Active Tukan Conversion (& Sleepy Arcams)

Posted by: Rana Ali on 29 August 2002

After reading many comments on the web about the worthwhile improvements in taking Linn Tukans active, I came across an ex-dem IXO at a London dealer for a tempting price which I snapped up. A more local Linn/Naim dealer now wants £123 to convert my Tukans to active. Any ideas as to whether this is a reasonable price, or are there suggestions/websites where there is sufficient detail for my shaky hands to do a bit of soldering for myself?

On another note, I am going to use 2 Arcam Delta 290P power amps which I have temporarily bought to provide the power until I can justify to the wife that I need to buy two Naim amps (it's a time thing). With an Arcam playing, I often find myself drifting asleep....something I have NEVER done with Naim amps (I have owned Naits 2,5 and 62/Snaps/140 in the recent past!).
Posted on: 29 August 2002 by Ron Toolsie
I am notoriously a non hands-on person when it comes to the Zen of DIY audio. Yet I have on several occasions reconfigured the Tukans between active/passive. Remove the midbass driver, access the cross over, and on each move 2 wires (the positive legs I think) from a place on the board marked 'pass' to the one marked 'act'. It should take maybe 10-15 mins per speaker for a neophyte, and somewhat less for an experienced person.

Thirty squid would be a fair price....123 amounts to no less than gouging on the premise that you may be likely to afford it.

If you are seriously thinking about activating your Tukans, for those 123 UKP have your dealer completely remove the crossover and hardwire the drivers to the respective pairs of 4mm jacks in the back. This is staggeringly (I do not use that term lightly) better than activating them in the usual way, which still requires the signals to run though poor PCB traces as well as extra solder joints. This would be easily worth the 123UKP.

Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo


Posted on: 29 August 2002 by Keith Mattox
123 UKP is nutty money for the effort. You could do the simpler version that Ron indicated, but, like him, I recommend bypassing the crossover entirely and running quality wire straight from the terminals to the drivers.

My Linn dealer here charges $60 for the work, and he performs the latter.

My guess is that the individual is associating the fact that the Tukans are no longer current with the price.

Cheers

Keith.
Posted on: 29 August 2002 by Rana Ali
I thought the price was a bit on the steep side for the effort involved. I might have a try myself this weekend, although my manual dexterity is not what it used to be. I'll let you know the results.

Cheers

Rana
Posted on: 01 September 2002 by Jeremy Roebuck
Having read the advice here, I decided to convert my Keidledhs to active. It took around an hour and was really simple. If you can solder a banana plug you can do this
Jeremy
Posted on: 01 September 2002 by Rana Ali
I ripped out the crossovers and soldered the drive units directly to the terminals yesterday. It took longer than extpected 'cos there's not much space to manoevre in the Tukan boxes and I suffer from limited movement in my left wrist. The IXO was a breeze (it hardly needed any adjustment).
Result: A transformation. My foot is now tapping all the time now. The music sounds like the musicians are actually in my room, purcussion & strings sounds like they are really (& I mean REALLY) being hit/plucked in my room. And it all hangs together musically. Low level musicality is also quite astonishing. Moreover, my Arcams are no longer sleepy....

These Tukans are my last speaker.

Thanks Ron

Rana

[This message was edited by Rana Ali on MONDAY 02 September 2002 at 07:32.]