Golden Ear - Triton (closer to the) Reference

ETI = The binding posts I have used, see link below.

Don’t worry too much about using exactly the same parts. I use the ETI because they were the cheapest binding posts made of copper I could find here locally.

 
Installing the cross over inside the speaker:
The new crossovers are much heavier, and larger obviously. I used these threaded inserts + M4 bolts for the installation. The hold the boars very securely in place, and don’t sit very deep meaning no risk of damaging the beautiful paint finish on the back (imagine drilling long screws out the back). I used rubber stand-offs between the cabinet back and the underside of the crossover board.
Morten, great information, I am contemplating doing the same thing. Just a couple of questions, how long is the bolt that you used? Also what about the rubber stand-offs? Also you mention that the crossovers come with the wires soldered, I assume to the appropriate length for each driver? I communicated with Tony Gee and he informed me that you used 2 additional capacitors not in his upgrade kit, what difference did it make to the sound? I am moderately mechanical and I'm for learning all the time, so I'm tempted to tackle this project myself. Worst case, I can farm it out to a speaker repair shop. My greatest worry is wiring the drivers incorrectly. This is a question that I posed to Tony G,

"I'm going to ask you to be candid with me, I have a pair of Goldenear Triton Reference speakers which are my end game speakers, listening to them in a comprehensively acoustically treated room, optimally placed for sound staging and imaging. I am a mature person who wears hearing aids for high frequency hearing loss otherwise I hear well. IMO, these speakers sound wonderful, I have a good digital and analog front section with good synergy through out. .

My question, if I do this would I be able to hear the improvement and would it be worth it?"

His response,

"I always measure a loudspeaker's impedance and frequency plot just to check if everything is connected correctly, especially with a complex build like this. Even the best of us can sometimes make a mistake ;-) The new crossovers are tested and measured before they are shipped anyway, so any measurements at your end would only be to confirm correct wiring and driver connection.


The audible differences between the standard crossovers and the upgraded crossovers are mainly things like improved texture, more natural timbre and a more spatial image. In a treated room these differences will be more noticeable than in a non-treated room, like the differences between (for example) amplifiers are more evident in a treated room. I must be honest that I have never heard MortenB's actual speakers, so I can't comment exactly on what it does to the GoldenEar speaker. I can only comment on upgraded crossovers in general.


MortenB used two capacitors in his crossovers that he happened to have in his 'toolbox'. I am unable to acquire these so there will be a minor difference between his actual crossovers and my upgraded version. But the overall improvement should be the same.


If it is worth it is basically down to cost, I usually see the effect of a crossover upgrade like upgrading an amplifier or source component to a top of the range version. So for example going from a Marantz PM-6007 to a PM-10 amplifier. The original tonal balance is similar, you just hear more information coming from the speakers."

My question to you MortenB, considering your background and experience is the upgrade worth it to you?
 
MortenB, the last question, did you have to expand the existing hole for the wire pass through or did you drill an adjoining hole? Thank you for all your helpful information.
 
Let me start by answering the final question in your post, and ready my post earlier in the thread, where I have also answered this. Is it worth it? Before the upgrade these were speakers I would be able to tolerate for the time being, but they would be sold when/if I have the chance/space/money for some high end DIY speakers again. After the upgrade I listen to these and enjoy them. To me that’s a HUGE difference easily worth the money, but obviously I can only speak for myself. I fully agree with what you quote from Tony, and to me that’s a world of difference…

And then, just think it through, it’s really not that complicated. I like your approach on giving it a go :)

When stripping the speakers:
Take lot’s of pictures, make sure your pictures show what color wire goes to the + and - terminals on each driver etc etc.

Keep things organized, for instance store each mid-woofer in a plastic bag together with the damping material that was in the cabinet behind that mid-woofer. Etc etc…

Don’t rush things, take your time. It’s always when we’re rushing we make mistakes.

Your question on what two capacitors make:
The only way I would answer your question would be investing the money in two set’s of cross overs, and then spending time installing one set, then stripping the speakers, installing the other set of cross overs, and then doing that maybe 10 times to make sure I hear no difference. No, I have not done that ;-). What I can say is, that based on my 30-40 years of experience, it makes no difference as long as caps of same quality is used. Tony will select the best capacitors, don’t worry and don’t over-think this. Trust Tony, he is doing this for a living, he is as professional as professionals come.

It’s not like if it’s not 100% identical to what I have, it will not work or not sound good. Same as with my answer on binding posts above.

The wiring:
If you order the cross overs from Tony with the wiring harness, he will include that in the correct measurements ready for installation. But have a talk with him about that, I’m just one of his customers, so I’m not the right one to ask.

The bolts:
Again think it through, it’s not difficult at all :) See the attached drawing for reference. In my case, I used a 12mm thick MDF board as cross over board, I know Tony use different boards (thinner, look at his site). And in my case I used 10 mm rubber stand offs. So in my case 30mm bolts were the right length. See the drawing… If the bolt is too short, it can’t reach the threaded insert and you can’t install the cross over board. If the bolts are too long, you can’t tighten the bolts, because they hit the cabinet. If a thinner board is used, the bolt must be shorter…
 

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MortenB, the last question, did you have to expand the existing hole for the wire pass through or did you drill an adjoining hole? Thank you for all your helpful information.
You need 3 holes, one for each of the 3 Furutech cables. One hole is already there, so you drill two more. See this picture, also shown earlier.

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Let me try to sum up based on your various questions, and try to make things as clear as possible.

Also I have to remind you, that this is not an easy speaker to work on because of the many drivers and tight space inside the cabinets. This project is one of those: If you have to ask, then maybe consider twice before you attempt doing it yourself. I will do what I can to help, but you also have to be able to work out stuff as you go along, where to drill holes, how big they must be, how long bolts are needed, how to seal around cables with hot glue etc etc.

But on the other hand, if you have resonable mechanical skills, can work with delicate items without breaking them, then you should be able to do it. Just take your time, and think steps through before rushing and making mistakes. I’m sure a lot will make more sense, once you have all the drivers and the passive radiators out and can actually see what’s going on inside the cabinet.

Taking a step back, the point from my side was to upgrade these without making changes to the exterior of the speakers, and to only make minimal changes on the interior. If you also change the binding posts, the only difference you will see on the outside after the upgrade is the new binding posts.

Let me detail a bit more, the changes you must make on the inside to make room for the much bigger cross over, and the much thicker cables.

Stripping.
Remove the original cross overs + wiring. You also have to remove the damping material inside the midwoofer chambers, and the grey foam in the woofer chamber. The grey foam is glued in place, so remove it carefully without damaging it, as it has to be reinstalled later.

Binding posts:
The ETI has this lille ‘’notch’’ (see yellow arrows) to prevent them spinning. You must drill/file for that. And when installing them seal with some sort of glue to make the connection air tight. I used epoxy.

Threaded inserts:
Drill holes into the back panel to install them. DON’T drill deeper than necessary for them to sit flush as shown in the picture. Before that of course you must identify where to locate them in the back panel. When you get the cross overs, install them ‘’loosely’’ in the cabinet. Then use a nail/hammer through the mounting holes in the cross over board to mark positions. Remove cross over boards and drill for the threaded interts at the marks.

Remove small bracing:
With the new cross over board being a lot bigger you need to remove a small piece of bracing towards the back of the cabinet. I have attached a picture showing this. See my yellow and red mark-up’s. The red on stays, only remove the one markd with yellow. When that is removed, the cross over board slides under the red one.

Drill holes for cables:
The midwoofers and tweeter has their own ‘’cabinet inside the cabinet’’. Between the woofer section and the midwoofer section there is one hole already, all wires go through that. When stripping the speakers for the original cross over board and the original wiring you will see, that the Furutech cable can go through the exisiting hole. Drill two more holes, so you have 3 holes in a tight trinangle, as shown in my pictures.

Hot glue to seal:
See my previous post on this also. It’s very important to get a tight seal between the woofer cabinet, and the midwoofer cabinet. Use hotglue on each side, meaning both on the woofer side, and on the midwoofer side (see yellow arrows) to seal the Furutech cables. Again, see my explanation above to how to make sure you have airtight seal.

Woofer wiring:
If you also replace the woofer wiring as I did (stripped Furutech) you have to solder on the connector for the output from the internal amp on the new wiring. I did it the easy way, and that is to cut the original wire 5cm or so from the connector, strip the wires, and then solder them to the new Furutech wires. The area where you solder the wires together must be insulated with two layers of heat-shrink tubing on each wire for safety. I did not take a picture of this, but one of the attached close up pics show the Furutech wires (red and white wires) going to the amp. Another close up shows the amp, and in a red circle the male part of the connector, the female part is on the wiring to the woofers.


This is all I can think of, in addition to what I have aready explained in previous posts. Hope it makes sense :cool:

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Woofer wiring:
If you also replace the woofer wiring as I did (stripped Furutech) you have to solder on the connector for the output from the internal amp on the new wiring. I did it the easy way, and that is to cut the original wire 5cm or so from the connector, strip the wires, and then solder them to the new Furutech wires. The area where you solder the wires together must be insulated with two layers of heat-shrink tubing on each wire for safety. I did not take a picture of this, but one of the attached close up pics show the Furutech wires (red and white wires) going to the amp. Another close up shows the amp, and in a red circle the male part of the connector, the female part is on the wiring to the woofers.


Are you talking about connecting to the dsp unit that controls the crossovers as in your picture, or the Furutech wires directly to each subwoofer?
 
Sorry, I don’t quite understand your question.

I have not talked about DSP, and my picture does not show DSP, the picture shows the internal amp. I’m talking about the wiring from the internal amp to the woofers.

Please again:
Find the right balance between the curage to give it a go, and keeping your hands of, if your not comfortable/skilled. These are difficult to work on. As a minimum, you must have above average soldering skills, and have the mechanical skills to work on delicate items.
 
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Sorry, I don’t quite understand your question.

I have not talked about DSP, and my picture does not show DSP, the picture shows the internal amp. I’m talking about the wiring from the internal amp to the woofers.

Please again:
Find the right balance between the curage to give it a go, and keeping your hands of, if your not comfortable/skilled. These are difficult to work on. As a minimum, you must have above average soldering skills, and have the mechanical skills to work on delicate items.

Let me clarify, in your picture of the stock crossover, you show the accompanying wire harness with multiple spade connectors, the upgraded crossover comes with 4 wires, 2 for the midrange, one for the tweeter and a short one for the amp/woofers.

2 questions, what happens to the connections from the original OEM crossover wiring harness once the crossover is removed?

Secondly, I was under the impression that the Furutech wire would replace the existing wires connected to the subwoofers themselves? In your picture, the Furutech wire connects to the small connector on the amp via the little connector on the board?

Worst case scenario, I can do the prep, placement of the crossovers myself and let a speaker repair specialist, do the soldering which per Tony would void the crossover warranty anyway.

Any particular considerations regarding the upgraded binding posts installation?

Thank you, for all your time and attention.

Rafael
 
, the upgraded crossover comes with 4 wires, 2 for the midrange, one for the tweeter and a short one for the amp/woofers.
No, this is not correct. The passive cross over is NOT connected to the amp/woofers.

My best advise based on your questions and assesment of the design, is to find someone who can help you do the upgrade, or just enjoy your speakers as they are :) I’m saying this to help.
 
It’s funny with these brand names. For us here in Denmark ‘’Viborg’’ is one of our cities, and I’m quite sure your binding posts are not made there ;)
 

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Hah!
the binding posts seem to be a Chinese/united kingdom combo? and I think they just liked the name :cool:
by the way hate to bug you with more questions than you need but the bracing that you removed (the yellow one in photo)
how was it done specifically?
Hit it with a hammer, saw it off, (or maybe just tell it to leave..ha) at risk of possibly cracking something I ask and did you
epoxy the rubbers to both the crossover board and speaker wall or just one and if just one which one?
waiting for Tony to send Transfer info to get this all ordered I hope nothing will be missed
Tony will be sending two fully wired and checked crossovers only and I should get the rest from my local hardware store
found a great guy much like yourself has years of knowledge under his belt and I will get as much done as I can before he
comes over to help with the install
so between the both off us and your fine photos and direction we should be good!
Best
 
PS: I forgot to add
noticed your speakers are on wooden floors as mine are and
I needed to dampen the sound because we had someone below us at the time and it worked quite well
with a noticeable overall firming in the sound as a bonus!
I used "Pyle" sound damping speaker risers I found on Amazon but you may find a different brand that could work as good
just a thought
Best
 

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