Breadboarding the N800E crossover circuits with Duelund CAST components.

The next fundamental step in building a new pair of crossovers is breadboarding the proposed crossover build and working through any changes discovered to be necessary. 

Remember what you felt like as a little kid on Christmas morning? That's how I feel every time I see a parcel arrive from Frederik, and I can't wait to open it up and look inside. 

It was an exciting time here at my place when the Duelund CAST pure copper capacitors and inductors for the Duelund-Corona 832A Project arrived - woo-hoo! 

The capacitors and inductors were packed extremely well to protect them from the rigors of shipping, and each CAST component was topped with a protective cloth to make sure the CAST mirror-finish top of the component remained blemish-free.

I always enjoy just gazing at the Duelund CAST components when they arrive, as these hand-crafted in Denmark capacitors and inductors are an impressive sight to behold.

It might sound funny to say this about capacitors and inductors, but each Duelund CAST component is a beautiful individual work of the audio arts. Frederik is an audio artist!

The beautiful external appearance of the Duelund CAST components is impressive, and their beauty continues inside, where their incredible level of quality and design perfection make them the most sought-after audio crossover components on Planet Earth by audio cognoscenti. 

At this time, I was really getting excited about this project. There’s just something special about the highly sensitive vintage Altec loudspeakers, particularly when combined with low-powered vacuum tube amplification, and Duelund CAST crossovers, which together rather easily make musical magic happen in a way that transports the listener into a realm of esoteric enjoyment that is seldom realized with today's loudspeakers at any price. 

Each Altec loudspeaker model sounds unique due to their differing cabinet designs, choices for the high-frequency horns, high-frequency compression drivers, low-frequency drivers, and finally— the subject of this article—the crossover choice.

The key to unleashing the considerable magic loudspeakers are capable of is using Duelund CAST components in the crossovers. 

Breadboard crossovers with an L-pad for high-frequency attenuation. 

I used a couple of pieces of scrap plywood as breadboard plinths, so I could start laying out the components, while I decided upon what the final plinth material would be. 

I like to use McMaster-Carr copper setscrew lug connectors (6923K62 14-4 wire gauge), so I can assemble the breadboard crossovers without soldering, which makes life easier while figuring things out. It turns out that lug connectors also provide “clean” wire-on-wire connections without the need for signal nuance-reducing solder joints.

Photo courtesy of McMaster-Carr. Copper setscrew lug connector.

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