2.0 Speakers Compilation: Best for <$500 - Page 8

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich 

So you turned your BX5's into BX8's with a soldering iron? 

 

My brother has an older pair of Tannoy monitors (I don't know what model).  He calls them "annoys" as a joke.

Doing some listening at my normal volume & your discription in largely correct . Not quite the volume capability but better mids than BX8. Everything from the lower mids down has more body yet detail is not lost at all. Bass drum hit much harder than before. It is really amazing how good these little speakers are given a little work. The bass is very well balanced & extended for the size of the speaker with these mods These speakers are good enough now to do mixing on & making value judgements as to how much bass to put on a track & you would be very close to ideal. I believe that these little ones modded are significantly better than the BX8's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjmai 

Do you guys leave your speakers on all the time?

I noticed the back of my BX5a runs a little warm when on.  Since I leave my PC on most of the time, I was hoping to leave Bx5a on as well.

Don't know which is worse - constant high temperature, or frequent power cycles.

It is normal to run somewhat warm even at idle & they can get quite hot when run hard. They are class AB amps which have some idle current draw
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by prozach1576 

Wow, these Swans are absolutely great. Great soundstage, crisp highs, full midrange, decent enough bass for my purposes. They look incredible too.

 

You've inverted the right and the left speaker, Normally the Speaker with Switch and control must be located at Right

It seems you have the MkIII Model, it's completely different than the Swans M200 and M200 MkII, on the MkIII There's much more Power in the amp and Bi-Amping with Active Filters : The sound is one step above the other models, sound very good with all my DACs, and with the Audio-GD DAC-19 DSP, it's just "exceptional"

Quote:

Originally Posted by germanium 

Doing some listening at my normal volume & your discription in largely correct . Not quite the volume capability but better mids than BX8. Everything from the lower mids down has more body yet detail is not lost at all. Bass drum hit much harder than before. It is really amazing how good these little speakers are given a little work. The bass is very well balanced & extended for the size of the speaker with these mods These speakers are good enough now to do mixing on & making value judgements as to how much bass to put on a track & you would be very close to ideal. I believe that these little ones modded are significantly better than the BX8's.

Neat. 

One thing I've noticed with my BX8a is that the sound does clean up if you do some high pass (low cut) to remove some of the low bass extension.  I have a hardware EQ that has an adjustable high pass filter for the bass.  I use it when I'm feeling like cleaner sound.  If I'm feeling like more bass I turn it off.  I don't have (or want) a sub.  The downstairs neighbors wouldn't appreciate me having a sub.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich 

 

Neat.  " width="1" />" class="bbcode_smiley" height="1" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//smily_headphones1.gif" title="" class="bbcode_smiley" height="1" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//smily_headphones1.gif" title="" width="1" />" width="1" />

 

One thing I've noticed with my BX8a is that the sound does clean up if you do some high pass (low cut) to remove some of the low bass extension.  I have a hardware EQ that has an adjustable high pass filter for the bass.  I use it when I'm feeling like cleaner sound.  If I'm feeling like more bass I turn it off.  I don't have (or want) a sub.  The downstairs neighbors wouldn't appreciate me having a sub.

Carefull tuning of the sub can realy work wonders for deep bass extension without overdoing it. Many people look for impressive bass rather than accurate bass that is just extended In my caseI have reduced the crossover frequency to 50Hz & the volume just barely above the place where the is no volume at all from the sub. Many people give thier sub way too much volume & the bass ends up sounging thick instead of accurate. In many cases it is not the fault of the sub, just that of tuning.

That said most of my listening since doing this last mod has been without the sub & have felt very little need for it. I find only certain music the really benefits from the sub after these mods. That is quite impressive for such a small speaker.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheaphifi 

You've inverted the right and the left speaker, Normally the Speaker with Switch and control must be located at Right

 

It seems you have the MkIII Model, it's completely different than the Swans M200 and M200 MkII, on the MkIII There's much more Power in the amp and Bi-Amping with Active Filters : The sound is one step above the other models, sound very good with all my DACs, and with the Audio-GD DAC-19 DSP, it's just "exceptional"

I know, but I plugged the left channel RCA cable into the right channel input (and vice versa) to compensate. Having the amp/inputs on the left just makes for easier cable management.

And yeah, these things get loud as hell. They also definitely push my uDAC to the limit. I'm thinking about upgrading to a Asus Xonar Essence STX as a source soon and dedicating the uDAC to my laptop.

Been doing more listening to the modded BX5's since my last mod & all I can say is WWWOOOOOWWWWWWW. The extra body is really revealing of the studio room acoustics. The inaging is also substantially better from side to side & there is better sense of depth as well. The sub couldn't help these kind characteristics, only the deep bass extension without messing up other things. Voices sound really fleshed out without sounding boomy or chesty. No need to upgrade here now afterall, got the sound I was looking for. I'm really Impressed with what these speakers are capable of. I heard similar type of sound from the Tannoys so I think most people would be really happy with them. I think my modded BX5's may be a little better now though than the Tannoys Though the Tannoys have good potential.

The nice thing of the Tannoys is they show more of their potential in stock form as they come from the factory so no one would have to mod them to get really good sound to start with though minor mods can improve certain aspects of them. I could hear on them minor intermodulation that may be caused by power supply fuses between the power supply filter caps & the amps. This type of modulation distortion is easy to pick out once hear it & find the cause like I have with other amps. It may also be caused by too short of voice coil for the low frequency extension but I don't think that is the case with the Tannoys. I heard the same type of distortion on the Adcom GFA 545 when I had that. I removed those fuses and soldered a buss bar in thier place & lowered the current rating slightly on the A.C. power fuse to compensate& that fixed the intermodulation distortion on that amp. Now I get rid of them wherever I see them used in that location.

These fuses existed on the BX5's also & they were the first things to go with my mods. The modded BX5's do not have this issue at all

I bought myself a pair of Mackie MR5 even after i read those negative reviews. Yeah there is a little bit too much bass, 50-100 hz mark. But the soundstage is really nice, wider den KRK Rokit 5. highs are smooth. I am paring it with a subwoofer soon so i could crossover the bass at 80hz for the Mackie Mr5 so it shouldnt be a big problem i guess.

Congrats,  be sure to get them up off the desk that will improve resolution and definition in the bass and mids.  5-10 inches high should be adequate

Thanks! What should i buy to make a 5-10 inch lift? can i buy a plastic rectangle container?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AhhHoNG 

Thanks! What should i buy to make a 5-10 inch lift? can i buy a plastic rectangle container?

I'd like to know too.  What difference does material make (metal, wood, plastic)?  Hollow/solid?

I wish I have the carpenter skill like this guy: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/498804/my-custom-m-audio-av-40-speaker-stands

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjmai 

I'd like to know too.  What difference does material make (metal, wood, plastic)?  Hollow/solid?

I wish I have the carpenter skill like this guy: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/498804/my-custom-m-audio-av-40-speaker-stands

Most solids will have pretty much the same issue of transfering sound vibrations to the surface below hence causing it to vibrate & giving secondary radiation of sound that is unwanted. The harder the surface the greater the transfer of vibration to the surface below all other things being equal. Most studios use foam because it absorbs the vibration without transfering it to the surface below hence you don't get unwanted secondary sound radiation from the desktop surface or in tier case the meter bridge of the mix board. Foam is not pretty but is better for sound than any solid. Also placement can help reduce unwanted reflections that can alter the perceived frequency balance of the speakers. Placing speakers close to the front edge of the desk reduces the surfaces that can reflect sound thus making them sound more neutral if they are truely good speakers to begin with. 
 

The general goal with positioning 2-way nearfield monitors is to get them at a height so that your ear level when at your listening position is between the tweeter and the woofer.  You can do that by putting them on stands and lifting them up high enough.  Or you can keep them low and angle them back so that they aim at your ears.  That's just a general rule.  Some tweeters and speakers are more directional than others and will be more picky about placement and height.  Experiment.  If the tweeter is right at ear height you may find the speaker to be too bright.  If the tweeter is too high or too low you may find that the highs roll off or soften.  So proper height affects the tonal balance.

You also want to angle the speakers in so that they aim towards you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by germanium 

I disabled the subsonic filter which was definately cutting into the audible bas that these speakers could generate. Before there was a pretty good rolloff below 100 Hz that got pretty steep around 80 Hz & a very sharp rolloff after that. Not much was audible below 70Hz. By diabling the subsonic filter on the EQ board inside the speaker I was able to get pretty solid response down to 50 Hz & some output down into the 40Hz range which makes music all that much more enjoyable...
 

Where is this EQ board inside the speaker cab? I've definitely had these for years and have pulled them apart but don't remember there being anything really adjustable internally. In addition, a large part of the electronics are dipped meaning permanent install... " class="bbcode_smiley" height="" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//frown.gif" title="" width="" />. These babies have plenty of power and I know that low end can be extended by what I've heard at loud listening volumes. SHOW ME THE MOD!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucias_D 

 

Where is this EQ board inside the speaker cab? I've definitely had these for years and have pulled them apart but don't remember there being anything really adjustable internally. In addition, a large part of the electronics are dipped meaning permanent install... " width=" _cke_saved_src=" />" class="bbcode_smiley" height="" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//frown.gif" title="" width="1" />" class="bbcode_smiley" height="1" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//frown.gif" title="" width="1" />" class="bbcode_smiley" height="1" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//frown.gif" title="" width="1" />" class="bbcode_smiley" height="1" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//frown.gif" title="" width="1" />" class="bbcode_smiley" height="1" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//frown.gif" title="" class="bbcode_smiley" height="1" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//frown.gif" title="" width="1" />" width="1" />" width="1" />" width="1" />" width="1" />" width="" />. These babies have plenty of power and I know that low end can be extended by what I've heard at loud listening volumes. SHOW ME THE MOD!

These are the BX5's not the BX5a. the newer ones don't have the four switches in the back. The BX5's have an EQ board with four switches that stick out the back. One called acoustic space, the secocond one is for tweeter level, third one is for mid boost & the last on is for low frequency cutoff. The low frequency cutoff is what I disabled. By the way the newest CX5's have these switches again. On the BX5 the low frequency cutoff levels are stated to be 56Hz, 80Hz & 100Hz but even on the 56Hz cutoff there is very little if anything below 70Hz coming out of the speakers. These speakers are capable of much more. I disabled the low frequency cutoff by removing 2-56 nanofarad caps & puting a single wire in that went around both caps by attaching it to the lower most terminal & the upper most terminal bypassing the 2 center terminals. This feeds the output of the one amp that includes some EQ directly to the input of the following amp instead of going though the 2-56 nanofarad caps which blocks the low frequencies.

This mod allong with getting rid of the coupling caps on the main amp board as well as removing all the caps going to ground from the negative feedback loops & putting wire in thier place on the main board means that the woofer amps are fully D.C. amp capable & even the tweeter amp would be D.C. amp capable if not for the crossovers. I found that D.C. capable amps have a much better sound than most amps that are not D.C. capable. The only exceptions being Tube amps & amps that use very high qualty metalized film caps going to ground from the negative feedback loop. These caps are very large & expensive & will not fit within these speakers in the spaces that they would need to go so full D.C. coupling is the only way to get the best sound from these speakers
 

These mods are not recomended for novices that lack experience tracing circuits & soldering in tight places as well as knowing what to look for when making measurments. One slip with the measurement probe in the wrong place even & the amp is history.
 

The Bx5a's had much more bass response than the BX5 as they came from the factory