UPGRADING A 1980'S COMPONENT SYSTEM SPEAKER FOR IMPROVED SOUND TECHNICS SB-2845

UPGRADING A 1980'S COMPONENT SYSTEM SPEAKER FOR IMPROVED SOUND TECHNICS SB-2845
A CHEAP AND EASY UPGRADE TO BRING OLD SPEAKERS BACK TO LIFE
0:00 Intro
1:09 The test subject / planned modifications / first impressions
2:43 Measurement of stock speaker
3:40 Disassembly and review of stock components
5:37 Review of upgrade components
10:30 Comparison of stock components to the upgrade components
12:00 Frequency response comparisons old vs new
15:30 Test clips
18:22 Personal review of the upgrade and final conclusions
19:35 Picture of my cat Max
21:04 Please subscribe

The crossover:
On amazon:

The Tweeters:

Good choice for acoustic damping inside the cabinet:

Cubic foot calculator:

Tweeter attenuation:

Here is a real cool back story from Richard Haxton the band leader/writer from Fun With Animals:

[mausermann]

When you can hear significant sound improvement on YouTube you know its even bigger in reality. Great job!

[kcsavers]

This was helpful to watch. Even using the original woofer and midrange, with just the tweeter replaced, the new crossover with the filter on the woofer, there was an amazing improvement in the sound.

[mohamnazeerhm]

It's actually even bigger. Great job!
Thanks for the video. I've been eyeing those crossovers for a while and think it's time to pick up a set or two. It earned you a new partner.

[philjimenez]

fun to watch was thinking the same for some old pioneers i have

[forsale]

Thank you for the video. I have been looking at those crossovers for a while, guess it's time to grab a set or two. This one earned you a New Sub.

[Compact-Cassette]

Great video, very interesting and incredibly informative. I really love these kinds of videos. I'm not a techie myself, I'm more of a contemplator. Thank you so much

[pedrofernandez]

I replaced my old vintage Marantz speakers that came with my 2030 receiver with modern Emotiva units and the diff was astounding.

[josebaaz]

I got free pair of Sony ss u601av 3 way towers and decided to make some improvements as well. I braced the inside and changed the tweeter with an infinity tweeter pair I had laying around. And changed the mid range . I lined the wood inside with carpet cushion mat and also use poly-fil . I didn’t use to much ploy-fil because the speakers cabinet are ported . Now I have a good looking set of vintage speakers that don’t sound bad . I was dumbstruck when I realized they sounded better than my advents and infinity Rs 4000 . One little experiment I did with the poly-fil since all the drivers are installed 1 1/2 “ on top of each other I tried using different amounts of poly material behind each driver to the ports and it made the bass sound cleaner and not interfere with the mid and highs coming out the speakers. The sound stage improved significantly .

[ATSNorthernMI]

I always found mylar, aluminum, or any kind of hard material for the tweeter to be harsh. I opted for old school paper tweeters over those and really enjoy the warmth from a soft dome myself. Some of those can get expensive and lack clarity in the upper ranges. Just my thought.

[chuckmaddison]

Pretty sure YouTube won't get upset . I've never heard that music before. The bands are probably happy you are using.
I might have been tempted to convert to a 2 way..

[ScarfaceHood]

Nice video.
I got an old Sharp System 8800, which remains from my passed away stepfather. But now only the rack, amplifier, phonograph and speakers remain, since the cd player and everything else didn't work anymore.

The whole system was abandoned and stored in the basement, one day I took care of it, to use it again. The receiver, cd and cassette player got replaced with modern Pioneer network player, Blu-ray player and amplifier. Next step was to take care of the speakers, as the mid range drivers were in very bad condition and the one on the right didn't even make a sound anymore.
I bought two new Monacor mid range drivers and put them in, but the one on the right speaker still didn't make a sound. ☹ So I opened the speakers and found the crossovers, which were actually real 3-way crossovers. Since I wasn't sure what actually was wrong, I replaced both crossovers with Monacor DN-200, which aren't very cheap, but the Monacor drivers weren't cheap as well.

There already was some poly-fill inside the speakers, which I reused, since it was fine. This modification took place in 2017, the original tweeters and double woofers still remain and are in very good shape and the speakers still sound amazing, my neighbors know that too. 😄

[HomeTheatre]

Interesting video! Nice to see how much of a difference that made without breaking the bank! Currently restoring some old DCM speakers and everything I’ve done so far has definitely made a difference! ✅🍿

[tommythetoe]

Great video. Thats a good price for that crossover. I have used
mattress foam to line the walls of a speaker and it worked fine.
Much cheaper then egg crate foam and got same result.

[sergiobisonte]

i did the same, with the same crossovers for some old 3 way speakers i have
ps: my speakers are sony ss-a309. same crossovers you have... now you are making me wanting to try reverse the midrange too....

[dhpbear]

Apparently instead of matching the size of the box to the *drivers*, they matched it to the size of the *stack of components* (2:07)!

[darkphotographer]

most of thows 80is speakers, will have only a capasitor on tweeter only expesive one had crossover, and no insulation, and most after all this time will have the rubber on the edge of cone damage and have very cheap drivers, so for a 6"' iven a 20euro driver and 5euro dome tweeter is much better than the original, add a crossover and some insulation, and you got a much better speaker,

[aosperoni]

Listening from YouTube, I don't notice an "improvement" compared to the original... The upgrade took away the bass. The treble improved logically due to the change of tweeter. The mid frequencies do sound clearer. It sounds different, but for me not necessarily better... But the important thing is that you like it!! That was the goal. Beyond tastes, very good video, very neat work and explanation!!

[anthonypetercoleman]

this was fascinating and a wonderful example of upgrading, i may yet try this with my ancient Pioneers. Less so was your choice of test music, especially that 80s crap at the end

[ernieschatz]

Even sitting here without headphones, I can hear a difference. The bass in much tighter and clear. I can hear less of a difference in the mid and upper range, but that's due to my setup and older ears :).

[ENGLISHISBEST]

Easier to upgrade whole system than aĺl that. If I kept my old technics it would be nostalgic but most are not into the techical side of components. I just hinted to the wife about upgrading & she had new B&W speakers & Marantz cd delivered within 2 days cause she loves me.