Turned my own Tweeter faceplates to see if they look any better...

Thought I’d try making some new faceplates for my Vifa XT’s, they turned out pretty good and are about 1/8’ smaller diameter so they will allow a little more tilt from the Mid/woofer modules. These were pretty tough to make, I had to do 2 prototypes to get the back right. The back is far more intricate than the front, they have to have a trough and a narrow cone shaped throat to fit properly. I have no idea if they will look any good once there installed, but it was great experience making them.

I’ll have some photos of them installed soon, right now I’m trying some Usher 9950 in place of the XT’s for some extended listening tests while I rework the Vifa’s.

Another View

Another view showing the throat, the back is a mirror image and narrows to about 1/16".

Here is the backside.

Just a cheep Ridgid 14", but I'm quite the novice so it'll do for some time.

The faceplate comes off very easy, just remove the 3 torx screws near the cone on the faceplate. The rest is a little harder, it helps to have a bad one so you can experiment, but these are very tough and hard to damage. First you need to remove the Phase Plug by breaking the glue bond between the Phase plug and the cone, you can do this with your fingernail if your careful. Then there are two glue spots that hold the cone/cap and VC assembly to the motor, just cut through the glue spots between the magnet and plastic cap along the sides with an xacto knife and carefully separate the two halves. Another way to do this without removing the Phase Plug is just pull it apart and the Phase Plug will come loose from the back pole piece plastic thinge, you think it will tear the cone but it wont, this cone is nearly indestructible. I've got several pictures of the innards that might help anyone needing to take these tweeters apart.

I think I’ve already posted several pictures of the internal components of the Vifa XT tweeter about a year ago, however this wont do you any good for other tweeters as they are all different. Also if you just want to replace the faceplate then there is no need to take the tweeter apart, just remove the faceplate. I’ll keep looking for the pictures though just in case anyone is interested.

Here is one I found.

The sole purpose of the Star shaped thingy is to position and secure the Phase Plug, it glues to the center (ID) of the VC gap. The bullit shaped thing in the middle of the Star is the back side of the Phase Plug. Technically the Star thing should not be removed, but it came unglued from the motor assembly when I seperated the cone cap from the motor, if the Phase plug is removed first then this would not be attached to the VC former as in the picture.

Madinoz:

You must have misunderstood some of my earlier posts, or I wasn’t clear.

I think it would be an extremely bad idea to play the tweeter without the Phase Plug. The Phase Plug is glued to the tweeter diaphragm and secures the center of the cone to the pole piece. Without it, the diaphragm will just flap and buzz. I have never played the tweeter without the phase plug, I don't even think it's a good idea to play this tweeter without a faceplate, the faceplate is an important part of the structure. You can replace the faceplate or Phase Plug with your own design providing you secure it like the factory did, but that’s about as far as I would go after taking 2 of these completely apart.

Actually that's what I was thinking about doing, so maybe we are on the same page.

The removal of the phase plug is a bit tricky, but it is the best way to separate the VC assembly from the motor without damaging the VC former. If you don’t remove the Phase Plug then you have to pull the VC/diaphragm assembly off the motor with enough force to break the glue of the internal "spider thingy" from the pole piece seat. This causes a sudden jerk when the glue lets go and thus causes the VC to be yanked out of the gap with little control. Since I have already manhandled 2 different ones apart I have found a way to remove the Phase Plug safely without damaging the diaphragm.

And since I already have 2 dead XT's I plan on turning a few different types of Phase Plugs just for the fun of it, maybe there will be a difference that is audible, maybe not.