NFS Luna / Duo Follow up

[davef]

No one seems to want to ask the question. How much will the upgrade kit cost?

We haven't yet finalized the pricing due to trying to get the components to us at least cost (shipping right now is complete madness). We aren't looking to make a profit on this, but we must recoup our costs. I would estimate the V2 upgrade will end up being between $90 - $100 per speaker for a DIY kit.

The upgrade will include the following required components:

V2 Crossover
damping foam for slot port
additional internal damping

[ahender]

We haven't yet finalized the pricing due to trying to get the components to us at least cost (shipping right now is complete madness). We aren't looking to make a profit on this, but we must recoup our costs. I would estimate the V2 upgrade will end up being between $90 - $100 per speaker for a DIY kit.

The upgrade will include the following required components:

V2 Crossover
damping foam for slot port
additional internal damping

Thank you!

[John Galt]

We haven't yet finalized the pricing due to trying to get the components to us at least cost (shipping right now is complete madness). We aren't looking to make a profit on this, but we must recoup our costs. I would estimate the V2 upgrade will end up being between $90 - $100 per speaker for a DIY kit.

The upgrade will include the following required components:

V2 Crossover
damping foam for slot port
additional internal damping

Any chance you could give us a preview of what a DIY install entails? Not having to ship it is VERY appealing to me.

[davef]

Any chance you could give us a preview of what a DIY install entails? Not having to ship it is VERY appealing to me.

Because the crossover must be changed, it will require removing both the tweeter and the woofer and disconnecting these from the crossover wires. The V1 crossover can then be removed (4 screws). Next step would be installing the new V2 crossover, then reconnecting the crossover wires to both the tweeter and the woofer. Additional damping must be installed behind the new woofer, so this needs to be done before reinstalling the woofer. Once the tweeter and woofer are installed and screwed in, the port damping foam needs to be installed and properly positioned.

I don't think it would take more than 20 mins per speaker, and that is with doing it very carefully.

For any customer that does not want to go through this process - we would be happy to perform this upgrade for them for just the price of the upgrade kit (no labor charge) + whatever the cost of return shipping.

[SunByrne]

Because the crossover must be changed, it will require removing both the tweeter and the woofer and disconnecting these from the crossover wires. The V1 crossover can then be removed (4 screws). Next step would be installing the new V2 crossover, then reconnecting the crossover wires to both the tweeter and the woofer. Additional damping must be installed behind the new woofer, so this needs to be done before reinstalling the woofer. Once the tweeter and woofer are installed and screwed in, the port damping foam needs to be installed and properly positioned.

Sounds a lot like doing an upgrade on a Sierra bookshelf, which I have now done probably a half-dozen or so times now—should be a piece of cake.

Great appreciation to Dave for designing things to be easily upgradeable.

Can I just put in a standing order that whenever they're ready, Dina can just charge my card that's on file (since I know the price will be reasonable) and send out 3 kits?

[davef]

Sounds a lot like doing an upgrade on a Sierra bookshelf, which I have now done probably a half-dozen or so times now—should be a piece of cake.

Great appreciation to Dave for designing things to be easily upgradeable.

Can I just put in a standing order that whenever they're ready, Dina can just charge my card that's on file (since I know the price will be reasonable) and send out 3 kits?

Yes, if you have done any of our upgrades - this V1 -> V2 is a piece of cake. It is easier since you do not have to reach inside the cabinet to remove or install the new crossover or deal with the binding posts.

If you want to get the order in, just give Dina a ring. She is going to start making a list etc.

Hmm.. wondering if it might be easier to just put a direct link for ordering (nothing will be charged until final pricing is confirmed and we are ready to ship)

[kdaq]

I'm interested. Did you end up creating a link for ordering? Thanks!

[davef]

I'm interested. Did you end up creating a link for ordering? Thanks!

Not yet - We still need to confirm the final pricing, which we won't know until they actually ship to us (which should be around Jan 5th)

However, give us a call at the office and speak with Dina. She is creating a list of names and she will contact everyone on the list when pricing and availability is confirmed.

Thanks!

[NegativeEntropy]

Dave,

After reading (most of) both threads on this I wanted to publicly thank you and offer my admiration for how you handled this whole situation stemming from the ASR review(s).

You dug in to see if there was any "there" there, and ultimately made a significant investment in time and money that will hopefully pay dividends for Ascend (and therefore its customers, like me) for years to come.

I work in manufacturing myself, and as the science advances, more and more, as a world, we find ourselves able to measure things in unprecedented detail. In addition to seeing inside the plastic parts we make with a metrology grade CT scanner (accuracy about 4um, NIST traceable), we can measure feature size on parts inches in size with physical probes down to just over 1um, about the size of a typical bacteria. As the parts get larger, accuracy degrades to over 2um .

As a more every day example for readers, standard tests can now measure water quality for many contaminates down to parts per trillion levels (1 part per trillion, PPT is 1 drop in 500,000 barrels of water).

This additional detail can start to cause new “problems”, because it exposes things that while they are very real, they may not matter.

E.g. What is “pure water”? There’s no such thing as 100% pure H2O in any real world setting. Try to explain that to your every-day consumer.

As a practicing mechanical engineer, the hardest part of my job is always making the judgement call of what is “good enough”.

With audio science and the NFS it appears you are having to contend with the same mix of potentially extraneous data/detail and science that may not be settled or very precise (e.g. “95% of trained listeners can not detect distortion X”).

Unfortunately, the hardest part of all of this may be finding good psychoacoustics data and then educating your customers on the same, such as you did at the start of this thread.

Good luck to you sir. I will be placing an order for a Duo V2 as I would benefit from a nice center channel in my living room setup (moving from 2.1 to 3.1, with NrT towers as mains), and there’s no room for the OG Horizon I have (it’s waiting for a finished theater room).

-NE

[MDinno]

Dave, are you going to send a V2 over to ASR for a retest? He sure did a lot of damage to your company with his clickbait style negative reviews. I wouldn't even trust him have Erin's Audio Corner review the V2 version. Do you plan on updating the website with new Klippell measurements for all your speakers?