Just passing this along for what it's worth. I love OB so much I did an experiment to try it out in the studio. I couldn't be happier with these! I threw some GRS PT6825-8 Planer mid/tweeters and some Ascendant Audio high Xmax 6.5's on some Home Depot white laminate boards. I made it an active system using a PRV DSP unit and a 12V laptop power supply from Amazon. I am happy to report there is no noise issues and the fidelity is outstanding. I paired it with a used Marantz Receiver I got off Facebook marketplace for $75 using the amplifier in 7.1 input mode. I use my mixer as the preamp and the sound of these Planars has brought so much more air and sizzle to my music than any dome tweeter I have previously tried. The baffles are about 3 ft away from the wall and I did notice more low end at nearfield distances. I EQ'd them and time aligned then with the Omnimic V2. I did pair the setup with a Klipsch 10" subwoofer utilizing the DSP unit (it has 8 outputs!) but I kind of wish I would have went with an 8" woofer. Maybe next time!
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I have titanium dome tweeters currently in my system paired to Mark Audio 12P FR drivers and they are bit harsh. I bought a pair of Beston dipole Ribbon Tweeters from Parts Express to replace the cheap dome tweeters. Should be a massive improvement.
Is there a reason the tweeters are not lined up vertically with the mid/woofer? Having the tweeter off to the side can effect the off axis response (ie the room power response) giving large peaks and dips in the off axis frequency response.
You can test the power response quickly with a microphone and pink noise, mute measure each speaker individually mute 1 speaker. Use REW RTA and move the mic around the speaker at more than 1m. If the high frequencies drop off significantly from on axis then power response is effected. Ideally power response will have a straight slightly downward slope to 20kHz. The best way to measure is to sweep the FR on axis and in 15deg increments to 90deg off axis.
This is the response of the 12P 0, 15 and 30deg off axis you can see the response is smooth up to where beaming and cone breakup occurs at about 3kHz, so XO would be set at about 2.5kHz 24dB/LW and the peaks notched.
These are the ones I ordered, not arrived yet..
https://www.parts-express.com/Beston-RT002A-Dipolar-Ribbon-Tweeter-6-Ohm-277-116
https://www.parts-express.com/Beston-RT002A-Dipolar-Ribbon-Tweeter-6-Ohm-277-116
It's ok. Its planar, quasi-ribbon, but that does not sound as fancy. Trust me, its a planar. True ribbon is something much more expensive, with one stripe of aluminum on thin membrane, with extremely low impedance, requiring built in impedance trafo.
Planar has mylar membrane with etched thin lines to create planar coil. Does not need impedance trafo. Is more sturdy. There are other differences too.
Nevertherless, its a great sounding tweeter, you will like it.
Planar has mylar membrane with etched thin lines to create planar coil. Does not need impedance trafo. Is more sturdy. There are other differences too.
Nevertherless, its a great sounding tweeter, you will like it.
Ok gotya. I also have a set of TB ribbon tweeters and they are heavy with a large rectangular enclosure off the back these must have a Tx to be so heavy.
Have you seen this test of the Beston
https://audioxpress.com/article/Test-Bench-Beston-Technology-RT002A-Ribbon-Tweeter.html
Have you seen this test of the Beston
https://audioxpress.com/article/Test-Bench-Beston-Technology-RT002A-Ribbon-Tweeter.html
No, have not seen that test. But Troels has some nice speakers designed with this tweeter i believe, and nice results. I used them with aurum cantus mid, and crossed at ~5kHz. Very pleased with it. Its crystal clear highs. You may cross lower, but that was as high as i could get the mid still working fine.
The Beston's are being paired with SB acoustic 6" mid/woofers so XO will be around 3kHz where the 6" starts to beam. I'll measure both 6" and tweeter to determine exact XO point. The SB/Beston will be in a folded baffle for minimal frontal area then set atop the W frame woofer box.
I have also ordered plans and kit to build LXmini+2's as a reference set of speakers.
I have also ordered plans and kit to build LXmini+2's as a reference set of speakers.
How high do you cross over to the DX3, is it an active system and what amp do you drive DX3 with?
The woofers are powered by two solid state amps with built in low pass while the SET powered Lowthers run full range.
I bring the tweeters in so high all they provide is a bit of cymbal shimmer.
Interesting. What type of SET do you use?
Mine is an active system, also OB, where the bottom is driven by class-D, the tweeter from a 45-type SET above 1.7kHz, and at some point wondered about DX3 for midrange driven by SET. DX3 is often used with SET but hadn't seen it in OB with SET.
Thank you.