BassZilla News: December 2011
by Dick Olsher

It’s not often that the BassZilla gets exposure in the context of an audio show. But that’s exactly what happened during the Capital AudioFest (http://www.capitalaudiofest.com), July 8 -10, 2011, as part of an exhibit by DCAudioDIY. David McGown, a member of the local DIY group brought his BassZilla Platinum Edition mk2’s to the show. David tells me that it was an exciting time to be on the exhibitor side of a show, even as a bunch of very serious amateurs. Apparently, the Basszillas were a big hit the Show, and according to David, the DCAudioDIY room was considered by many as one of the best in show. Congrats on a wonderful showing. It’s not often that DIYers get to strut their stuff (and compete) in the context of a consumer show.
DCbasszilla1

BTW, David’s pair still uses the Audax woofer. He started with the Aurum Cantus G2Si in round frame, but later upgraded to the G2 in a rectangular frame since he could not get it in round. Contrary to popular belief, the round G2 has not been discontinued by the factory. It’s just that distributors for some strange reason have not ordered the round version in quite some time. If you do use the rectangular version, be sure that the spacing between the center of the ribbon and the edge of the Fostex full range is unchanged.

Canada’s Daniel Beaulieu is a recent BassZilla convert.

DB-BZ

He has been experimenting with crossover cap bypasses and reports as follows: “OK, well tonight I tried a couple cap bypasses just for fun and the results where nothing short of astonishing!!! This is what I did:

Zobel bypass

1.  Bypassed the last cap in the Fostex crossover circuit with a 0.01uF Russian K72 Teflon cap and the midrange is now holographic!  It's so good it's not funny! I now hear echo decay reverb... it sounds like I have only one big middle speaker not a stereo set!

2.  Bypassed the single cap in the bass section with 1uF Jupiter HV stacked foil. The bass is now unbelievable!!  I have a bass test CD and it now goes much lower with much more dynamics and punch!! HUGE improvement!”

I have also experimented with Teflon cap bypasses in the Fostex high-pass network with good results, but I have yet to try the woofer network bypass. Feel free to share your findings with me.