Untamed Vintage: Pioneer HPM-100 (readers response)
I decided to publish some of the readers responses for this project. The idea behind this is to encourage other readers to try a new crossover design and give a second life to their beloved HPM’s. If you have a build story to share or any comments/sugestions – drop me a line to support@mvaudiolabs.com and I will publish it here.
Ryan:
I completed the crossover build and got them installed in my HPM-100s. What can I say, I am very impressed! You did a fantastic job voicing this speaker, it exactly as you described and well worth the effort. My only observation is, to my ears it seems the midrange (around 1khz) is ever so slightly pushed. If I had a 32 band graphic EQ in the chain, I might be tempted notch it back by about 2db. Very subtle. Don’t get me wrong, you designed an outstanding crossover the brings the absolute best from the HPM drivers and box characteristics. I am blown away…
Steve:
Hello, I have had them done for a while and really like them! Great job on this. I added film bypass caps (0.01uf and 0.1uf) to each capacitor to “finesse” the Solen and Jantzen caps. Other than that, it is a copy of your schematic.
Peter:
Wow, wow and wowwwww….. Unbeleivable. Thanks a million for your work. What an incredible difference. I’d never change the original x-overs back.
Sound: Warm, pleasant, transparent, huge, wide stage, crisp highs and mids, sharp and hard hitting bass, now going deeper with a big punch at the lowest end. Human voice is not coloured anymore, it is natural and has a realistic feel. Musical instruments are not washed into a big mess. I can’t help wondering how the original engeneering missed the huge opportunity to explore the real capabilities of these drivers.
Thanks a million again and big thumbs up.