Upgrade Your Vintage Speakers Crossover (Cerwin Vega 417R Restoration)

Upgrading a 40+ year old Cerwin Vega speaker crossover. Re-capping and upgraded inductors, resistors and everything needed to restore the sound quality of these vintage 417R CV speakers.
Cleaning Potentiometers video
• Testing and Cleaning P...
Re-foam video
• Re-foaming a 15" Cerwi...

[@Hosho2016]

I have a set of 312 hard rockers and was hoping this video would help but watching it makes one thing clear, your understanding of how the crossover works is much better than mine. Wish you wouldve explained and slowed down the install

[@wwz1011]

How you fit all that in, neatly, is amazing. You should link to tools you recommend, along with a tutorial on soldering. Thanks!

[@scottlowell493]

There is more of a difference than just tolerance. Metallized poly measure much lower resistance. ( Low ESR. ) They have no electrolyte to dry up and degrade. The sonic difference is that the metal poly are cleaner and more neutral, or electrically transparent than the electrolytic caps in the audio path/filter. I've upgraded 3 sets of c-v's, and even 5% metal poly sounded better than any electrolyte. The electrolytes sounded dull and closed-in by compare. Air core inductors are > iron core.

[@vintagehifithings]

Wauw! That’s an amazing job! Very inspiring! I have alot of crossover projects in the the future and this inspired me alot! Thanks 🙌

[@carmanwilcox5630]

Wow, that looks like one heck of a good upgrade, far superior to the factory specs...

[@mikebrookshire3464]

Love your work, very informative. I also like the way you've replaced parts with same values but upgraded parts, I certainly get where you're coming from. I have a set of VS150s also a set of D9s Also a set of E 315s. I'm an old DIY guy I've refomed my D9S thanks to you thay sound great👍. I look forward to some more upgrades keep up the great work your frend Mike.

[@SavingVegas]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy the videos and it's awesome you got the D-9's going.

[@ronbradshaw7404]

The Dayton caps look a LOT like Solens... I use Solens all the time, i like em.

[@SavingVegas]

I have no complaints with the Dayton Audio caps, reasonably priced and a good upgrade from the originals.

[@WilliamWright-js7kg]

What a memory! R JBL’S L-65 cross over difficult

[@SavingVegas]

I have not been inside one of those speakers so I don't really know. Most of the time these older speakers don't have complex x-overs. As far as just doing a simple re-cap the complexity shouldn't really matter as long as you can find the proper value of caps and simply replace. If doing a full rebuild with new inductors there are other things you need to know. Having the schematics helps greatly but if not you need to be able to figure out the value of the inductors as well as their DC resistance so you can match them.

[@fishbonz62]

Also in need of the original horns with black mesh over horn U15 1979

[@jwh-e2p]

Great video! I was really hoping for a sound comparison at the end!! does it sound different?

[@SavingVegas]

I was thinking of doing a sound comparison in the video but it's hard to tell the differences on KZbin.

[@jwh-e2p]

ah, I see. And then for my curiosity, it it noticable (significantly)? I am thinking of recapping my crossoverfilters in my B&W DM603 S3's, and wondering if it is really worth the effort.@@SavingVegas

[@SavingVegas]

Yes after rebuilding the xovers it was a night and day difference overall but especially in the midrange. There was much more detail and just simply a cleaner sound overall. When the customer heard them for the first time after I was done he couldn't believe they were the same speakers. As for your own speakers, it's hard to say if it will be a big noticeable difference because it really all depends on the parts quality they used in the xover originally. If you open them up and see electrolytic caps then yes in my opinion swapping those out with higher quality film and foil type caps should make a noticeable difference. Also after recapping there is a break in time to burn in the new caps and sound will improve after so many hours of listening. Burn in time was one thing I initially didn't really believe in tell I noticed it myself for the first time.

[@Sunday_Jazz]

Impressive!

[@genehammond7239]

Nice job !!!

[@SavingVegas]

Thanks!

[@MichaelTeator]

I have a set of D3's I just refoamed and when they play normal they sound fine, but low low bass gets a distortion in the tweeters. Could that be a bad crossover?

[@vancemiller4674]

Quick ? Where can i get my - D-9 cross over redone

[@jasonmacdonald4187]

I have a set of Vs-150's and it takes a few minutes for the mids and tweets to come on..I.figure it's the crossover.

[@SavingVegas]

Very well could be, the VS-150 crossovers have a lot of cheap parts in them. I have a bunch of 150 xovers that I plan on going through and rebuilding. I'm not sure when I will get to them but it is on my list lol.

[@jasonmacdonald4187]

@@SavingVegas Awesome..if you make a video I'll be the first to watch..I'll tackle it myself but I'll need some guidance..lol..thanks man and I allways love all the videos.

[@fishbonz62]

I need this done to my U15 cross overs....got time?

[@SavingVegas]

Where are you located?

[@rustyshackleford1088]

Can I use CVT put crossover /dualr terminal on AT 80? And wiring them biamplified.

[@jordanrussell345]

I have a complete working set of CV internals from a set of water damaged CV speakers..can I pass them along to you? I can email you with model numbers? Thank you.

[@SavingVegas]

Sure that would be awesome [e-mail] here's my email.

[@dariuss7923]

I recently exchange pair of canton quinto 520 in to Cerwin Vega AT`100 in pretty bad condition, one woofer are missing and other was refoamed in aftermarket, and bouth tweeters are burned, and boxes rattling, maybe was dumb way. My question is, what is best tweeter replacment for these loudspeakder

[@SavingVegas]

I would try to track down an original if it were me. Can't really recommend a replacement as I haven't used any replacements before in the AT series.

[@nic2098]

If I send in my crossover can you refurbish I will pay of course?

[@SavingVegas]

If you could contact me via email at [e-mail] with your speaker model and any other information you have we could possibly set something up.

[@thomasschafer7268]

Sorry. Da fehlen noch Bauteile. Oder es ist keine 12db weiche .mind 4 spulen und 4 Kondensatoren. Btw. Heisskleber wird hart und hält die Komponenten nicht dauerhaft fest. Einfach bad Silikon.

[@MaThr3Boyz]

If you fix whats broke, you would retain what CV designed. Why try to enhance a Rolls Royce? Just maintain it and drive it..

[@SavingVegas]

I did not change values of any components simply replaced with newer and better quality. There are many speaker manufacturers that use cheaper components to keep production costs down.

[@MaThr3Boyz]

@Saving Vega's Understood, but the value isn't the issue but rather Originally. Now, they're your CV so I wouldn't tell you what to do with them. I just would've Only replaced what was broken (dried out)

[@SavingVegas]

Yup each to there own. These actually aren't my speakers, I am working on them for a customer. He wanted repairs done and he wanted them to sound the best they can, so better parts were used to get the original drivers to sound their best, within reasonable cost that is.

[@hom2fu]

budget brand. crazy. cost less than a car

[@davidlong1786]

Without any measuring software/hardware to compare before and after this is just mental masturbation and frankly a waste of time. Subjectively, anyone replacing parts themselves with more pricey or even better components are always going to think it sounds better due to expectation bias. Not trying to be an A-hole just stating well known facts in the speaker building community. Yes repairing or replacing the potentiometers is a good thing, other than that I don't see any use replacing the other components except maybe the electrolytic cap which may have dried out and have high esr now but that Solen cap is way overkill for an ancient speaker.

[@SavingVegas]

So all the companies and techs that sell xover upgrade kits for speakers are wasting time? It is also well known that many speaker manufacturers use cheap lower cost components to lower cost of production. You are right, I have no expensive test equipment to prove my upgrades but the way I look at it is if I needed test equipment to know there was any upgrade what's the point right? As for the large 40uf cap I used in the midrange signal path I think that was the most important upgrade other than the pots because that is one of the best midrange drivers that CV used in my opinion and at a cost of less than $50 for the 2 of them I don't see why that would be considered overkill.

[@Omri.Collects]

@@SavingVegas Am I a fan of CV, no i’m not, is your reply 100% accurate, yes it is.

[@davidlong1786]

@@SavingVegas You obviously never have been on a real speaker building forum where there are very inexpensive options for measurement hardware and software. Like I said, without proper measurements before and after it's all guess work on your part. Sorry if you took offense but that's how it is. Your first sentence in your reply was lets face it, trying to put everyone who tweaks or rebuilds crossovers into one group, which in reality, you have good and bad techs. How they go about doing so makes a world of difference. Depending just upon your ears to build speakers will take you down a path filled with second guessing and wrong conclusions.

[@SavingVegas]

If I took offense to every comment from random people on my videos this would be a very stressful hobby for me. Just because I disagree with someone's opinion doesn't mean I am offended. I agree with what you said about there being good techs and bad techs, myself I am neither, I am a potash miner with a hobby. I encourage constructive criticism because it helps me and others learn new things. With that said I still disagree with your opinion that I am wasting time by replacing 40+ year old parts with new ones so that these great speakers will continue to sound great for another 40 years.

[@davidlong1786]

@@SavingVegas So you can't be bothered downloading FREE software to help your own cause? Well I tried, adios.