What tweeter above a Feastrex as mid?

[brucemck2]

I really liked the sound of a D5 Alinco Feastrex drivers I recently heard, so I bought a pair used. They were used full range in the system I heard.

Augmenting them on the low end with a 12" AE driver fed by a plate amp.

Would like to augment them at the high end too ... while they were amazingly pristine in the midrange and even lower treble, they were lacking in "sparkle" on the very top.

Will be using a DEQX as a three way crossover.

Suggestions for the high end? Figured I'd cross with a gentle slope somewhere between 5k and 10k based on how it sounds.

Will need 95+db efficiency above the crossover point.

Had thought of the Bemya TPL 150 or maybe a Fountek Pro 5i?

 

[planet10]

You'll want to use the best tweeter you can get your hands on... a raal or one of rhe big buck fostex horns (the horn wil probably have the advantage of better matching of dispersion at the XO.

Is a plate amp really gonna be good enuff?

dave

 

[brucemck2]

The plate amp (and the woofer) will only be handling from around 100 to 150hz on downwards, so it's not right in the heart of the midrange.

If it's not ok I will go with a higher quality outboard amp.

Can you point me to an appropriate Fostex horn link?

 

[atarashi]

Something like this?

http://www.fostexinternational.com/...d=EElFppZAAkjnJdRzBj&tmpl=viewnews_speak_head

if i only had the money ;-)

 

[el`Ol]

Meanwhile the Beyma TPL is also available in horn.

 

[Pano]

I agree with Dave, you're gonna want a top end tweeter. The Feastrex are so darn good, you'll notice anything less.

 

[cdwitmer]

I'm hardly an authority on such matters, but I think you should try to choose a supertweeter that is a point source rather than a line source. A ribbon tweeter would be a line source and the SPL will fall off 3dB with every doubling of distance. The point source Feastrex drivers will be falling off 6dB with every doubling of distance.

I would also suggest that, if there any worth considering available, you try to find a supertweeter made from paper. I think that may be a better match with the paper Feastrex drivers than metal would be.

Finally, you want to have something that you can cross very high but which also is capable of producing decent sound several octaves below the crossover point. Perhaps in your case this does not apply since you are going to be using a digital crossover and usually they are capable of very steep crossover slopes. I'm not a tweeter user at all so I don't get into this, but I know there are some who will insist the simplest passive crossover, with a very shallow slope, is the best for this kind of situation. I guess you will have to let your ears be your guide.

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to make a recommendation of a particular supertweeter, but it occurs to me that if there is one along the lines I'm describing, perhaps it is not inordinately expensive.

-- Chris

 

[cdwitmer]

Here is one paper tweeter, about which I know nothing:
http://www.sequerra.com/electronics/data/met7.html

Also, if I recall correctly, KLH had some 2.25-inch paper tweeters (alnico) that might be interesting to try.

-- Chris

 

[planet10]

Here is one paper tweeter, about which I know nothing:
... .sequerra.

The Sequerra tweeter is a modified peerless... starting with an old alnico one would probably be better. If you could find a set of the old 2"Isophon open-back alnico it is even better. But i doubt either of these has any hop of keeping up with the Festrex.

Using a set of $10 tweeters seems just a bit out of balance.

dave

 

[brucemck2]

At this point strong contenders would be a Visaton

http://www.visaton.com/en/high_end/ht_horn/tl16h_8.html

Or a Fostex:

http://www.fostexinternational.com/...d=EElFppZAAkjnJdRzBj&tmpl=viewnews_speak_head


Also reconsidering the plate amp ... it's supposed to be terrific, but I suspect I'd rather not take the chance in case it's not.

Planning to build it with a passive outboard crossover, and wire it so that I can actively amp all three drivers via the DEQX

 

[brucemck2]

I agree with Dave, you're gonna want a top end tweeter. The Feastrex are so darn good, you'll notice anything less.

If you could pick anything, what would it be?

 

[planet10]

If you could pick anything, what would it be?

This is were i'd start...

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=131&products_id=293

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

dave

 

[Pano]

Ditto the Fostex....

 

[DaveCan]

This could be a contender http://www.beyma.de/fileadmin/seiten/download/pdf/Beyma_professional/TPL150Datenblatt.pdf

Dave

 

[cdwitmer]

Although pricey, one nice thing about going with the referenced Fostex units is, you can easily remove them entirely from the system if you don't like them, and assuming they are still in good shape at that time it should not be hard to find a new home for them. I suppose it would also be easy to use them selectively depending on what sort of music you are listening to.

-- Chris

 

[DaveCan]

Although pricey, one nice thing about going with the referenced Fostex units is, you can easily remove them entirely from the system if you don't like them, and assuming they are still in good shape at that time it should not be hard to find a new home for them. I suppose it would also be easy to use them selectively depending on what sort of music you are listening to.

-- Chris

I`m not sure, but wonder if the Beyma I linked could be some form of pleated paper(question mark not working)

Dave

 

[Steve M]

I haven't got Feastrex, instead Lowther DX-3 & PM2A-T (ticonal),a couple of different Fostexes and previously Goodman's Axiom 80 and Coral Beta 10.

A Raven R-1 ribbon tweeter works very well with all of them. Its a very refined sounding tweeter (one of the best); has 95dB efficiency; and extends to 45kHz. I roll it in with an Auriecap 0.5 - 1.5 uF capacitor. IMO, ribbon tweeters present a soft sweet treble note that doesn't intrude too much on the delicate soundfield of high quality point source drivers.

Regards,

Steve M.

 

[cdwitmer]

Thanks, Steve, for sharing that. When I remarked that a line source tweeter might not be the best choice for use with a point source fullrange transducer, I was speaking from theory and not from experience. Your experience shows that when done properly the match can be "plenty good enough."

-- Chris

 

[brucemck2]

I roll it in with an Auriecap 0.5 - 1.5 uF capacitor. IMO, ribbon tweeters present a soft sweet treble note that doesn't intrude too much on the delicate soundfield of high quality point source drivers.

Regards,

Steve M.

Do you roll off the full ranger and roll the ribbon in (a traditional crossover) or do you augment the full ranger by adding a bit of ribbon to the "natural" high end of the full ranger?

Approximately what frequency range do you add the ribbon?

 

[cdwitmer]

I have a hot lead on a pair of tweeters that might just fill the bill for your purposes. Feel free to email me if interested.

-- Chris