Supertweeter and Quad ESL 989

[wytco0]

I have now had my 989's for a few months and apart from the size ! I love them, the sounds is fantastic. But I am starting to think they could be improved a little bit.....

Someone mentioned that it might be worth trying them with a pair of "Supertweeters", I dont know anything about supertweeters has anyone listenede to them and can comment of their affect in particular with the 989s?

Are they worth and audition? what mrand/model would you recommmend?

[sreten]

Hi,

hifi world had an article about using the £800/pair Townsend ribbon supertweeters.

As this is a DIY site I'd suggest you experiment with something somewhat cheaper.

Something like a pair of BG Neo 3 PDR's in bipole mode.

Where you'd get them from I'm not sure.

/sreten.

[Jeroenkv]

Originally posted by sreten

Something like a pair of BG Neo 3 PDR's in bipole mode.

Where you'd get them from I'm not sure.

/sreten.

www.partsexpress.com

[Brian Beck]

This may be a stupid suggestion for someone with nice new and pretty 989s, but my ESL-63s really came alive in the top end when I got rid of the metal grills and the grill cloth altogether. The resulting speaker is butt-ugly, but sounds much more alive, airy and smooth on the top end (and elsewhere). A few people have even repackaged the Quads in new sturdier DIY frames that allowed for and compensated for deleting the metal grills. The metal grill and cloth make for a tough obstacle course for high frequencies. A reasonable compromise might to use something like very open tricot material (like panty hose but even more open) instead of the original cloth.

I worry about the addition of any tweeter to a large point source (spherical source) like the Quads. Timing and phasing will always be extremely difficult, and even if you could get it right at one precise seating location, if you move your head a a millimeter or two, you'd have have peaks and dips. The tweeter will be too many wavelengths away from the center of the Quad. The cure may be worse than the symptom. I don't want to discourage experimentation, but I wouldn't spend much money on it. Enjoy what you have. Maybe work instead on improving the other items in your rig.

[Tenson]

I thought the same as Brian. The ESL has a VERY different dispersion pattern to a normal super-tweeter. A BG Neo3-PDR placed coaxial, one on the front and one on the back with reversed phase and as close to the speaker as possible might work. It might even be possible to use an all-pass filter to get the phase more correct but I don't know.

[moray james]

A friend of mine is running modified Acoustat 0ne plus 0ne's. He is also running JAS ribbon tweeters along side them. The improvement is substantial. He did spend considerable time in adjusting both position and phase to get the ribbons to intigrate properly but the effort has paid off. Why don't you loan a set home for a weekend from a local dealer and find out for yourseld in your own system. Regards Moray James.

[Andersonix]

We had a pair of fancy ribbon tweeters (don't remember what) with ESL 64s and Gradient subs, and yes there was more treble. Harsh ribbon treble. But it was never right. If your hearing is going bad, then turn up the treble control, toe the speakers in, or tear off the cloth.

[inertial]

Hi witco0,
I think maybe your listening point is too high compared with the acoustic centre of the quad. You can try a solid base to stand up your 989. Not a "box-base" but a full solid of MDF. IMHO this can help treble
and soundstage also. With ESL63 of my friend it worked very well.

Cheers,
Inertial

[Robert F]

Originally posted by moray james
A friend of mine is running modified Acoustat 0ne plus 0ne's. He is also running JAS ribbon tweeters along side them. The improvement is substantial. He did spend considerable time in adjusting both position and phase to get the ribbons to intigrate properly but the effort has paid off. Why don't you loan a set home for a weekend from a local dealer and find out for yourseld in your own system. Regards Moray James.

Moray,

As you may recall I have a pair of heavily modified 1 + 1's myself, (remember the power supply choke mod?) and I am very interested in your friend's experience. Do you have a source for these ribbons? Do you know how he crosses the ribbons over in terms of x-over components and sensitivity adjustment?

Thanks in advance for your trouble.

Robert

[moray james]

http://www.charismaaudio.com/100K.html
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue20/orsa.htm

The orsa tweeter is a mono pole ribbon. My buddies Acoustats have been fitted with the choke supply mod. These ribbons come in a cylinderical housing with matching transformer and crossover selection built in. I would also seriously consider the Kings Audio Hummingbird dipole ESL super tweeter.

http://www.kingsaudio.com.hk/product.asp

I should think that the dipole ESL tweeter would be an even better match. Further its ulta low mass diaphragm should provide stellar dynamics.
My friend did spend some time with positioning and with flipping phase back and forth. In the end the combination is superb. Check it out. Best regards Moray James.