Small piece of k400 needed please.

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The FlatEarther
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Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

Hi all I need to make some links for my Isobarik crossovers. Each link is about 5 cms and I need 12 links. So if anyone has a spare 30 cms or 12" of K400 spare I would be most grateful.
Many thanks.
Flat
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

Wot no one????
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rowlandhills
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by rowlandhills »

Can't say that I have a spare small piece, but I have a pair of K400 which are not in use at the moment which I could cut down a bit if no-one else is able to help. Let me know if no-one else is forthcoming with spare cable.
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

Hi Rowland, that's very kind of you but I seriously cannot ask you to ruin your cables. I'll just have to buy a metre from a dealer.

Thank you ever so much for offering though.

KR
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by ThomasOK »

Hi Flat. A little impatient are we? (I try to avoid computers for the most part on my days off. Which would happen to be the 27th and 28th in this case.) I expect I can find a foot or so around somewhere as we do get cut-offs from time to time. On the other hand I don't know if the transcontinental shipping would outweigh the free cable. Let me know what you think and I'll have a look.
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

TomOK to the rescue as usual!

I didn't want to ask yet another favour of you old chum.

If you strip bare it would probably go in a Jiffy bag. Of course I'd be happy to pay the pp.

Thanks
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

Actually Tom, that's probably a really dumbass idea as it would probably take more of your valuable time to split it than the pp!
Lol

PS what do you use for the links on your Brik crossovers?
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by ThomasOK »

OK, I do have some short pieces of K400 but I want to make sure what you are asking for. Are you going to use these for the links on the crossover board between bass and mid and mid and tweeter? Or are these for the links from the crossover board to the banana sockets on the back of the speaker?

On my newer set of Isobariks I have the original solid wire links which I have never thought of replacing although I have always wondered it there is a detriment to the three links for each connection. I would also be really surprised if those links were tested for directionality. Look at that! Now you've got me thinking about ways to mod the Isobarik crossovers - it's enough to make me call you dirty names!

Anyway, I have the factory K20 connecting the board to the speaker sockets. I used to have a different pair of crossovers and on those I replaced the K20/Deltrons with K600/Knekts but I never A/B compared them to make sure there was an improvement. However, that crossover had the links cut for multi-amp operation by the previous owner and then resoldered. I had an opportunity to trade them to a customer buying a used pair from us who was going to cut the links anyway and his boards had intact original links. So I traded him and, since the K20 already had factory soldered Knekts and since they are the rears in my home theater, I just left the cabling as is. If I ever haul these back upstairs to listen to them with the Tundra Mono 2s compared to the ATCs I may end up redoing the internal wiring.

I'd still love to know if anybody has really compared monolithic crossover Isobariks with the preceding two crossover Isobariks using the tune method and what they found out.

Let me know on the cable and I'll take it from there.
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

Hi Tom, firstly, Happy New Year.

Secondly, Damn you, Damn you and Damn you! All I wanted to do was replace the links on the external crossover PCB's which I stupidly cut off years ago and replaced with simple mains wire copper links. I had entirely forgotten the K20 tails to the Briks. Now thanks to your astute as usual thinking I'm now going to have to get some K600 from somewhere and make some nice neat new tails. Oh yeah and buy 12 more Knekts. Oh and now I have to look at the direction of all the resistors and caps and reorient them!
Thanks a bunch for nothing.LOL

Nothing but love for you buddy.
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by ThomasOK »

Always glad to be of service! ;-)

Happy New Year to you as well.
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by Ron The Mon »

ThomasOK wrote:I used to have a different pair of crossovers and on those I replaced the K20/Deltrons with K600/Knekts but I never A/B compared them to make sure there was an improvement. However, that crossover had the links cut for multi-amp operation by the previous owner and then resoldered. I had an opportunity to trade them to a customer buying a used pair from us who was going to cut the links anyway and his boards had intact original links. So I traded him and, since the K20 already had factory soldered Knekts and since they are the rears in my home theater, I just left the cabling as is. If I ever haul these back upstairs to listen to them with the Tundra Mono 2s compared to the ATCs I may end up redoing the internal wiring.
Tom,
I never (re-)cut the crossover links or tried bi-amped, or triamped passive. (I am the aforementioned customer for others following along). I now think it's all a moot point. I can elaborate for others wanting to hear of my journey and experiments from active Kans to passive Isobariks if there is a request.

I am chiming in here only to request you don't cut any more links! I am willing to loan you your old crossovers back (and even experimenting with them) in exchange of joining you in listening comparisons. I would be more than happy to be half the muscle in hauling Isobariks in and ATCs out. I believe you've been deluding yourself into thinking the mediocre amps and crossovers mounted inside a vibrating loudspeaker cabinet can better Tundra Mono2s on a proper support along with external Isobarik passive crossovers. I believe there is far more to be gained musically by giving the Isobarik passive crossover a proper support rather than replacing tin coated solid-core copper jumpers with stranded copper.

I now realize I made a disgraceful mistake in buying my Isobariks and having them sit in my basement unused for almost a year. At least Tom uses his. However, it is my opinion Tundra Mono2s are a very special amp. Further, the last incarnation Isobariks are very special; to this day, one of the best speakers ever made. Coupled, they should be Nirvana. Or at least Valhalla.

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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

Now sorted by Neil at Hidden Systems.
Many many thanks.
Just waiting for a warmer spell to do the change over.
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by ThomasOK »

The FlatEarther wrote:Now sorted by Neil at Hidden Systems.
Many many thanks.
Just waiting for a warmer spell to do the change over.
So how about an update on your journey? Having stirred up as much trouble as I have it would certainly be nice to find out how far down the rabbit hole you went. (I know: "Why didn't I take the BLUE pill!")
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

Hi Tom, sorry to report that it has been too damn cold to work in my man cave (double garage). Just as soon as it warms up I'll be on the project. In the mean time, I'm busy building a HiCap.
Regards
Steve
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Re: Small piece of k400 needed please.

Post by The FlatEarther »

Down the rabbit hole.

Ok Big Tom, you slipped me the Red pill. So this is the problem with a rabbit hole, once you start digging, there's no way out!

By that I mean it was a buggers muddle as I cut the links, only to realise that my 48 watt controlled soldering iron even at 400C couldn't cut it! So having cut the links I was in the rabbit hole with no way out. That coupled with my auto wire stripper not being sharp enough to cut trough and strip the insulation of the K400 properly made it a tough cookie.

Then I finds precious, that the 400 hasn't a chance in hell of going through the PCB holes without serious drilling!

Well cutting a long story short, I filed down one of my spare iron tips completely flat and simply soldered onto the back of the PCB as best I could. I was very careful to preserve the cable orientation. So it was somewhat of a Gerry rig but I got the job done. But at some point I'll have to get a better iron and redo the job. I also checked the component orientation as you requested and all components read their labels in the same direction, caps, resistors etc. However this doesn't mean Linn have tested for tunedem doing this but at least it's uniform!

So having scrabbled around in the dirt at the bottom of the hole with me so far the big question is, was it worth it?

So re installed them and at super low volume I checked each driver, then sat back and wound up the wick and tracked Get Lucky by daft punk. This was the point where I woke up with all my support pipes being auto unplugged and the sealed gel fluid canopy lid blew off and I was out of the matrix!

It was like opening the windows, or realising I'd been cycling with the brakes on. Tunedem was instantly better, dynamic was way up, bass went way down with more tune, extension and especially slam. The Missus instantly remarked wow, it's really slamming me in the chest. Mind you she has an ample chest! The whole sound was more relaxed and natural yet at the same time decidedly quicker with improved pace. We also noticed that the pitch of the notes seemed more in tune and accurate.

So in conclusion it was a very worthwhile project. The only problem is, that having dug down so far, I really want to know how far I can go. So in the summer I will replace the K20 deltron tails with some K600 Knekt tails and report back.

So big thanks to Neil at Hiddensytems for the piece of K400. And Tom OK quit slipping me Red pills!
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