The Wharfedale Diamond 220 Modification thread (aka Linton pre-mod review)

[SwaroopKS]

So... if they were't aware what speaker was playing, how did they know what they were listening too? Well, in any case I've never heard the Miccas but from your report they sound wonderful! This is the RB42-42x? It's a 4" woofer vs the 5" in Wharfedales so generally one would expect the Wharfs to have a bit more bass. Were the Micca's brighter? You should start a thread and upgrade the caps and resistors in the Micca's. Looks like they used nice inductors and the crossover looks easy to get too.

Don't think its easy to do it for two reasons, 1. the cost may shoot up so much that they may not be such a value buy and 2. there is very little room inside the box, so may need to keep it in external box. Check out GR research video on this for his impression on crossover upgrade for them

 

[Amarendra]

So... if they were't aware what speaker was playing, how did they know what they were listening too? Well, in any case I've never heard the Miccas but from your report they sound wonderful! This is the RB42-42x? It's a 4" woofer vs the 5" in Wharfedales so generally one would expect the Wharfs to have a bit more bass. Were the Micca's brighter? You should start a thread and upgrade the caps and resistors in the Micca's. Looks like they used nice inductors and the crossover looks easy to get too.

Not my cup of tea I think GR Research also concluded that leave them as they are. I was also expecting Wharfedales to produce more low end with the big driver but i think the low firing port killed it.

 

[lowpoweraudio]

Please do a recording with couple of songs. I personally like warm sounding speakers with a heft in the low end.

I have a spare room of 100sqft. Recently moved my projector there as part of decluttering the living room.

I usually listen via headphones. I'm contemplating the idea of getting an AVR and 2.0 speakers since the room is quite small for a dedicated HT room. No plans for a subwoofer now.

I was considering IndiqAudio Diamond Mishra or Wharfedale D330 ( No rear port, so helps in placement).

Please consider making a video. Will be a great help.

​

Its a difficult question to answer but I will try. The Wharfedales are more revealing in terms of details but the Miccas trump them in imaging. The Wharfedales are more balanced (struggle with low end) but the Miccas have better low end (almost like floor standers). I was listening to Wharfedales on Friday night and was quite happy. Then I switched to Miccas and suddenly had this feeling that the Wharfedales were missing a lot of action !
If someone like Steve Guttenberg is reviewing them (Miccas), it speaks a lot about them (IMHO). He is usually a serious reviewer (IMHO). He obviously highlights their shortcomings as well but is left impressed. For their price it is great fun to listen to them. Initially I thought that these are gimmicky but after playing Hotel California I was totally blown.
What I can try and do is record a video using the same track and amp (Rotel RA 10) with the Wharfedales and Miccas. May be it will help to some extent.

Link to Steves Review:

 

[Silencer]

The reviews are in favour of the Miccas. I got some good advice regarding small bookshelves for my planned HT in a very small room. I am trying to audition the speakers suggested by @prateekatasniya.

Please try to squeeze some time out to do a video this weekend. It can really help with my decision making. I have been sitting on the fence since a month. Looks like the wait will be longer.

AVR prices are also outrageous lately. ​

 

[Amarendra]

The reviews are in favour of the Miccas. I got some good advice regarding small bookshelves for my planned HT in a very small room. I am trying to audition the speakers suggested by @prateekatasniya.

Please try to squeeze some time out to do a video this weekend. It can really help with my decision making. I have been sitting on the fence since a month. Looks like the wait will be longer.

AVR prices are also outrageous lately. ​

Sure will do; only thing is pls bear with my video skills

 

[lowpoweraudio]

Not my cup of tea I think GR Research also concluded that leave them as they are. I was also expecting Wharfedales to produce more low end with the big driver but i think the low firing port killed it.

I've found the bottom firing port in the 220 is a really nice design choice. More likely you're hearing a large mid-base hump with the micca's and not more bass extension, but that's fine. It's not reasonable to expect a smaller driver in a much smaller cabinet to have more low freq extension then the 220s. Sure there are exceptions but it comes with tradeoffs in efficiency and needing to run more power. The efficiency of the micca's are quite low @ 83db. Personally, I've never come across a speaker with a lower efficiency but it seems you all are running high/er power receivers/intergrateds? 100w+? So, you make up for the lack of efficiency by turning the volume up. My biggest issue with small driver 4, 5, 6" speakers is the lack of low level dynamics. And not that the 220s offer a big improvement in this area but for a small speaker the 220s offer a more reasonable efficiency and very musical sound especially after a simple upgrade of the crossover. I've find it amusing that so many well known reviewers are switching from high power amplification and low efficiency speakers to low power and higher efficiency speakers. Although no one in the audio press has called it yet - it's the improvement in low level dynamics gained. When you're able to now keep the sound levels at a normal conversation level but all the music is still there. Listen for that.

So, I wont comment further on the Micca's I haven't heard them. This thread was originally started to see if taking an inexpensive speaker, the 220s, and upgrading the crossover components, could give a budget listener a taste of a high end speaker. After personally upgrading the caps and resistors I think it does. Not too many years ago carbon fiber drivers were considered high-end exotica. You get this and some beautiful finished very heavy cabinets in a speaker that can be often be purchased for half of the original retail price. Again, after the crossover upgrade 220s do a LOT of things better then the Lintons 85ths speakers. After a few dollars in parts the end user can turn the 220s into giant killers.

If you like the Micca's i encourage you to try the same with them. Who cares what GR Research says. If you've never soldered before watch some how-to youtube vids and practice on an old radio. If you want to make it really budget friendly. Leave all the old parts in the Micca crossovers and just add some small .01uf bypass cap to the existing caps, Keep the size small, Mudorf aluminum EVOs or even MKP-1837s come to mind. Happy listening from LowpowerAudio

 

[Amarendra]

I've found the bottom firing port in the 220 is a really nice design choice. More likely you're hearing a large mid-base hump with the micca's and not more bass extension, but that's fine. It's not reasonable to expect a smaller driver in a much smaller cabinet to have more low freq extension then the 220s. Sure there are exceptions but it comes with tradeoffs in efficiency and needing to run more power. The efficiency of the micca's are quite low @ 83db. Personally, I've never come across a speaker with a lower efficiency but it seems you all are running high/er power receivers/intergrateds? 100w+? So, you make up for the lack of efficiency by turning the volume up. My biggest issue with small driver 4, 5, 6" speakers is the lack of low level dynamics. And not that the 220s offer a big improvement in this area but for a small speaker the 220s offer a more reasonable efficiency and very musical sound especially after a simple upgrade of the crossover. I've find it amusing that so many well known reviewers are switching from high power amplification and low efficiency speakers to low power and higher efficiency speakers. Although no one in the audio press has called it yet - it's the improvement in low level dynamics gained. When you're able to now keep the sound levels at a normal conversation level but all the music is still there. Listen for that.

So, I wont comment further on the Micca's I haven't heard them. This thread was originally started to see if taking an inexpensive speaker, the 220s, and upgrading the crossover components, could give a budget listener a taste of a high end speaker. After personally upgrading the caps and resistors I think it does. Not too many years ago carbon fiber drivers were considered high-end exotica. You get this and some beautiful finished very heavy cabinets in a speaker that can be often be purchased for half of the original retail price. Again, after the crossover upgrade 220s do a LOT of things better then the Lintons 85ths speakers. After a few dollars in parts the end user can turn the 220s into giant killers.

If you like the Micca's i encourage you to try the same with them. Who cares what GR Research says. If you've never soldered before watch some how-to youtube vids and practice on an old radio. If you want to make it really budget friendly. Leave all the old parts in the Micca crossovers and just add some small .01uf bypass cap to the existing caps, Keep the size small, Mudorf aluminum EVOs or even MKP-1837s come to mind. Happy listening from LowpowerAudio

I would love to try the mods on the 220s. I was quite impressed when you said that after mods they sound like the Lintons

I've found the bottom firing port in the 220 is a really nice design choice. More likely you're hearing a large mid-base hump with the micca's and not more bass extension, but that's fine. It's not reasonable to expect a smaller driver in a much smaller cabinet to have more low freq extension then the 220s. Sure there are exceptions but it comes with tradeoffs in efficiency and needing to run more power. The efficiency of the micca's are quite low @ 83db. Personally, I've never come across a speaker with a lower efficiency but it seems you all are running high/er power receivers/intergrateds? 100w+? So, you make up for the lack of efficiency by turning the volume up. My biggest issue with small driver 4, 5, 6" speakers is the lack of low level dynamics. And not that the 220s offer a big improvement in this area but for a small speaker the 220s offer a more reasonable efficiency and very musical sound especially after a simple upgrade of the crossover. I've find it amusing that so many well known reviewers are switching from high power amplification and low efficiency speakers to low power and higher efficiency speakers. Although no one in the audio press has called it yet - it's the improvement in low level dynamics gained. When you're able to now keep the sound levels at a normal conversation level but all the music is still there. Listen for that.

So, I wont comment further on the Micca's I haven't heard them. This thread was originally started to see if taking an inexpensive speaker, the 220s, and upgrading the crossover components, could give a budget listener a taste of a high end speaker. After personally upgrading the caps and resistors I think it does. Not too many years ago carbon fiber drivers were considered high-end exotica. You get this and some beautiful finished very heavy cabinets in a speaker that can be often be purchased for half of the original retail price. Again, after the crossover upgrade 220s do a LOT of things better then the Lintons 85ths speakers. After a few dollars in parts the end user can turn the 220s into giant killers.

If you like the Micca's i encourage you to try the same with them. Who cares what GR Research says. If you've never soldered before watch some how-to youtube vids and practice on an old radio. If you want to make it really budget friendly. Leave all the old parts in the Micca crossovers and just add some small .01uf bypass cap to the existing caps, Keep the size small, Mudorf aluminum EVOs or even MKP-1837s come to mind. Happy listening from LowpowerAudio

What’s a good place to start learning about replacing caps etc ? Any reading or vids that you recommend ? Thanks

 

[irv]

I would love to try the mods on the 220s. I was quite impressed when you said that after mods they sound like the Lintons

I too am in the same boat..

 

[DariusXX]

Hello !

Any updates on the youtube video ?

Highly anticipating.. i have the bigger brother 225's, would love to make the same upgrade but I guess the crossover components are not 100% the same, will have to dissasemble first.

Did you change the internal foaming / damping aswell ?

 

[viveshsahu]

it's little scary when doing by yourself but if it sounds better then try worthy.

 

[johnss]

Greetings,

In light of the interest of taken in improving the sound quality of the Wharfedale 85th Anniversary Linton speakers. I thought it would be fun to see what gains could be realized from modifying the smallest and least expensive speaker in the Wharfedale line. Additionally, while every DIYer dreams of modding the big expensive speakers. I believe documenting a project like this on a relatively inexpensive speaker ($249pr USD amazon) brings value to the mod/DIY community in two ways. First, we could realize gains much larger than one would initially expect from such a inexpensive speaker. Could such speaker after mods compete with an OEM speaker in $500, $1000, or even $2000 range? Second, for an enthusiast with a limited budget or planning a first DIY, starting with $249pr of speakers is a LOT less intimidating and holds less RISK then attempting to mod a $1500+ pair of speakers as a first project. As I like to say its audio win-win! ~Personally, it gives me something to listen to while I'm butchering up the new Lintons that arrived last week.

In my past experience, I have modded/upgraded numerous pieces of electronics and several pairs of speakers. A pair of Usher S-520s (resistor upgrades), Boston Acoustic CR-9 (resistor & caps), Revel Concerta2 M16 (resistor & caps), KEF R300 (resistors & caps). In retrospect, I found all of these mods increased the musicality and enjoyment of these speakers for relatively little cost. As DIY're I'm certainly no expert and have learned much from these experiences. In some cases, I would have done things differently and/or utilize different parts or methods etc. I will pass this info on as I remember.

Moreover, I'm of the philosophy that products are built at a price point with many considerations. Manufactures build and market products to be competitive on many levels and make a profit. The sheer 'ultimate' expression of performance or musicality within a specific design is often not a consideration, or only to a price point given an established ROI. In other words, you are not going to find a company selling a $99 speaker filled with thousands of dollars’ worth of handmade copper foil capacitors and inductors selected after hundreds of hours of dedicated listening. In this specific case we are looking at only about $130USD in parts in addition to the original cost of the Diamond 220s. While proportionally the parts/speaker cost ratio is high, overall, the total costs of under $400 should be manageable for most enthusiasts (Spoiler alert: they will be very pleased).

WARNING if you generally believe: "If it measures the same it 'sounds' the same / if you can’t measure you can't hear it" or "If they could have made it better they would have" then this thread will be disturbing for you. Instead, go make a nice cup of tea, read some whitepapers on THD, and forget all this silliness.

As we begin, here two simple project guidelines:

First. All mods will fit/utilize the existing factory crossover board. We will not be creating an outboard or external box to house the crossover. Such mods are beyond the scope my DIY philosophy especially for working with an inexpensive speaker. We want to maintain the OEM look without building additional enclosures/wire and connectors.

Second. Mods/parts need to have reasonable size / cost constraints and utilize factory values whenever possible. In other words, while everyone might like Jupiter or Duelund Cast Copper foil capacitors I’ve learned my lesson with attempting to squeeze oversized soup can sized capacitors in spaces clearly not designed for such. Moreover, we’re not redesigning the crossover. Let’s give the designers the benefit of the doubt with the original crossover order/slopes and design. Our goal is improving an existing design not making a new one. If you find yourself absolutely needing outboard crossovers and capacitors the size of a football then politely leave your OEM speakers alone and design a pair of speakers from scratch with a suitable sized cabinet and drivers.
Yes, this means we will have to make some sacrifices ultimate part selection. Don’t worry! It will still sound far better than factory and you will be gloriously happy. Don’t be the person who foolishly spent $2000 parts to upgrade a $200 speaker.

Here we have the factory Diamond 220 tweeter removed. I’ve found it very helpful to grab my phone a snap a pic of the color and position of the terminal connections. Don’t trust on your memory for this please! If you get distracted or perhaps events happen preventing a quick project completion, or if weeks pass you will find it very helpful to have pics during your reassembly. Note the terminal clips in the 220 lock you’ll need to be carefull and bend the clip out or use a pointy tool to reach underneath the press in the lock lever to be able to pull the wires off.
View attachment 65259

View attachment 65260
Additionally, use if you have problems removing the driver use a thin plastic wedge like a plastic painters putty knife or combination with thin pic to break the speaker free. Remember use your camera to take a pic of the color wire connector / polarity! Note the cabinet stuffing arrangement We will reuse/change the position the stuffing and allocate it in a C configuration (if looking from the side of the speaker).



View attachment 65261

Here we are going to remove the bi-wire capability. Instead of having two pairs of operating binding posts we will combine the tweeter and woofer imput wires together so they attach to only one set ( I picked the lower - & + binding post. You could also simply run one pair of cables and bridge them at the crossover but this way if someone really wanted to restore the bi-wire ability they would simply re-solder the appropriate wires back the 2md set of posts. Personally I really dont like bi-wiring speaker and find little need for it. You're better off buying ONE good set of cables rather then TWO lower quality pairs of speaker cable. If want you can clip the tin connectors and solder the wires right to the binding posts. I also rewired the speakers, I was concerned the cable used here was all tin but on further investigation it is basic tin coated copper appliance wire about 14awg, Not bad. But for this project I sourced some nice OCC 14awg wire to all the drivers. Don't get crazy on wire. Just make sure its all copper.

View attachment 65262

Here's a pic of the original crossover. Note at the top you'll see the Blue and Yellow wire marked + & - HF which is the tweeter and the Red and Black wire marked + & - LF which is the tweeter. Take your pics! Your colors could be different! Below bottom you see the same configuration but going to speaker binding posts. We don't have a schematic here but pretty easy to figure out if you divide the crossover down the middle following the black Phillips screw heads you have the Tweeter components on the left and mid/woofer on the right.

View attachment 65263
Here we have the 220 crossover removed as you can see we've removed Two 4.2uf Mylar caps from the HF section and installed new Mills (brown) and Ohmite wire-wound resistors with the same OEM values. One the right the same with the .5uf, 22.uf and 6.8 uf caps removed. De-soldering takes sometime, use a little fresh melted solder on you tip to de-solder the old stuff, Flux, solder sucker, and braid all helps. Take your time, I know it sucks.

View attachment 65264
Here is the completed board. For the tweeter we left the original blue 32uf electrolytic in place and replaced the Mylar caps using Clarity Cap PX series caps. Why? because they fit nicely and they sound good. I had to use 3.8uf with Mundorf .33 EVO aluminum bypass to make the OEM 4.2uf value. Not because I'm big into cap bypassing there was no other way to make the 4.2uf odd ball values. The EVOs are nice small and cheap. For the mid/woofer section I went a little crazy the big white cap is another Mudorf EVO 6.8uf aluminum. If I did this again I might have stepped up and used a EVO aluminum oil in this position as the size is the same but cost is double. I also replaced the 22uf electrolytic with a Jantzen smooth foil type electrolytic. I had to order these from the UK but thought here it was worth it as here in the mid range will be very noticeable. Note the new copper 14awg wire running to the board. I also had to swap the position of the 6.8 and 22uf caps for spacing no matter as the 6.8 is bypassing the 22uf so position doesn't matter.

View attachment 65265
Here is the upgraded crossover nestled in the cabinet. Watch the positioning of the 6.8uf cap if it overhangs the edge of the board you will have a tough time fitting the board back in. In that case flip the board 90 deg. Note I covered the inside of the cabinet with 1/8" thick felt for added cabinet damping / make sure when you re stuff the cabinet you don't block off the mid/woofer port!

View attachment 65266
Here we are at re assembly Be sure to mark you speaker wire for the correct polarity and I soldered the wire directly to the speaker terminals and binding posts. Just re stuff the cabinets and bolt your drivers back in! All in all expect 5-6 hrs of work and about $150 in parts. I will post parts/value lists as well as video on my youtube channel lowpoweraudio in coming weeks. I will post additional thought and a comparison to the non-modded Lintons here.

View attachment 65267
The results are unbelievable! At this point I prefer them to the non modded Lintons. I know this hard to believe. Of course, there is less bass with the Diamond 220s but after the mod they possess an incredible almost electrostatic like coherence in the mid range and bass is very tuneful and satisfying. I would put these against any other bookshelf speaker under $2k USD. Deffently better then the Revel Concerta2 M16s. More to come. Absolutely incredible results!

Happy listening and more to come!
lowpoweraudio

@lowpoweraudio, thanks so much for posting the photos as well as the issues you ran into when doing the work. I just joined, but was wondering if you are using P-P tube power or SET tube power or something else.
Tks

 

[dberk]

Greetings,

In light of the interest of taken in improving the sound quality of the Wharfedale 85th Anniversary Linton speakers. I thought it would be fun to see what gains could be realized from modifying the smallest and least expensive speaker in the Wharfedale line. Additionally, while every DIYer dreams of modding the big expensive speakers. I believe documenting a project like this on a relatively inexpensive speaker ($249pr USD amazon) brings value to the mod/DIY community in two ways. First, we could realize gains much larger than one would initially expect from such a inexpensive speaker. Could such speaker after mods compete with an OEM speaker in $500, $1000, or even $2000 range? Second, for an enthusiast with a limited budget or planning a first DIY, starting with $249pr of speakers is a LOT less intimidating and holds less RISK then attempting to mod a $1500+ pair of speakers as a first project. As I like to say its audio win-win! ~Personally, it gives me something to listen to while I'm butchering up the new Lintons that arrived last week.

In my past experience, I have modded/upgraded numerous pieces of electronics and several pairs of speakers. A pair of Usher S-520s (resistor upgrades), Boston Acoustic CR-9 (resistor & caps), Revel Concerta2 M16 (resistor & caps), KEF R300 (resistors & caps). In retrospect, I found all of these mods increased the musicality and enjoyment of these speakers for relatively little cost. As DIY're I'm certainly no expert and have learned much from these experiences. In some cases, I would have done things differently and/or utilize different parts or methods etc. I will pass this info on as I remember.

Moreover, I'm of the philosophy that products are built at a price point with many considerations. Manufactures build and market products to be competitive on many levels and make a profit. The sheer 'ultimate' expression of performance or musicality within a specific design is often not a consideration, or only to a price point given an established ROI. In other words, you are not going to find a company selling a $99 speaker filled with thousands of dollars’ worth of handmade copper foil capacitors and inductors selected after hundreds of hours of dedicated listening. In this specific case we are looking at only about $130USD in parts in addition to the original cost of the Diamond 220s. While proportionally the parts/speaker cost ratio is high, overall, the total costs of under $400 should be manageable for most enthusiasts (Spoiler alert: they will be very pleased).

WARNING if you generally believe: "If it measures the same it 'sounds' the same / if you can’t measure you can't hear it" or "If they could have made it better they would have" then this thread will be disturbing for you. Instead, go make a nice cup of tea, read some whitepapers on THD, and forget all this silliness.

As we begin, here two simple project guidelines:

First. All mods will fit/utilize the existing factory crossover board. We will not be creating an outboard or external box to house the crossover. Such mods are beyond the scope my DIY philosophy especially for working with an inexpensive speaker. We want to maintain the OEM look without building additional enclosures/wire and connectors.

Second. Mods/parts need to have reasonable size / cost constraints and utilize factory values whenever possible. In other words, while everyone might like Jupiter or Duelund Cast Copper foil capacitors I’ve learned my lesson with attempting to squeeze oversized soup can sized capacitors in spaces clearly not designed for such. Moreover, we’re not redesigning the crossover. Let’s give the designers the benefit of the doubt with the original crossover order/slopes and design. Our goal is improving an existing design not making a new one. If you find yourself absolutely needing outboard crossovers and capacitors the size of a football then politely leave your OEM speakers alone and design a pair of speakers from scratch with a suitable sized cabinet and drivers.
Yes, this means we will have to make some sacrifices ultimate part selection. Don’t worry! It will still sound far better than factory and you will be gloriously happy. Don’t be the person who foolishly spent $2000 parts to upgrade a $200 speaker.

Here we have the factory Diamond 220 tweeter removed. I’ve found it very helpful to grab my phone a snap a pic of the color and position of the terminal connections. Don’t trust on your memory for this please! If you get distracted or perhaps events happen preventing a quick project completion, or if weeks pass you will find it very helpful to have pics during your reassembly. Note the terminal clips in the 220 lock you’ll need to be carefull and bend the clip out or use a pointy tool to reach underneath the press in the lock lever to be able to pull the wires off.
View attachment 65259

View attachment 65260
Additionally, use if you have problems removing the driver use a thin plastic wedge like a plastic painters putty knife or combination with thin pic to break the speaker free. Remember use your camera to take a pic of the color wire connector / polarity! Note the cabinet stuffing arrangement We will reuse/change the position the stuffing and allocate it in a C configuration (if looking from the side of the speaker).



View attachment 65261

Here we are going to remove the bi-wire capability. Instead of having two pairs of operating binding posts we will combine the tweeter and woofer imput wires together so they attach to only one set ( I picked the lower - & + binding post. You could also simply run one pair of cables and bridge them at the crossover but this way if someone really wanted to restore the bi-wire ability they would simply re-solder the appropriate wires back the 2md set of posts. Personally I really dont like bi-wiring speaker and find little need for it. You're better off buying ONE good set of cables rather then TWO lower quality pairs of speaker cable. If want you can clip the tin connectors and solder the wires right to the binding posts. I also rewired the speakers, I was concerned the cable used here was all tin but on further investigation it is basic tin coated copper appliance wire about 14awg, Not bad. But for this project I sourced some nice OCC 14awg wire to all the drivers. Don't get crazy on wire. Just make sure its all copper.

View attachment 65262

Here's a pic of the original crossover. Note at the top you'll see the Blue and Yellow wire marked + & - HF which is the tweeter and the Red and Black wire marked + & - LF which is the tweeter. Take your pics! Your colors could be different! Below bottom you see the same configuration but going to speaker binding posts. We don't have a schematic here but pretty easy to figure out if you divide the crossover down the middle following the black Phillips screw heads you have the Tweeter components on the left and mid/woofer on the right.

View attachment 65263
Here we have the 220 crossover removed as you can see we've removed Two 4.2uf Mylar caps from the HF section and installed new Mills (brown) and Ohmite wire-wound resistors with the same OEM values. One the right the same with the .5uf, 22.uf and 6.8 uf caps removed. De-soldering takes sometime, use a little fresh melted solder on you tip to de-solder the old stuff, Flux, solder sucker, and braid all helps. Take your time, I know it sucks.

View attachment 65264
Here is the completed board. For the tweeter we left the original blue 32uf electrolytic in place and replaced the Mylar caps using Clarity Cap PX series caps. Why? because they fit nicely and they sound good. I had to use 3.8uf with Mundorf .33 EVO aluminum bypass to make the OEM 4.2uf value. Not because I'm big into cap bypassing there was no other way to make the 4.2uf odd ball values. The EVOs are nice small and cheap. For the mid/woofer section I went a little crazy the big white cap is another Mudorf EVO 6.8uf aluminum. If I did this again I might have stepped up and used a EVO aluminum oil in this position as the size is the same but cost is double. I also replaced the 22uf electrolytic with a Jantzen smooth foil type electrolytic. I had to order these from the UK but thought here it was worth it as here in the mid range will be very noticeable. Note the new copper 14awg wire running to the board. I also had to swap the position of the 6.8 and 22uf caps for spacing no matter as the 6.8 is bypassing the 22uf so position doesn't matter.

View attachment 65265
Here is the upgraded crossover nestled in the cabinet. Watch the positioning of the 6.8uf cap if it overhangs the edge of the board you will have a tough time fitting the board back in. In that case flip the board 90 deg. Note I covered the inside of the cabinet with 1/8" thick felt for added cabinet damping / make sure when you re stuff the cabinet you don't block off the mid/woofer port!

View attachment 65266
Here we are at re assembly Be sure to mark you speaker wire for the correct polarity and I soldered the wire directly to the speaker terminals and binding posts. Just re stuff the cabinets and bolt your drivers back in! All in all expect 5-6 hrs of work and about $150 in parts. I will post parts/value lists as well as video on my youtube channel lowpoweraudio in coming weeks. I will post additional thought and a comparison to the non-modded Lintons here.

View attachment 65267
The results are unbelievable! At this point I prefer them to the non modded Lintons. I know this hard to believe. Of course, there is less bass with the Diamond 220s but after the mod they possess an incredible almost electrostatic like coherence in the mid range and bass is very tuneful and satisfying. I would put these against any other bookshelf speaker under $2k USD. Deffently better then the Revel Concerta2 M16s. More to come. Absolutely incredible results!

Happy listening and more to come!
lowpoweraudio

Great post. I know it's two years old but just came across it. Any chance you be interested in doing mine if I set you the crossovers and of course paid for the parts and your time?

 

[timipsk]

Greeting,
I cannot find the YouTube link which has the parts details. Can you post the parts details here?

 

[dp1105]

Did someone manage to do this with a D225 ?