NrT Upgrade instructions with video!

[davef]

I have a few other comments for people with first generation cabinets. The batting material is not Dacron as shown in the video. Instead the batting material is fiberglass inserted into a 3-segment black mesh bag. The 3-segments of the bag are glued to the interior of cabinet. It is not too hard to separate the bad from the cabinet, but doing so does release particles of fiberglass through the mesh, so you may want to wear gloves while working with the bag to avoid touching the fiberglass. Also, there will be fiberglass particles in the cabinet interior after removing the bag, so it helps to have a vacuum cleaner with a narrow hose to remove the fiberglass particles.

Excellent tips! Yes, the original Sierra-1 used fiberglass batting as damping material. When we switched to a new vendor, we also switched to the heavy Dacron batting in order to fully comply with various OSHA regulations and to meet ROHS standards. The new vendor is fully compliant which is a good thing

Finally, the crossover wire terminals are held to the binding posts using nuts, as shown in the videos. However, a very durable glue has been applied to the nuts and binding posts. While disassembling the first speaker, I did manage to remove the nuts and terminals from the binding posts. However, it certainly seems possible that the binding posts could be damaged by the removal process. For the remaining four speakers, I think I will leave the binding posts alone, and splice the new crossover wires to the old crossover wires by soldering the wires together.

100% correct, and this is where the upgrade might become more difficult. Cutting the crossover lead wires and then resoldering is a good choice. Another option, which we have done here, is to drip a few drops of "Goo Gone" or a similar solvent onto the posts which breaks up the glue and makes removing the nuts much easier.

An even simpler option, if you have a soldering iron, is to desolder the two crossover lead wires on the original crossover. Simply apply the hot tip of the soldering iron to the corresponding solder pad on the underside of the crossover network and while the solder has liquefied, pull the wire out from the PCB. You will then reinsert and resolder these same crossover lead wires into the NrT crossover. Using this method, it is not necessary to cut and splice any wires and it makes for a cleaner installation.

If anyone is on the fence about having Ascend do the upgrade or doing it themselves, you may want to remove the woofer and see if you have a first generation cabinet, since the upgrade will be a bit more work and you may want Ascend to do the upgrade.

We are happy to do the upgrade for anyone and remember, if we do it -- your 7 year warranty resets and begins anew and we will also include the new measurements.