I got them for an impedance jig, but I’m still using my DATS V3 so I haven’t used them and they are still in their bag.
I make my own alligator clip jumpers. Soldered w 18G stranded wires. If I ever have a anomalous measurement during final crossover tweaking, I double up on all the jumpers.
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I wonder how many people have been bitten by the junky PE type jumper leads over the years. I bought a bag of nice alligator clips from Amazon and made my own with 16 ga wire, solid crimps, and soldered to boot.
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Regarding the PE jumper leads.. The showroom guys told me they were spec’d to be soldered and didn’t realize until later the manufacturer shafted them. How true that is IDK, but they did clearence them out for a few years.
I ordered some gator clips from Amazon to build some leads, but probably going to return them and just use lever clips and wire like Ben suggested. Since I’ll probably never build two pair of 3-way speakers at the same time again, I should have an abundance of extras to use. And if not, the box of like 50 of them was cheaper than the alligator clips. Not as convenient, but not bad either.
Remeasured the speakers. As Bob Ross would say, a happy little accident here that the Alphas measure exactly the same between the wire and the alligator clips. They’re just 2+ db more efficient with the wire. So they are still good to go.
Alphas, SPL adjusted to overlay. Clips vs 16ga wire.
Not sure why the Peerless are behaving so much differently. 2-3db rise on the top end with the wire as opposed to the leads. Also not sure why the FR below 500hz is 1-2db lower than when I measured them a couple weeks ago. They’re generally in the same location in the room, same mic distance, etc. Even in the measurement with the wire as opposed to the leads the low end has less output.
Blue is the original measurement. Purple is wire, red is leads. Going to have to do some tweaking, and see if that drop in the low end is real. It happens with both Peerless speakers, but not the Alphas? So it’s gotta be something with the speakers and not the environment
I would also like to say the Alphas make me feel vindicated. I’ve always used those alligator clip leads and have always taken before and after measurements, and I’ve never seen them off like the Peerless are. I didn’t necessarily level match them so the efficiency I’m not surprised, but as far as the shape of the curve, it’s always matched. I thought I was crazy until I measured the Alphas, and they too matched.
In my book, big(ish) differences in FR that should be the same always was traced back to bad(ish) alligator clip jumpers. Glad to hear that the Lever Lock connectors are solid,
I noticed differences with Wagos when I moved the circuit around. If I suspect there will be big differences I’ll just do a flying lead quick solder job.
Well, I thought I was done. Had the crossovers all soldered for both pair of speakers and was sitting back enjoying them as a final test comparing them to my Purifi/Scan 2-ways when I listened to Sweet Ann and realized they were both missing the top end of the flute. I was rolling off too early and missing some of that 1khz - 2kzh energy. So, I had to go back and rework the mid/tweet xover on both. While I was there I also did some minor improvements to the MB xover on the Peerless. 3 weeks later, I think I might be done…again.
Peerless schematic
Alpha Schematic
Response of all 4 speakers. The speakers with the dip @ 1.8khz are the Alphas. I hate it, try as I might I just can not fix that dip at all. It’s present in the manufacturer response curves too. Whatever it is, it’s innate to the driver and if it’s fixable it’s well beyond my skillset to resolve.
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Decided to try wallpapering a speaker.
A+ for cost effectiveness - $7/roll and I’ll probably use 3. Finishing two 3cuft enclosures for a smidge over $20 ain’t too shabby
C for finish quality. More difficult to get a clean cut on the edges than I’d anticipated
Not too worried about it though, these will at best live in my basement and the entire build was extremely cost conscious.
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Looks on par or better than most commercial speakers under $1K these days. You used actual bracing & yours probably sounds better too!
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They actually look exactly like a low-mid level commercial speaker in person. Which honestly, I don’t mind. I hope they at least sound as good as one too 
First speaker down. Trying to get these things done before InDIYana. I feel like I’m so close and yet there’s still so much to be done
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I should add only the Alpha’s are getting the cheap treatment. Peerless will be covered in Mahogany veneer as they’ll be in the family room and after 6 years of staring at bare MDF speakers the boss demanded the new ones look pretty
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I really like the satin black Ash look. Sure, cheap speakers used it, but they look good.
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Got the vinyl on them both and a layer on Minwax “one coat” poly for protection. I really like the hue of black. They’re solid 10 footers. They’ll look good from the listening position but up close the flaws are easy to spot. For a $30 finish for two large cabinets, I’m happy.
Hopefully I can finish the xovers this evening. Then just install both them and the drivers. MIGHT actually have them done by Friday as long as I don’t have to spend anymore time working on my sump pump 
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They look really nice to me. They look good in the pictures and if you have them in your living room, I am sure no one will see flaws unless they get really close and examine them.
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Thanks to your comment in Ben’s thread about the resistors being zip ties to the caps, I resoldered the resistors on the midrange notch to allow for a stand off between it and the cap.
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what happens to the resistors zip tied to the caps, must have missed something on ben’s thread.
Capacitors don’t like heat. It’s best if we can give all the components a little space to perform their best. Cramming all the components in the smallest space possible only makes sense if that is the only option.
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