speaker mods

[harley .guy07]

I have a older pair of Paradigm Monitor 7 speakers that are well built for the money in their day and have just taken them and replaced the overly bright titanium dome tweeter with a 1 1/8 inch soft dome tweeter put in custom made tweeter pods on the top of the speaker since they would not work in the stock location. With the addition of the tweeters and some crossover mods for smoothing out the midbass drivers(zobel networks) and replaced the caps with better ones these speakers are now twice what they once were. the smoothness is much better and overall they are pretty damn good for being at there 15 year old price point and with my mods. My question here is I would like to hear about any of the mods done to your speakers and how it changed or hopefully improved them.I just thought it would be cool to learn what other people have done to their stuff. Some day I plan to either build a custom set of speakers using Usher drivers or if I can find some Usher cp-6311's or be-718's cheap enough used I might go that route. But for now my mods on my Monitor 7's bring these speakers into a higher level than even I thought was posible.

[poppachubby]

I have a older pair of Paradigm Monitor 7 speakers that are well built for the money in their day and have just taken them and replaced the overly bright titanium dome tweeter with a 1 1/8 inch soft dome tweeter put in custom made tweeter pods on the top of the speaker since they would not work in the stock location. With the addition of the tweeters and some crossover mods for smoothing out the midbass drivers(zobel networks) and replaced the caps with better ones these speakers are now twice what they once were. the smoothness is much better and overall they are pretty damn good for being at there 15 year old price point and with my mods. My question here is I would like to hear about any of the mods done to your speakers and how it changed or hopefully improved them.I just thought it would be cool to learn what other people have done to their stuff. Some day I plan to either build a custom set of speakers using Usher drivers or if I can find some Usher cp-6311's or be-718's cheap enough used I might go that route. But for now my mods on my Monitor 7's bring these speakers into a higher level than even I thought was posible.


Sounds good, any photos? A friend of mine has some old Sound Dynamic speakers, the woofers are toast. The boxes are quite amazing so I have been thinking about putting something in them...

[harley .guy07]

I think this photo will do

[poppachubby]

I think this photo will do


Harley man those speaks look dope! They look confined, can't spread em out anymore? I bet they sound amazing...I need to replace the front faces of my Avants. I want a pair of Dynaco again, I sold my last pair because I had no space for everything at the time.

[harley .guy07]

The picture was taken from the side so it is a visual effect that makes them look so close. They are actually about 8 and 1/2 feet apart which is pretty good in my smallish living room. And yes considering these are 15 years old, and after the crossover mods and tweeter pods they sound about as good as they could without starting over from scratch with new drivers, crossovers, and building my own cabinets. At some point I will probably either find some Ushers used or design and built my own speakers using Usher drivers. Usher drivers are in my opinion the best thing going in raw drivers out there. Scan Speaks and Seas are also good but Usher drivers are built to be used together and are easy to blend together, they have the same sensitivity rating for every driver and are made of materials that let them have the most natural sound that I have heard in a long time. having drivers that are built to be used together(sensitivity) allows for a simpler cross over which in turn makes for speakers that have less issues being used in different designs. I just have not figured out for sure what design I want to go with yet. something like the Dayton Usher ua701 kit is a very good starting point. I might go with something like them and then build a seperate bottom cabinet and put in a 8 inch Usher woofer and use a electronic crossover and biamp between the lower enclosures and upper mid and high enclosures. Then again that might be over kill for my small living room. On any acount I will move my Modadigms(modified paradigms) to the rear for some killer rear channel speakers.

[luvtolisten]

Nice job, harley. I have always heard the Monitor 7's were the overall favorites of the Monitor line, and to improve on them further is a real accomplishment to be proud of. It's a great feeling after you plug them in and find it was all worth it.
I have never changed drivers, but I have updated caps, especially in older speakers. It really makes a difference. When you start your next project, keep us posted.

[poppachubby]

The picture was taken from the side so it is a visual effect that makes them look so close. They are actually about 8 and 1/2 feet apart which is pretty good in my smallish living room. And yes considering these are 15 years old, and after the crossover mods and tweeter pods they sound about as good as they could without starting over from scratch with new drivers, crossovers, and building my own cabinets. At some point I will probably either find some Ushers used or design and built my own speakers using Usher drivers. Usher drivers are in my opinion the best thing going in raw drivers out there. Scan Speaks and Seas are also good but Usher drivers are built to be used together and are easy to blend together, they have the same sensitivity rating for every driver and are made of materials that let them have the most natural sound that I have heard in a long time. having drivers that are built to be used together(sensitivity) allows for a simpler cross over which in turn makes for speakers that have less issues being used in different designs. I just have not figured out for sure what design I want to go with yet. something like the Dayton Usher ua701 kit is a very good starting point. I might go with something like them and then build a seperate bottom cabinet and put in a 8 inch Usher woofer and use a electronic crossover and biamp between the lower enclosures and upper mid and high enclosures. Then again that might be over kill for my small living room. On any acount I will move my Modadigms(modified paradigms) to the rear for some killer rear channel speakers.

Great insight Harley. I think seperate enclosures is a fantastic idea and in keeping with the current hi-fi state of the art. If I photograph the guts of my Avants, will you walk me through some stuff? Your speaker knowledge is way greater than mine. My last speaker upgrade was an old solid state console record player. I put a pair of 10 inch Celestions in place of the factory woofers and also made them a nice enclosure to sit in. OK chat soon...

[harley .guy07]

Oh I will. the I used to do upgrades and driver changes on speakers all the time when I worked at the shop years ago and I have done mods for friends since then. One day I was tired of hearing the brightness of my monitors and new that the midbass drivers in them were of good quality and could use better crossover components and better more accurate tweeters to really make these speakers stand out. they are about the best I can expect to get without going crazy and pretty much replacing everything in them encluding the cabinets. I am impressed with what they have become and will hold me over unitll I can build my new speakers(that is if I can't find any usher 6311's at a killer price. Most likely I will be designing and building my own using Usher drivers. The good thing about that is I can say "I did that" without having to go out and pay retail prices for speakers knowing they have been matked up at least 200% from the factory by the time they reach the retailer.

[harley .guy07]

Poppa I will definately look at them for you just send me pictures of what you got to work with and I can give you pointers of a direction to go with them.

[harley .guy07]

I have seen pictures of your speakers before on your posts and they look like they could be a good starting place that you could build upon. Obviosly you have wood working skills as well. Not sure if you would want to but with the skills in wood working and with a little help from people on this site(me included) you could also build your own speakers to put on those stands. The Avants look like they have a 10 inch woofer and a cone tweeter in them with a dampening ring on them. That is older tech but still can sound pretty good with the right source. You could deffinately put some work into the crossovers and possibly change out the tweeter to a more up to date smoother soft dome and improve on the sound. Not sure what the crossover is like in them but I due know that 10 inch 2 way monitors are a rare thing to see in todays world due to the fact that a woofer with a 10 inch cone usually will not produce the upper midrange to the crossover point like a 8 or smaller driver will. You will probably be hard pressed to find a replacement 10 that will produce a clean wide midrange all the way up to tweeter territory. I am not sure of the exact measurements of these speakers but they look pretty modest in size. The only thing is I don't know if it might be easier starting from scratch and building some new cabinets for some good drivers in the enclosure that will make them perform at their best(very important and often overlooked). Plus choosing drivers that will work together well and then designing a crossover network that will let them shine is more complicated than most people think but with the aid of computer software and some trial and error can be done by the diyer much better than before. i have heard DIY speakers that have outperformed shop bought brands by a mile and area under half the price to own you just have to be able to have the knowledge to build them. On the plus side the DIY crowd is huge and there are a lot of smart people out there to help.

[harley .guy07]

Nice job, harley. I have always heard the Monitor 7's were the overall favorites of the Monitor line, and to improve on them further is a real accomplishment to be proud of. It's a great feeling after you plug them in and find it was all worth it.
I have never changed drivers, but I have updated caps, especially in older speakers. It really makes a difference. When you start your next project, keep us posted.

You are right about the monitor 7's. In the mid 90's the Paradigm monitor 7 was the speaker most people thought sounded better in their monitor line. Their main problem was a titanium tweeter that was just too bright for extended listening(listeners fatigue). This was something that I battled for years using diferent cables and speaker placement and it never alowed me to listen to them for extended periods of time without my ears saying damn thats bright. So I took it on myself to remedy the situation. I have allways thought that the monitors midbass drivers were pretty good compared to their equal priced competitors. They have cast frames and good stiff cones that have a good stable output. By no means am I saying they are the best out there but I figured for the love of this great hobby I would challenge myself to improve on these speakers and try to get a little more time with them before moving on to better things. They have served me well since my upgrades and are not fatiging in any way. And they are better on a wider range of music which is a great thing for me since I play instruments and have a very wide range of musical tastes.