studio monitor / hi fi speaker

I have heard it from others well. The passive vifa tweeter is "good" but nothing state of the art unlike the mid or bass. However this "problem" is mitigated by the fact that the midrange driver handles everything of interest. The active tweeter is a lot better.

Note also that a ten year old BB5 would also have the older tweeter predating either current vifa model, atc rather than mid and older bass unit and so would bear no comparison to a modern BB5, especially the active one.

 

Dear Evil Samurai,

Would that Focal tweeter work down to 1KHz? I wouldn't mind trying to build an 'improved' clone of the AML1. Any ideas for a woofer that would work well in the transmission line loading?

I have no problems with the tweeter I have, but I have heard slightly more refinement from other high-end speakers now and then.

 

Hi,

Others may argue that if you are not a "fussy git" you ain't got no place behind a mixing desk... ;-)

Ciao T

 

I think the active tweeter given its range of operation (4 kHz+) is probably as good as anything else. I doubt even a fancy scanspeak revelator or a B&W diamond tweeter would make the slightest bit of difference given we cant tell the difference between a sine wave and a square wave at 8khz.

 

I was behind a nice neve desk in an all analog studio only yesterday. I agree... you have to be a fussy git in the recording studio. Like Steve Albini.

 

Hi,

Not really. And the replacement for the now long discontinued part we used is not as good and you would need to up in their range, plus (IIRC) Focal stopped supplying the DIY Market.

The AML has custom drivers, it would be difficult to match their drivers.

Have you considered adding a super-tweeter? See where the AML driver starts rolling off plus what the sensitivity is and see if you can have a nice small size ribbon (circular - the ATD one is pretty good for that) and run that in parallel to the original tweeter with a suitable capacitor to roll in the supertweeter where the big boy in the AML rolls off....

Ciao T

 

The AML1 uses the tweeters range down to 1KHz. It gives good phase coherence and a very point source like ideal.

I took the diffusion lens off my tweeters. I found it was more detailed. The sound does change slightly more depending on position now, however and the level of treble went up. Not a problem with DEQ though.

 

Hi,

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this tweeter is actually an old friend. The BBC liked an earlier version it in their 2-way monitors (the real ones, not the LS3/5 "minimum quality" one).

HOWEVER, this tweeter is definitly supertweeter friendly, in other words it does not play all that high.

So, give a supertweeter a try.

Look for the ATD Circular ribbon, HiVi (from www.madisound.com) makes either a copy of the original (hard to tell these days).

Ciao T

 

Really? PMC quote it up to 25KHz

 

25 khz is not all that high to TL. He prefers plasma tweeters with output well into HF .

 

Hi,

Do they quote measurement conditions and deviation from 0db for 25KHz?

The tweeter is clearly identified as Audax TW034X0, one of the few devices that would allow as low as crossover BTW, but it pretty much goes off at 15KHz, except on axis, where it shows a treble rise that manages to (barely) get it to 20KHz.

You want around 93db/2.83V for your ribbon and try a crossover 1st order at 20KHz with around 1uF (play with the value a bit).

As said, the ATD or HiVi circular ribbon is probably the best choice.

Ciao T

 

I don't know what they quote but I can (just about) hear it up to 20.5KHz off-Axis.

 

Hi,

Thed bottom line is simple. This is an excellent tweeter to cross over at low frequencies (even though it is dirt cheap) and sounds very natural but it lacks the ability to play very high and thus seems to lack some detail. The solution previously used by the BBC and it's suppliers was to add a supertweeter. I suggest to follow them.

Ciao T

 

I used to be able to hear bats squeaking - what frequency is that?

20.5 khz is pretty good!

 

I remember reading the towshend super tweeter was good. Shiny too.

 

From this website

http://www.werc.usgs.gov/bats/socialvocalization.html

 

Nice bat tune. Just needs a bass line.

 

T I understand what you’re saying but the fact is I can hear it with my own ears at 20.5KHz playing a sign wave. Still I wouldn't mind trying a super tweeter. Don't like the idea of another crossover and phase problems though? How do you rate the ones designed to add on top of your current speaker?

If it doesn't extend well why are PMC using it in their active BB5 when it crosses over at 3.8KHz? Surely they would pick something better for that range. Power handling or something? Maybe the mods from PMC overcome the issues at high frequencies?

I may sound like I am trying to argue against you. I am not its just that something doesn't seem to fit!

 

Hi,

Last time I looked they used a 1" dome for that, most likely Vifa.

The TW034X0 looks like that, in terms of fr.....



It is likely possible to equalise the FR somewhat.

I suspect the phaseplate makes both on and off axis response flatter but will roll off the treble even lower.

As to why a manufacturer decides a certain thing or not, you need to ask them...

Ciao T

 

The active BB5 uses the 34mm tweeter with phase plate like the AML1 but crosses it over at 3.8KHz. Here is the response of my system from 1KHz up about 30degrees off-axis and 2m away. I use a very small amount of curve shaping but nothing above 8KHz. It isn't really meant to be quite like that as it was tuned for the valve pre but then I plugged it direct form the DEQ2496.