I am in the process of designing my first open baffle speaker and didn't like the idea of having two dome tweeters (front and back) or expensive dipole ribbon tweeters.
So I tried some open back paper tweeters/mini full range drivers. Although in some ways they sounded better than my standard dome tweeter they definitively lack sparkle. Even though they measured OK it just sounded dull/muffled.
Although my dome tweeter had more sparkle it sounded constrained.....i mean if you just listened to it with a 6.6uF cap the dome tweeter sounds like a tiny transistor radio. The paper cones sound less whimpy/constrained but as i said no sparkle.
Then I wondered if I could turn my dome tweeter into a dipole so I got out my box cutter and pried of the back of my tweeter. I took out some acoustic foam and was left with a nice round hole. I hooked it up to the amp and was pleasantly surprised. After some listening I decided I didn't really like the sound that came out of the back so I got another idea.
I made a small slotted Karlson pipe and stuck it in the back of the tweeter with some hot glue. This made it sound a lot more balanced. When I A/B test the original and the modified tweeter in small test baffles the sound quality is really day and night. It sounds like a way more expensive tweeter! It has air, detail, realism, depth....
I am a happy camper. I turned my cheap Peerless DX20BF tweeters into something that sounds like it belongs in another league. I acan't wait to to try it with a peerless ring radiator tweeter.....
I don't know if the mod is that easy with other tweeters. But with this Peerless the back comes off in just a few second. Super easy mod and reversible I you don't like the result.
Did I just invent something new or did i reinvent the wheel here? Please let me know the results if you try this modification.
