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Snell and Spica Rebuild - ESR Consideration?

Posted by tvr2500m (A) on February 9, 2009 at 21:24:08

I'm rebuilding/upgrading (I'm hoping it'll be an upgrade) a pair of Snell Type E II and a Spica Angelus speakers. The plan is to replace the electrolytic caps, low-cost (also quality?) resistors, and replace wiring (no active or outboard xovers, inductor replacements, etc.). I'm also considering doing the same to a pair of Snell Type Cis. I'm trusting/experimenting that changing these parts, which are quite old now, will yield a better-sounding speaker. It will likely be different, and I'm hoping for the better. I like the way they sound now - with all their really quite unremarkable parts. If I don't with the new bits, I can always put everything back the way it was.

All of these speakers use a lot of electrolytic capacitors in their xovers. The Type Cis have a fist-sized lumps of them. I'm trusting that changing some or all of these will create speakers that I like the sound of more than they were stock.

My questions are:

1. Do I need to consider any difference in ESR between the original caps and the ones I'm using as replacements? John Bau, the designer of the Spica speakers, in specifying electrolytic to film cap upgrades to the Angeluses doesn't mention anything about this, but I have heard/read others' comments, some claiming this to be important, others not so much.

2. Does anyone know exactly how Snell "tunes" (or used to tune the speakers of the vintages of the ones I'm working with) their speakers to match the type reference? I know about, and can see, the adjustable/sliding wire wound resistors used for this (not that I know what to do with them), but capacitor and inductor values and trimmed, too? What was their process?

3. Should I measure the exact values of everything I remove and replace with exactly the same values?

Thanks!

- SJ

Edits: 02/10/09

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