmans Maxim 2" has to be the strangests of them all.... just WHY would you want to give that cheap and nasty "vinyl wrap" piece of junk house room? Anyhoo, I have done my bit for the 450uF section... (Won't be the first time I have donated to a lost cause)..... I REALLY would like to know what the fascination is with this piece of chipboard Owen  ? |
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 11, 2011 23:41:24 GMT
I didn't buy these recently, these have been kicking around in the attic at my parents house for 15 or so years. These were the speakers I bought as part of my first "proper" hi-fi system after the Sony stack system I had as a teenager. They were budget speakers, but they had some good reviews and they were pretty much all I could afford at the time. The fit and finish of sensibly priced hi-fi components in the 80's and 90's was pretty poor compared to similarly priced, or even lower priced stuff now. I had an Inca Tech Claymore amp and this was a distinctly "made in a shed at the bottom of the garden" looking affair. The fit and finish of the Pinkies and other stuff you've made would knock the Inca Tech into a cocked hat, hell even some of the stuff I've cobbled together would better it. I've been having a bit of a clear-out and sold a whole bunch of odds and sodds on Ebay and thought I'd get rid of these and an equally hideous pair of eighties monstrosities, my Musical Fidelity MC-2s that's actually my pair for sale. However, I tried the Goodmans Maxim 2s with my "desk system" in place of the little Denon SCM-50s that I have:  The Goodmans sounded better, so as they don't take up much room, and they'll only fetch about £20.00 I decided to keep them. I'm not too bothered about their drab, cheap looks and they are pretty small and don't take up too much desk space. Then I started wondering about improving them, purely out of curiosity, I've never messed about with speakers before and as these were a budget model I was pretty sure they would contain the cheapest components available, and I wasn't wrong, and it would therefore be possible to replace them with better quality, but still sensibly price components, without spending a fortune on exotic boutique parts. Also, the drive units in the Maxim 2s are pretty cheap and chearful and I'm pretty sure that spending more on dearer, more exotic components than the one's I've used would be a waste of money. Those Mundorf resistors are already total overkill. A better pair of speakers would, you would like to think, already contain some reasonable quality components and you'd have to spend a lot more to replace them with something considerably better and possibly yield smaller end result improvement. Having said that, manufacturers seem to use some shockingly cheap parts, even in quite expensive kit, especially when they're well hidden away in things like speakers.  I didn't start out with any misconseptions that the Maxim 2s are anything particularly special. The cap replacement I've done has already given them a bit of lift and they already sound quite nice hooked up to my little T-amp, so I'm looking forward to hearing what further improvements, if any, can be had with the re-wire and the replacement of the other components. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2011 23:59:20 GMT
My hifi resembles that remark I'm still running one of these (albeit fettled), yes it looked like poo but sounded damn fine, out performing the big names of the day and very much still holding its own now  Oh, and the original version of the MC-2s ( translucent drivers ) could also sound very good with the right amp. Nice to hear you are happy with the changes made to your paxos so far, enjoy. |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 12, 2011 9:20:54 GMT
They had a nice sound (The Maxim 2) but that black vinyl wrap put me off a LOT of speakers back then.... almost "everything" was wrapped in black vinyl... you had to do a fair bit of shopping around to find anything that "wasn't" wrapped in black vinyl Real wood veneer was a bit too expensive for me back then and I remember "skinning" a pair of B&W speakers and veneering them myself with an iron A month or so later one of the magnets fell off the back of the driver and I took them back to "Sound Sense" in Edgware Road (London).... the manager was called and he refused to even send them back to B&W for inspection as they had been "tampered" with. "You have removed the drivers, you have defaced the cabinets" etc. |
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 12, 2011 14:07:18 GMT
Yup, pretty much everything until you broke through the £1,000.00 barrier, and £1,000.00 was a lot more back then. Look at these beauties:    80's Hi-Fi was definately best heard and not seen. Even my Voyd was a bit fugly:  |
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XTRProf
Fully Modded
Pssst ! Got any spare capacitors ?
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Post by XTRProf on Sept 13, 2011 1:25:43 GMT
Btw, what's wrong being black?  |
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 13, 2011 14:04:52 GMT
Nothing wrong with black. My current speakers came directly from Dynaudio in Denmark because I wanted them in black and the dealer didn't have them at any of their outlets. The difference is the finish, my 80s and 90s speakers were black plastic wood effect vinyl wrap and the backs were all nasty, ugly exposed chipboard with cheap binding posts. Now, most speakers are veneerd on the back to the same standard as the front and even fairly low cost speakers have decent quality binding posts. And my little £45.00 T-amp is better put together, inside and out, than my £450.00 Inca Tech Claymore was. Anyway, my solitary Mundorf resistor turned up this afternoon, what a whopper! |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 13, 2011 15:11:45 GMT
Hi Owen,
Did my package with the mundorf + caps turn up??
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 13, 2011 15:55:15 GMT
Not today, but I am about as far away from you as possible while still being in the UK. I'm nearer to France than I am most of England, I can see it on a clear day. |
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 14, 2011 13:29:47 GMT
Hi Mike, parcel turned up safe and sound today. Thanks again. Just waiting for the cable now. |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 14, 2011 18:42:31 GMT
Hi Mike, parcel turned up safe and sound today. Thanks again. Just waiting for the cable now. Nice one Owen.... those Mundorf resistors are mama honkers eh? I hope your X-over board can cope with all the weight |
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Post by freddypipsqueek on Sept 14, 2011 20:29:00 GMT
I know my input is limited here but I have always rewired the internals of my speakers (mainly Mission 751's) with the same wire I have used for the external lengths. I have found this helps greatly particularly if you bi-wire and use different wire for the highs & lows.
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 17, 2011 15:31:05 GMT
That's exactly what I did.  Here's the crossover with the Mundorf resister and Mike's Multi cap installed. Thanks again Mike.   And here I have hot glued the components in position.  The speakers definately sound better, the clarity has improved quite considerably, the top end is much crisper, whereas before they were a little muddy sounding, especially when compared to my other speakers. Focus and imaging are also tighter. All in all, I'm really pleased with the results. |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 17, 2011 15:57:07 GMT
Excellent stuff Owen If you have the boards out again... fire a bit more hot melt over and around the components... try to "encase" the components if you can.... Give that multicap a few hours and the sound should get even better |
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 17, 2011 16:40:35 GMT
The speakers have been running for four or five hours now, so I imagine that the caps would have formed by now, is that what you meant by improving?
Also, there's quite a bit of glue under the components that they are sort of pressed into, so they're pretty solid. I thought it best not to encase the resistors so that they can cool, they heat up due to the resistance don't they?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 18, 2011 22:11:08 GMT
The speakers have been running for four or five hours now, so I imagine that the caps would have formed by now, is that what you meant by improving? Also, there's quite a bit of glue under the components that they are sort of pressed into, so they're pretty solid. I thought it best not to encase the resistors so that they can cool, they heat up due to the resistance don't they? How are they sounding? |
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 19, 2011 0:14:48 GMT
'kin' great! With one pair, it's impossible to do a quick A/B comparision and I have to rely on memory, but there is a definate improvement. I've been listening to a variety of tracks, many of which I'm very familiar with and I'm hearing details that weren't apparent before, imaging is better, top end is crisper, without being harsh, more "air" etc., basically, they sound like a better pair of speakers. They don't go higher, or lower than before, but they do everything they did before better and the overall impression is one of greater clarity, "more music, less speaker", if you know what I mean. In conclusion, chuffed and a worthwhile improvement, especially when someone I've never met in person so generously gives me half the components for nothing. Thanks again Mike. |
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Post by southpaw on Sept 19, 2011 11:35:42 GMT
I was going to ask, but Mike got there first. Sounds like a worthwhile mod then How mad did you go on the internal wiring? |
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Sept 19, 2011 12:43:52 GMT
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