Affordable Accuracy Monitor Review

[BoysRBackinTown]

About to do this mod myself. Here is the best consolidation of information about it.

This is what I used!

Based on the AVS Forum posts linked there, I believe this crossover is for the Peerless tweeter:
View attachment 458216

Yeah I believe there’s no reason to use the stock tweeter since it’s the weakest part of the entire speaker, I believe Dennis has said as much.

 

[Marin]

Took me a while to find this particular post, but I needed the emphasis because I ended up doing this with @Dennis Murphy 's instruction.

It started with the C22 for which I had Dennis build me the crossover as I'm not electrically inclined and hadn't soldered since high school (far too many years ago). For that one I could have just twist, crimped, and taped, but I did get a cheap soldering kit because why not. I didn't have to give the C22 a +3dB bump anymore and voices sounded cleaner and a bit fuller. Now I have a soldering kit too.

The disparity in tweeter quality gnawed on me while watching things, however. So I asked Dennis about the FS52 mod and he sent me the schematics. I decided not to do it at first because it did seem like a lot of work I wasn't ready for. I also didn't want to bother him about building more for me. That gnawing though... Ok let's just order the parts ... and wait a month and a half because of Parts Express back orders. I spent about two hours carefully following the instructions to build both crossover boards. For someone who has done this before it would definitely take less time. For the C22 notching the speaker frame to fit the tweeter's opposed terminals without a saw I used a drill to make concentric holes. For the FS52 I bought I dremel and made that bit much easier. Cutting up the wires in the speaker and splicing them around the new crossover took me a good long while because even with two sets of instructions I didn't want to screw it up. The final bit of securing the crossover board I went with 15lb Velcro strips instead of screwing into the cabinet. I did one tower first, partially closed up, tested it, finished it off. Second one went a lot quicker and tempting fate I didn't bother to test before securing and fully closing it - it went just fine. All in all about 5 hours for a novice.

View attachment 119703View attachment 119704

Gotta say just wow. I set my AVR to direct mode and just listened to music to test and ended up doing that for two hours before my SO said it's 9 on Sunday, let the neighbors have some quiet. Absolutely blown away by the new life these speakers have taken on. My SO even joked that we could get rid of our PB-12 NSD. At least I think it was a joke, she does want that space back... Speakers sounded much clearer, had a stronger center image but also just sounded bigger too. I'll need to re-run Audyssey soon to get their impression for HT use. I'm sure I'll be similarly impressed.

Now I excitedly await Mr. Murphy's BR-1 kit for my desk...

Better fire the "SO" for two or three months and buy yourself a pair of decent speakers.

 

[SwimmingTambourine]

Hi all,

Thought I'd ask on the off chance anyone knows: will this mod work for the Pioneer SP-BS22A-LR, which is the Atmos variant with upfiring drivers?

I know the regular SP-BS22-LR had an Atmos module you could buy, but don't know if the A variant is effectively just that in one housing. Cheers for any help/advice!

 

[ryanosaur]

Hi all,

Thought I'd ask on the off chance anyone knows: will this mod work for the Pioneer SP-BS22A-LR, which is the Atmos variant with upfiring drivers?

I know the regular SP-BS22-LR had an Atmos module you could buy, but don't know if the A variant is effectively just that in one housing. Cheers for any help/advice!

The mod would not address the Atmos part of the Speaker. Assuming the rest is unchanged. If there were any other differences in Driver selection, baffle size (specifically, width), cabinet volume, anything... I would not try the mod. Any such changes would not be accounted for in Dennis' original XO mod and resulting performance would be in question.

 

[SwimmingTambourine]

The mod would not address the Atmos part of the Speaker. Assuming the rest is unchanged. If there were any other differences in Driver selection, baffle size (specifically, width), cabinet volume, anything... I would not try the mod. Any such changes would not be accounted for in Dennis' original XO mod and resulting performance would be in question.

Thanks!

The hope would be the atmos drivers don't share space with the other main drivers. If that was the case and if the the other components remained the same (a lot of ifs to confirm, I know), would not connecting the atmos drivers leave me with an effective pair of BS22s?

 

[ryanosaur]

Thanks!

The hope would be the atmos drivers don't share space with the other main drivers. If that was the case and if the the other components remained the same (a lot of ifs to confirm, I know), would not connecting the atmos drivers leave me with an effective pair of BS22s?

In theory, yes.

Unless they were being very cheap, the Atmos part should have its own compartment and XO/binding posts. Per above, if man Drivers are the same, the baffle size and cabinet volume didn’t change, you should be ok to mod and have the expectation of good results. It’s those sneaky things that affect driver performance you have to look out for.

 

[SwimmingTambourine]

Thanks for that, appreciate it

 

[MeasurementMuted]

Hello all. I picked up a set of these stock Pioneers from Goodwill a few months back then later discovered this mod. It seemed like a great entry point into electronics soldering and deepening my understanding of speaker design and tech. Fast forward to now and I've just completed my 3rd Dennis Murphy modded speaker and thought I'd share some pics and insights from my journey.

I had zero soldering experience, but my dad was in town and waaaaay back in the day he was a broadcast engineer so he was able to give me a crash course in the fundamentals of soldering and reading electronics diagrams. After getting an iron, desolder wick and other accoutrements, I did a few practice passes desoldering and soldering components from a defunct DVD player (managed to cut my hand up pretty good while at it, those machined frames are no joke!). My old man gave an approving nod and I got to work.



I used the Audiokarma guide as my main source of information. I used a different perf board though which took a little trial and error with correct mounting of components. I used the exact same layout from the Audiokarma guide though.


The board I had didn't have a dedicated ground run so I had to run my own ground wires. I designated row and columns 0 the ground line path.


And the completed cross over in place.



Results were excellent. Mono A/B testing between stock and the mod I observed a much smoother, clearer, and "spacious" sound. I thought the stock speakers sounded great (still do) but the mod does bring them remarkably closer to my main speakers (pair of Energy RC-10 bookshelf speakers) especially in the treble region. The second speaker was completed in about half the time as the first.

Today I completed a 3rd speaker, driven largely by the fun of it and vague machinations of maybe building out a full home theater setup for our living room, doing some custom refinishing work, or maybe just selling a modded pair.

One interesting observation with the third speaker was that there was a lot more internal dampening material. Both much thicker and running the full height of the speaker cabin woofer to tweeter. This speaker was dated October 2019 while the first pair were dated April 2015. I ended up pushing all the excess batting of the woofer up to the tweeter area so this unit has a lot more filler material and I can maaaaybe detect a slight difference because of it? I'd wager any difference would measure for the positive, or I at least choose to believe that. I do wonder what other little differences there could be with later runs of this speaker. One big plus was there was FAR LESS contact cement on the cross over, like 75% less. It made removal and clean up so much easier and faster (as did the 99% Iso. Alcohol, at least twice as effective vs the 91% I used the first time).

This time around I applied some Kapton tape to the exposed solder joints within the sandwiched board interior. I also used some additional hot glue, color matched wiring, and did more rigorous solder cleanup/flux removal. It's probably overkill but if there is a chance I end up selling a pair of these I want to feel confident that I did the best work I could on them.




I didn't get a good picture of the extra batting but here you can see some of the excess I pushed up into the tweeter area.


Today's speaker, looking and sounding great.


At this point I have parts and speakers to do two more. Maybe I'll put together a little build guide video. I'm also eyeing picking up a center and potentially even a pair of the FS52 towers to mod. I've gathered the details for modding the center channel but couldn't find much hard info/diagrams for the towers. I emailed Dennis about them this morning.

Anyways, this has been fun. Thanks everyone for all the useful information and discussion on this. It's been a great hobby to get into.

 

[tw 2022]

Hello all. I picked up a set of these stock Pioneers from Goodwill a few months back then later discovered this mod. It seemed like a great entry point into electronics soldering and deepening my understanding of speaker design and tech. Fast forward to now and I've just completed my 3rd Dennis Murphy modded speaker and thought I'd share some pics and insights from my journey.

I had zero soldering experience, but my dad was in town and waaaaay back in the day he was a broadcast engineer so he was able to give me a crash course in the fundamentals of soldering and reading electronics diagrams. After getting an iron, desolder wick and other accoutrements, I did a few practice passes desoldering and soldering components from a defunct DVD player (managed to cut my hand up pretty good while at it, those machined frames are no joke!). My old man gave an approving nod and I got to work.

View attachment 540481

I used the Audiokarma guide as my main source of information. I used a different perf board though which took a little trial and error with correct mounting of components. I used the exact same layout from the Audiokarma guide though.
View attachment 540482

The board I had didn't have a dedicated ground run so I had to run my own ground wires. I designated row and columns 0 the ground line path.
View attachment 540485

And the completed cross over in place.
View attachment 540484
View attachment 540483

Results were excellent. Mono A/B testing between stock and the mod I observed a much smoother, clearer, and "spacious" sound. I thought the stock speakers sounded great (still do) but the mod does bring them remarkably closer to my main speakers (pair of Energy RC-10 bookshelf speakers) especially in the treble region. The second speaker was completed in about half the time as the first.

Today I completed a 3rd speaker, driven largely by the fun of it and vague machinations of maybe building out a full home theater setup for our living room, doing some custom refinishing work, or maybe just selling a modded pair.

One interesting observation with the third speaker was that there was a lot more internal dampening material. Both much thicker and running the full height of the speaker cabin woofer to tweeter. This speaker was dated October 2019 while the first pair were dated April 2015. I ended up pushing all the excess batting of the woofer up to the tweeter area so this unit has a lot more filler material and I can maaaaybe detect a slight difference because of it? I'd wager any difference would measure for the positive, or I at least choose to believe that. I do wonder what other little differences there could be with later runs of this speaker. One big plus was there was FAR LESS contact cement on the cross over, like 75% less. It made removal and clean up so much easier and faster (as did the 99% Iso. Alcohol, at least twice as effective vs the 91% I used the first time).

This time around I applied some Kapton tape to the exposed solder joints within the sandwiched board interior. I also used some additional hot glue, color matched wiring, and did more rigorous solder cleanup/flux removal. It's probably overkill but if there is a chance I end up selling a pair of these I want to feel confident that I did the best work I could on them.

View attachment 540490
View attachment 540489

I didn't get a good picture of the extra batting but here you can see some of the excess I pushed up into the tweeter area.
View attachment 540486

Today's speaker, looking and sounding great.
View attachment 540495

At this point I have parts and speakers to do two more. Maybe I'll put together a little build guide video. I'm also eyeing picking up a center and potentially even a pair of the FS52 towers to mod. I've gathered the details for modding the center channel but couldn't find much hard info/diagrams for the towers. I emailed Dennis about them this morning.

Anyways, this has been fun. Thanks everyone for all the useful information and discussion on this. It's been a great hobby to get into.

what were the other 2 Dennis Murphy mods you did...??..... I have the emotiva b1's , they are pretty good...

 

[MeasurementMuted]

what were the other 2 Dennis Murphy mods you did...??..... I have the emotiva b1's , they are pretty good...

Just the Pioneer BS22LR mod I posted about. I’ve made three of them now and am looking to do a center channel and maybe even the FS52 floor standers if I can get the speakers and the cross over diagrams for them.

 

[tw 2022]

Just the Pioneer BS22LR mod I posted about. I’ve made three of them now and am looking to do a center channel and maybe even the FS52 floor standers if I can get the speakers and the cross over diagrams for them.

Ok, I misunderstood the post... I'm glad these worked out well for you...Dennis does have a few mods out there, you may find another project down the road.....