I've been trying to get rid of my old S30 speakers (type 6317) for years, the Beocentre they came with is long gone, but the speakers just keep justifying themselves. Last time I tried to lose them I actually left them at a previous address when I moved house. But I have recently bought a tiny little Denon DAB-M35 without its speakers... fortunately the S30s were still around when I went back for them, and so I've been happily using them with the Denon.

The S30s sound good - and overall just as good as the specified Denon speakers (SCM73), except the bass seems slightly less agile and punchy. The S30s are MUCH better for solo piano and lute, but not quite as detailed for chamber and orchestral music - the S30s particularly don't show up the timpani. Seventies rock-music sounds better on the S30s, 80s rock is better on the other. (All subjective, I know...)

So the question is whether it is worth replacing the capacitors, and will this bring the speakers up to what I expect of them? 

As far as I can see the caps involved are just one 4.7uF and 15uF in each speaker: about £20  worth of audiophile caps. Or is it worth experimenting with 'standard' capacitors - will new components automatically be a bit better than 20-odd year old components?

Any thoughts appreciated - and I'll PM Martin for a quote on a cap kit.

Welcome to Beoworld

The short answer is I really don't know as these are one of the very few models of the "S" speaker range I haven't owned so I don't know exactly how they should sound.

What I can tell you is that I replaced the cap's on my MC120.2's and the difference was immediately noticable. Much more detailed and very much worth the effort. The caps (supplied by Martin) were fairly standard very good quality ones. I'm not sure that spending vast amounts on audiophile grade ones would be worth it.

My advice on the whole would be to go for it but don't bother with overly expensive ones

Chris.

Thanks and thank you for the welcome.

I had been reading the previous posts... just needed a little push

 

Replacing the capacitors will usually improve the top end - capacitors are used in a cross over to filter out the low frequencies and stop them going to the tweeters. An induction coil will be used to reduce high frequency signals going to the woofer. Resistors are used to balance the two or more drivers.

Of course things are sometimes not quite so simple. This is the cross over of my LS3/5a speakers - like the S30s, they are two way speakers!!

 

My father's Beovox S30's have been defying replacement for more than 30 years now, including when he took them to his local hi-fi shop and auditioned them against some very expensive speakers. The rest of the B&O he bought at the time is long gone. He uses them exclusively for classical music and they still sound stunning.

 

I have recapped a pair of s45-2's with excellent results.

 

I used a kit from Martin for my S45-2's.

 

Simon 

 

 

Simon
 

So, Peter, does this mean that replacing the caps will make a dull high end sound brighter?

Yes!

OK... so the capacitors are now replaced - amazing how quick the postal service is from Denmark to Cornwall is, thanks Martin.

The sharp-eyed will notice that I have merely snipped the old caps out of circuit, and soldered the new ones across their leads. I didn't fancy dismantling the whole unit: that fluffy stuff is foul, and my eyes are still sore from the dust; I wasn't gonna disturb it any more than necessary.

So an easy job - and look at that cardboard comb and four components crossover, compared to the LS3/5a one above!

Result: 
The sound is not noticably much 'brighter' than before, as such: I guess the old capacitors were still in pretty good condition.

BUT the speakers certainly seem much more transparent: I can still hear that there is a loudspeaker, but much less so than before. I know there's a contradiction here, but I presume that frequencies higher than 'bright' are being passed more effectively.

The other improvement is stability of the stereo imaging - things in the centre don't move around any more. Timpani might be a bit clearer as well...

I was sceptical, but am pleased with the improvements as far as I can hear.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement... I might keep them after all... again... ;-)

 

.

That is probably a fairly good description of the improvement in most cases. If the capacitors have really gone, the speaker will sound muddy but otherwise there will be a tailing off at the top end. This is noticed particularly in the accurate positioning of sounds - adding a pair of 2500s to a system can often do the same - little perceived sound difference but suddenly the sound becomes more focused.

I was considering recapping my new old S30's as they didn't seem to perform as well as my 1001's (which are exceptional all things considered. Both connected up to a beomaster 1001)

Looking at the above pictures I thought it was going to be a simple matter but it would appear I have the older speakers with a more complex cross-over. Am I opening a pit of snakes if I start messing around here with minimal knowledge? (looking at the pictures it looks less daunting now, it's only 3 caps....)

And will it be worth it?

 Anyway for reference, heres a couple of photo's of the cross-over. (could this be why the early S30's are rumoured to sound better than the later ones)

 

Yours are the type 6301. They are very different from the type 6317, nothing at all in common besides the name, not even the size. They are a bit different soundwise and your S30's (the physically smaller ones) are not the worst sounding speakers around. Bigger is not always better.

Cap kits are readily available for both models.

Martin

Hi Silver and welcome to Beoworld

You asked if it would be worth it? In my experience the answer is a definate YES. Admittedly my experience is with higher specified Beovox speakers and the improvements are likely to be more pronounced than with the S30's.

If you buy a cap kit from Dillen you won't go far wrong as his kits usually come with full fitting diagrams (even an idiot like me can follow them) - I'm sure this will also be case with the S30 kit.

Chris.