On Dec 18, 4:52 pm, cj wrote:
Hi,
I got many great replies to my original post,http://groups.google.com/group/sci.e...rowse_thread/t...

With work getting in the way, I have been a bit slow at ordering and
replacing the caps in my AR 91s speakers (25 yrs old). I hope to find
some time over the holidays.

Reviewing other threads on the subject of, and talking to a couple of
friends in the my IT dept, industry, I have a few more questions
before ordering parts.

Should I replace the resistors? The speakers function, and measuring
the resistors with a multi-meter find them within tolerance. Any other
tests I can perform? The resistors and caps leads are twisted and
soldered together, so I have to "remove" them anyway.

I was thinking about use a connector bar, screw or solder type, versus
twisting and soldering the component wires together. Any comments on
that idea?

From lurking in this forum, I know that most of you that reply to
posts do not believe in high-end "snake oil" caps. Humor me, or go
enjoy a glass of egg-nog. Reading other forums, people recommend using
a quality cap in parallel with a smaller value "snake oil" cap. The
result is supposedly better sound, without spending big $$. This
doesn't quite make sense to me, since a larger value cap will roll off
at a lower frequency and thus a larger portion of the signal (for a
mid or high speaker) will be flowing through it. Is this a correct
assessment or is my "basic" understanding of caps or electronics
insufficient to understand why this recommendation has merit.

Cheers!
Christopher

That sounds right to me, but whats the point ?

Electrolytics are always plagued by tolerance, ESR, aging, and
voltage limits. A quality
speaker will be voiced by careful planning, listening, and measuring.
Anything you change can affect the sound, not necessarily for the
better.
Resistors should be Ok indefinitely, unless they are cooked or have
mechanical
fatigue. After years of fooling around with internal crossovers while
making speakers, I got smart and
put the crossover components on the outside of the cabinet, and any
changes could
be made without reopening the cabinet. You can make a change, and
check for changes in
response, polar patterns, etc.. Sometimes it could take days or weeks
to determine if I was
satisfied with the sound.

greg