UPGRADE! Found speakers used in Logitech Z-560

[hapahaole]

Just to shake things up a a little.Logitech gets their 3" drivers from Tang Band. Buy some of these kickass shielded drivers and upgrade your standard PC speakers with some real drivers. The worst offenders are Cambridge and Altec, who have gotten by on super-cheap drivers with paper cones and fabric (now foam) surrounds for as long as possible.

The two following drivers are both made with a rubber surround and one even has a polypropylene cone. FYI so for speaker nuts, check these out.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...&St3=46814835&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=117925&DID=7

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...&St3=46814835&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=117924&DID=7

For those of you using Cambridge or other speakers that use a 2" driver, you can upgrade the cheap-as-we-can-get-away-with 2" driver that Cambridge uses with a superior 2" shielded Tang Band driver below.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...&St3=46814835&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=117921&DID=7

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...&St3=46814835&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=117922&DID=7

 

[hapahaole]

Almost forgot, you could go really crazy and upgrade with these 3" aluminum drivers, good for replacing the driver/midbass in a setup that has a subwoofer with 2-way (woofer + tweeter) satellites. These are actually superior to even the Audax drivers used in VideoLogic's top end speakers and the driver used in Klipsch's satellites.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...4&St3=46814835&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=16202&DID=7

 

[Megatomic]

Can I use them on my Altec 45.2 Powercube speakers? I only worry about current draw. The subwoofer drives my satellites and I don't want to burn it up (cheap as it may be).

 

[Imported]

Anything for the Z540s?

 

[Lore]

Originally posted by: hapahaole
Just to shake things up a a little.Logitech gets their 3" drivers from Tang Band. Buy some of these kickass shielded drivers and upgrade your standard PC speakers with some real drivers. The worst offenders are Cambridge and Altec, who have gotten by on super-cheap drivers with paper cones and fabric (now foam) surrounds for as long as possible.

The two following drivers are both made with a rubber surround and one even has a polypropylene cone. FYI so for speaker nuts, check these out.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...&St3=46814835&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=117925&DID=7

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&User_ID=10833352&St=5064&St2=-68063034&St3=46814835&DS_ID=3&Product_ID=117924&DID=7

This makes me wonder -- the specifications on those speakers state 15 watts RMS/30 watts max -- how does Logitech come up with the claim of 53 watts RMS on their Z-680s? I think someone mentioned this before when they took apart their system's speakers and saw the rating clearly on the speaker unit.

 

[Insane3D]

This makes me wonder -- the specifications on those speakers state 15 watts RMS/30 watts max -- how does Logitech come up with the claim of 53 watts RMS on their Z-680s? I think someone mentioned this before when they took apart their system's speakers and saw the rating clearly on the speaker unit.

It's very common for drivers to work above their rated wattage range. If the drivers are good quality, and, more importantly, the power is clean from the amp, going above the normal operating range is no big deal.

 

[Lore]

Really... wow. That's a significant increase though 253% over the rated normal usage and 77% more than the max rating.

 

[Adul]

wow thanks

 

[beatle]

Excellent! I wonder if the subwoofer of my old desktop theater could be replaced as well. According to specs it's a 5.75" woofer, a peculiar size. I'm also not sure of the wattage. I can't find any specs online for them. These are the original desktop theater speakers (white only) that had no DIN input from sblive cards, just a spdif and 2 line in plugs for the front/rear speakers. They are also lower wattage than the later models.

Linked for the lazy:
3" paper cone, aluminum phase link - $11.32

3" PPM cone, rubber surround - $11.46

3" aluminum cone - $33.09

2" PPM cone, aluminum phase plug - $7.88

2" paper cone - $8.39

 

[bigpow]

Hmm... Thinking of upgrading my Z560 with one of this driver, for the center channel.
I wonder how it'll turn out.

 

[silent tone]

Yeah, I found a review somewhere that I've been unable to locate since that took apart the z-560s. In addition to the satellites being 15W, the sub was like 80W and the amp or components in it or something was only good for like 180W. I still like my z-560s though.

 

[Mday]

how do you measure the physical size of a driver? i saw the driver that looked like the 560 sat. ones in their catalog last year... i wondered if it'd fit the speakers.

 

[TGCid]

You do know that there are more to speakers than just popping out one driver and popping in another right? A really expensive driver with shitty crossover is jack. A not so expensive driver with a well designed crossover can be heaven. Each driver also has different resonant frecuency and etc. Also just because a driver cone is made out of paper doesnt mean it is bad, there are several types with different paper treatments.

Furthermore, I am not sure about the resistance load that your speakers amp can take. You might kill the amp.

 

[beatle]

What kind of crossovers do you think are in these existing speakers? I would think the crossover has to do more with the size of the driver and the enclosure than the driver itself. Has anyone done the driver swap?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but a crossover just filters out certain frequencies above/below/bandpass certain point(s). As my cambridge speakers are full range drivers (down to a point) it seems that the conservative crossovers in the speakers should be a little on the optimistic side of blocking out the lower frequencies if I put in a speaker of similar specs.

 

[RanDum72]

This makes me wonder -- the specifications on those speakers state 15 watts RMS/30 watts max -- how does Logitech come up with the claim of 53 watts RMS on their Z-680s? I think someone mentioned this before when they took apart their system's speakers and saw the rating clearly on the speaker unit.

This is also due to the cross-over being used. The speaker's response curve is from 100-20000hz but if you cross it at 120-150hz (above 120-150hz to the satellites and lower frequencies to the sub), it doesn't have to produce bass frequencies at its lower limits so power handling goes up. The kind of cross-over (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th order) can also affect power handling. The higher it goes in order, the better it does the job of filtering unwanted stray frequencies beyond the cross-over point.The cross-over can also have power-absorbing resistors and/or glass filaments protecting the drivers. While this kinda 'softens' volume as you crank it up, the drivers are protected. It can handle high powered amps but it just doesn't get as loud.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: TGCid
You do know that there are more to speakers than just popping out one driver and popping in another right? A really expensive driver with shitty crossover is jack. A not so expensive driver with a well designed crossover can be heaven. Each driver also has different resonant frecuency and etc. Also just because a driver cone is made out of paper doesnt mean it is bad, there are several types with different paper treatments.

Furthermore, I am not sure about the resistance load that your speakers amp can take. You might kill the amp.

The man knows what he's talking about, people. Listen....

You can't just replace one 3" driver with another 3" driver. It doesn't work that way.

 

[beatle]

Anyone know where I can get a screwdriver to open up these cambridge speakers? My precision screwdrivers are not long enough to reach the screw heads. Radio Shack was no help. I'm planning to check the impedence and then make a decision on whether these speakers would be worth trying. @ less than $8 apiece, I can afford to try 2 of them.

 

[madthumbs]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: TGCid
You do know that there are more to speakers than just popping out one driver and popping in another right? A really expensive driver with shitty crossover is jack. A not so expensive driver with a well designed crossover can be heaven. Each driver also has different resonant frecuency and etc. Also just because a driver cone is made out of paper doesnt mean it is bad, there are several types with different paper treatments.

Furthermore, I am not sure about the resistance load that your speakers amp can take. You might kill the amp.

The man knows what he's talking about, people. Listen....

You can't just replace one 3" driver with another 3" driver. It doesn't work that way.

-Ditto, not just for electrical reasons, but acoustical as well. Good speaker boxes are usually designed with the particular drivers, and frequency ranges in mind. When all is said and done, you should just buy the speakers you are "trying" to attain.

 

[hapahaole]

All is well and good in theory but when you have ripped apart dozens of consumer computer speakers many things are evident:

1. With the exception of oddballs like the MS Sound System 80 (12ohm) nearly all single 3" driver-using satellites are driven at 8 ohms and use an 8ohm driver (e.g. Altec, Labtec, Aura, Videologic) Knowing this comes only by ripping tons of satellites apart. Replace an 8ohm driver with another 8ohm driver.. it is that simple in this case and it does work. You may have to trim the mounting on the driver in some cases (e.g. round instead of pincushion mounting) but that's about it.

2. The cabinet. Indeed. Given the fact that A. most are as cheap a plastic as you can get away with, do not seal well, and with no foam or poly inside, and B. the driver is usually of as low a quality as the manf. can get away with, these usurp any concerns that may arise from putting a better driver into a "well-engineered" mated cabinet. We're not talking Bose 801s, we're talking computer speakers at at THEIR BEST are only about as well engineered as a utilitarian, plastic-cabineted satellite speaker (which in fact the satellites from Klipsch are, small home satellites adapted to the computer arena) and on average are nowhere near audiophile-engineered due to size/form factor/economies of scale concerns. Bottom line the cabinet is usually designed with acoustic concerns about 2nd or 3rd on the list of priorities. I would venture to say that 99% of the people here do not have a Klipsch or similar 300-400 dollar system, thus most of the 3" drivers they are using do not reside in satellites that are "well engineered" for acoustic properties. Take apart 20 or 30 different speakers to see for yourself.

3. The proof is in the sound. Putting a good driver into a small satellite that had a crap, fabric surrounded, paper coned, $2 driver in it that distorted at max volume and crapped out at 16K makes an AUDIBLE difference. Technically, no, we are not talking an audiophile-approved, designed from the ground up improvement (e.g. new cabinet etc.). That's just not realistic here. What is realistic is that it can be done and it does help the sound. Try it yourself.

And.. there's some fun in knowing you're putting the same drivers used in Logitech's Z-680s into your rig. It's a MOD for goodness sakes.