Sold my Parasound Halo A21 and got the Rotel RB-1090 !!!! Wow!!

[yellowcab]

Hello,
I got my Opus-3 as well as Tri-center and Tri-surrounds about five months ago from Audioadvisor.com. That was a real deal. For $2,345 delivered it was hard to beat. I was also impressed with packaging and documentation,
provided by Wharfedale. Aside from the rest, I agree on the "grill" note. As a matter of fact, I have contacted Bill from IAG, and he kindly sent me replacement grills for the front and sorround speakers at no charge at all. What a great service! Right out of the box the Opus set sounded very good espessially with movies. But with plain stereo Opus-3 sounded on a lean side, considering there size and drivers quality. As a hard core DIY'er I decided to inspect Tri-center speaker (small, easy to open and evaluate the parts and construction), needless to say burning by desire to rip Monster cables out of those fine cabinets. I have found a few interesting things inside the speaker, that may contribute to somewhat poor sound quality, or may cause problems in the future. So I decided to MOD the front L/R/C speakers with the highest quality crossover parts and design, wires and sound damping materials, that will match superb cabinet finish and drivers. If anyone is interested, I will gladly respond.
Thanx.

[NMyTree]

Hi yellowcab,

Yes, please do respond and if you don't mind, tell me all about it. I'd like here all the details (good and bad). Feel free to PM me if you don't feel like posting it here....on the forum.

I must admit, I idea of replacing the Monster XP wiring has crossed my mind......more than once. Although, I was thinking along the lines of finding someone with experience and skill in this sort of thing to do it, considering I have absolutely no experience or know-how in these matters.

Also, may I ask what amp, Pre Amp and source component you are using , with your Opus system?

[NMyTree]

NMyTree, Thank you for your kindness! Thanks for all your help
too.

Your Welcome! 8)

[yellowcab]

The following refers to Tricenter speaker only, as I have examined only that,
and have not opened main speakers yet.

Construction: They are made of hi quality MDF with reinforced front buffle,
the curve of the cabinet top is a combination of planar pieces of MDF
glued together at acute angle to form arch, there were gaps in joints
which I filled with cappenters glue to ensure the monolith of the cabinet,
there were three pcs. of Polyfill sound damper, which may not be
enough for good resonance control

Drivers: Ok, though buskets are made of stamped metal rather than aluminum
cast alloy, need a layer of Black Hole Pad to dampen resonance
the mid-driver fires downward at acute angle that explaines Wharfedale
recomendation of placing speaker on top of the screen

Binding Posts:Look and feel very solid build, but be careful as oversize openings for
bare wire leave very thin walls on the tread side of the post, I managed
to brake one while tightening it (It was replaced by IAG)
posts are made of gold plated brass, looks great but have low (1/3)
conductivity of copper or tellurium/copper posts
there are no soldering holes on the cabinet side of the posts,
ring connectors are stamped from thin and hard metal plates(not copper)
which is not good for hi current transfer

Wires: one thing needs to be replaced for sure is Monster XP internal
wiring, they already exibit oxidation at terminations and they are not
hi quality wires by all means
very clumsy soldering of wires to crossover boards

Crossover: here comes the worst part, your Opus Tricenter
IS NOT BI OR TRIWIREABLE OR BI OR TRIAMPLIFIERABLE !
the negative wires from binding posts are connected together on
the crossover board, eliminating electrical separation of the hi-mid-low
signal sircuits
parts quality is a "Q" too, not non-inductive resistor in series witn
tweeter, oval shaped capacitors with no name, air core inductors are
good but use hi AWG wires, they also wound on plastic bobbins and
secured to boards with long screws, forming a core(?)

Hope it will help.
Thankx

[NMyTree]

Whoa, doesn't sound too good.

So what are you going to do about the Binding Posts? Can anything be done to improve that, like replacing them with copper binding posts?

I already bought some speaker wire jumper cables( copper), to replace the metal terminal (connector) plates.

What about the crossover?

Let me know how it goes with the Opus 3

[yellowcab]

Hello,

Having reavaluated the capabilities of rebuilding Opus-3 loudspeakers on cost vs. quality grounds, I decided to quit the idea of rebuilding them, and to go for Tri-amping each one for better driver control, flexibility and sound reproduction in general.That is done with removing existing crossovers completly, rewiring internaly with DH Labs 18 AWG solid core silver conductors in custom teflon insulation, using single runs for tweeters, twisted double for mid's, but not twisted between the poles, and quad twisted (litz) randomly spaced for woofers, soldered to the point with Wako silver solder, replacing original binding posts with Cardas CCGR's, insulating cabinets with Black Hole 5 padding, covering upper part of front buffle and top of the cabinet with self-adhesive (very leather looking) Black Hole Pad for better resonance and reradiation absorbtion.

[Kingdaddy]

What kind of active crossover do you plan to use? This would be far more important then all the internal wiring IMO. Active should make a huge difference, at least it did for me.

[Chris D]

Boys-

Great discussion to take over to our "Do It Yourself" section of HT Guide so that we can keep Club Parasound on topic.

[yellowcab]

Hi
I'm glad at least someone is interested in this topic. You are right, I shall switch to DIY department.
As for the question about active crossover, I have very few things on my mind, one is
Rane AC 23B active crossover with digital delay, employing Linkwitz-Riley 24 db/octave filter,the only phase correct crossover.

[NMyTree]

[QUOTE=yellowcab]Hi
I'm glad at least someone is interested in this topic. QUOTE]

I was interested from the start. I was hoping you would keep me informed on your findings and progress, as I had stated in a previous post.

Have you moved this to the DIY area, yet? I can't seem to find it over there.