Hi
My Dynaudio D28/2 tweeters are over 20 years old, and I'd like to get them repaired or find
replacements; however, Dynaudio components are no longer being sold.
Anyone know where to get repair/replacement?
There have been sellers of "David Louis D28S" (and other models) tweeters on e8ay over the past several years. Most recently they claim iin their listings:
"The 28MM dome made from the same factory as Dynaudio...
Sound style: natural, detailed, and transparent.
sound very close to the Dynaudio style"
I am interested, but sceptical. When the D.L. tweeters cost <$30 I ignored them. Now its $75-$145 ea!! They must be better now(?)
The data in the listings appear to be generic, and I haven't located any reliable test/results.
Anyone here try these, have experience or know anything about them?
Thanks.
My Dynaudio D28/2 tweeters are over 20 years old, and I'd like to get them repaired or find
replacements; however, Dynaudio components are no longer being sold.
Anyone know where to get repair/replacement?
There have been sellers of "David Louis D28S" (and other models) tweeters on e8ay over the past several years. Most recently they claim iin their listings:
"The 28MM dome made from the same factory as Dynaudio...
Sound style: natural, detailed, and transparent.
sound very close to the Dynaudio style"
I am interested, but sceptical. When the D.L. tweeters cost <$30 I ignored them. Now its $75-$145 ea!! They must be better now(?)
The data in the listings appear to be generic, and I haven't located any reliable test/results.
Anyone here try these, have experience or know anything about them?
Thanks.
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Interesting.
Since I have a bundle invested in my custom loudspeakers that use an "official" Dynaudio 1st order phase-compensated crossover with the specified Dynaudio drivers, I really don't wish to change the design, preferring to renew existing D28-2(the domes & Ferrofluid are 20+ years old)
Anyone have experience recently in dealing directly with Dynaudio(who currently sell only finished systems through their dealer network)? There once was a someone a few years ago offering a service on AudioKarma, but he ran out of official Dynaudio parts.
The only reason I'm investigating DavidLouis drivers is because they promote them as "drop-in" replacements for Dynaudio systems (of which I am naturally sceptical).
I know of no other tweeter that is a drop-in for the D28AF/D28-2/D260 series, do you?
Thanks.
I linked it. It has hexagonal aluminium wire in voice coil as dyn, domes are the same material and tech, large venting hole and back chamber lower the resonance frequency as with D28. It is basically newly made dynaudio tweeter. Check the frequency and impedance response of Morel CAT308 and compare it to Dynaudio D28 datasheet.
I just found this
https://lautsprecher-technik.com/Sp...06-2A-Diaphragm-8-Ohm-28-8mm.html?language=en
no idea if they are any good but it’s worth a ****!
https://lautsprecher-technik.com/Sp...06-2A-Diaphragm-8-Ohm-28-8mm.html?language=en
no idea if they are any good but it’s worth a ****!
My system is designed for D28-2, as opposed to the old model D28. The MK2 model features some key improvements ove the old(er) D28AF.
I did find a pair of mk2s on offer in the UK, but seller is hesitant to send overseas. 😔
Thank you, however, for your effort. I will file that away for future reference.
I did find a pair of mk2s on offer in the UK, but seller is hesitant to send overseas. 😔
Thank you, however, for your effort. I will file that away for future reference.
Brilliant, thanks.
Now to assess my skills/abilities as far as the actual surgery is concerned. The option used to be a circular assembly with terminals, dome & surround already attached (more 'plug&play' than centering, gluing and soldering).
Anyone here ever replace just the dome/V.C.?
At last you need a generator. You have to center the dome over the magnet, such that voice coil does not touch the gap anywhere.
To find the position, where the coil has the maximum room to move and expand during operation, is nothing for people in a hurry. People who can perform this repair are usualy considered specialists.
Your problem will be the ferro fluid left in the gap. It often transforms into a tarr like gunk you are unable to remove from the gap, making fitting of a new dome impossible. Even if you can remove it completely, without the right amount of the right viscosity's new ferro fluid, you will end up with another tweeter, as it changes the impedance in a very critical region.
Waste of time and money to try it. Better sell the old tweeters while they still work.
You had some good advice here for alternative chassis, like the Morel.
You are living the illusion the tuning of your kit and the x-over are something like a holy grale.
Wake up, these where good kit's at their time, but nothing exclusive. Dynaudio always wanted the production speakers to sound audible better than the kit's.
I heard them all (the DIYS kits) half a life ago and was not very impressed of the factory kits, compared to others like Focal, Scan Speak and even Vifa. Many third party constructions using some Dynaudio parts where much better speakers than the "real ones".
If you compare the impedance and response curve, TSP and SPL, you will easily find a (even better!) replacement for your old tweeter.
If you don't know what may work, ask here, Today speaker building has come along way and precise predictions from chassi data are no miracle any more.
PS If you found an acousticaly matching replacement, to keep the look original, it may be possible to use the old chassis face plate. Mount the new dome and magnet assembly behind it after removing the new speakers FP.
As screws will not match, you have to get creative, epoxy glue is a very good option if you know what you do. To keep the old screws, shorten them and glue them in as a dummy. Epoxy will last for the next 20 years, mixed right...
To find the position, where the coil has the maximum room to move and expand during operation, is nothing for people in a hurry. People who can perform this repair are usualy considered specialists.
Your problem will be the ferro fluid left in the gap. It often transforms into a tarr like gunk you are unable to remove from the gap, making fitting of a new dome impossible. Even if you can remove it completely, without the right amount of the right viscosity's new ferro fluid, you will end up with another tweeter, as it changes the impedance in a very critical region.
Waste of time and money to try it. Better sell the old tweeters while they still work.
You had some good advice here for alternative chassis, like the Morel.
You are living the illusion the tuning of your kit and the x-over are something like a holy grale.
Wake up, these where good kit's at their time, but nothing exclusive. Dynaudio always wanted the production speakers to sound audible better than the kit's.
I heard them all (the DIYS kits) half a life ago and was not very impressed of the factory kits, compared to others like Focal, Scan Speak and even Vifa. Many third party constructions using some Dynaudio parts where much better speakers than the "real ones".
If you compare the impedance and response curve, TSP and SPL, you will easily find a (even better!) replacement for your old tweeter.
If you don't know what may work, ask here, Today speaker building has come along way and precise predictions from chassi data are no miracle any more.
PS If you found an acousticaly matching replacement, to keep the look original, it may be possible to use the old chassis face plate. Mount the new dome and magnet assembly behind it after removing the new speakers FP.
As screws will not match, you have to get creative, epoxy glue is a very good option if you know what you do. To keep the old screws, shorten them and glue them in as a dummy. Epoxy will last for the next 20 years, mixed right...
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"...You are living the illusion the tuning of your kit and the x-over are something like a holy grale.Wake up, these where good kit's at their time, but nothing exclusive..."
Wow.
Where would we be without these self-appointed "wise" guys to offer castigation, rather than encouragement?
It's one thing to disagree with another man's tastes, but to disrespect him, treating him as if ignorant, is NOT welcome in this setting!
(If I were restoring a favorite classic car, I wouldn't want to be told I'm wasting time as there are better to be had!)
FYI, I've been building loudspeakers for myself and others since I first read David Weems' articles in Popular Electronics magazine in the early 1970's. I have built from kits, from plans, and even my own designs. Also built JoeD'Appolito's MTMs and even EV horns.
My favorite system to-date is my current three way biamplified tower speaker using Dynaudio drivers. They use the Esotec 20W75 on bass, with 17W75xl & D28/2 to cover midrange & treble. The latter using Dynaudio's "Foccus" compensated first-order crossovers with Solen,
Clarity Cap & Dale components. I've tried other crossovers using different orders, but h this is by far the BEST sounding to my ears, projecting a wide & deep layered soundstage with a filigree of detail. As a retiree on a fixed income I hope to continue to enjoy them for some more years together with my (all DIY) sources, cables, DAC/preamp and amplifiers, making up my "ultimate" system. I can't imagine better @65yo.
I am currently making attempts to reach Dynaudio through their dealer network, in case they still have support for these fine tweeters, or equivalent.
Thanks to everyone else who kindly offer their help.
Wow.
Where would we be without these self-appointed "wise" guys to offer castigation, rather than encouragement?
It's one thing to disagree with another man's tastes, but to disrespect him, treating him as if ignorant, is NOT welcome in this setting!
(If I were restoring a favorite classic car, I wouldn't want to be told I'm wasting time as there are better to be had!)
FYI, I've been building loudspeakers for myself and others since I first read David Weems' articles in Popular Electronics magazine in the early 1970's. I have built from kits, from plans, and even my own designs. Also built JoeD'Appolito's MTMs and even EV horns.
My favorite system to-date is my current three way biamplified tower speaker using Dynaudio drivers. They use the Esotec 20W75 on bass, with 17W75xl & D28/2 to cover midrange & treble. The latter using Dynaudio's "Foccus" compensated first-order crossovers with Solen,
Clarity Cap & Dale components. I've tried other crossovers using different orders, but h this is by far the BEST sounding to my ears, projecting a wide & deep layered soundstage with a filigree of detail. As a retiree on a fixed income I hope to continue to enjoy them for some more years together with my (all DIY) sources, cables, DAC/preamp and amplifiers, making up my "ultimate" system. I can't imagine better @65yo.
I am currently making attempts to reach Dynaudio through their dealer network, in case they still have support for these fine tweeters, or equivalent.
Thanks to everyone else who kindly offer their help.
Well put chasmo, fwiw i’ve studied those david louis tweeters before and couldn’t find much about them…..came away with the gut feeling of chi-fi junk but really have no idea!
edit; After re-reading turbowatchs post I notice he’s mainly trying to be helpful and notice he hails from Germany….. I have a couple friends from there and although they mean no harm they can come across rather abrasive,
no offense to you Turbo (or the German culture), i’m sure your a stand up feller!
edit; After re-reading turbowatchs post I notice he’s mainly trying to be helpful and notice he hails from Germany….. I have a couple friends from there and although they mean no harm they can come across rather abrasive,
no offense to you Turbo (or the German culture), i’m sure your a stand up feller!
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I'm sorry you are such a thin skined Dynaudio fan boy that you are unable to fully understand my post and extract the useful information from it.
I just wanted to take away your fear of spoiling the sound of your vintage kit with a new, better tweeter. The kit's of that time where just not that refined as one might think.
In my, and many others opinion, Dynaudio always disliked the DIYS trade, while needing it to produce high enough chassis numbers.
They treated DIYS dealers not very friendly and what one got from an order was a bit of a Danish roulette. I worked close to some pro's in this trade back then.
As soon as they had established them self in the high end (export) market, they dumped the "ugly" DIYS bussines like a hot potato with very unfriendly explanations and no respect for long time component dealers.
They though DIYS kits would devalue the factory build speakers. That was why they always made the kit's a notch worse than the "real" speakers.
Other makes see it as a way to get loyal fans, which turn from DIYS to High end customers over the years. I'm quite interested what help Dynaudio will offer for a vintage DIYS kit...
If you are really so deep into DIYS from the 70's up, you know there where fantastic constructions mixing Dynaudio chassis with other makes. The combination of Dynaudio lower end with a Focal tweeter for example was fantastic.
Many independent constructions used Dynaudio woofer in vented cabinets, most much more impressing than the unlucky "Variovent" they promoted at that time. Nice theorie, no impressive performance in reality.
Anyway, keep your original Dynaudio gear. It might soon rise in value.
As Dynaudio is now Chinese owned, our dear friends from the far east will root out any Danish High end culture in a short while. They will transform the brand name into the usual Asian greed driven, expensive plastic production. I fear European customers will not even realize it for quite some time.
Expect after sales customer care to meet Chinese standard very soon.
I just wanted to take away your fear of spoiling the sound of your vintage kit with a new, better tweeter. The kit's of that time where just not that refined as one might think.
In my, and many others opinion, Dynaudio always disliked the DIYS trade, while needing it to produce high enough chassis numbers.
They treated DIYS dealers not very friendly and what one got from an order was a bit of a Danish roulette. I worked close to some pro's in this trade back then.
As soon as they had established them self in the high end (export) market, they dumped the "ugly" DIYS bussines like a hot potato with very unfriendly explanations and no respect for long time component dealers.
They though DIYS kits would devalue the factory build speakers. That was why they always made the kit's a notch worse than the "real" speakers.
Other makes see it as a way to get loyal fans, which turn from DIYS to High end customers over the years. I'm quite interested what help Dynaudio will offer for a vintage DIYS kit...
If you are really so deep into DIYS from the 70's up, you know there where fantastic constructions mixing Dynaudio chassis with other makes. The combination of Dynaudio lower end with a Focal tweeter for example was fantastic.
Many independent constructions used Dynaudio woofer in vented cabinets, most much more impressing than the unlucky "Variovent" they promoted at that time. Nice theorie, no impressive performance in reality.
Anyway, keep your original Dynaudio gear. It might soon rise in value.
As Dynaudio is now Chinese owned, our dear friends from the far east will root out any Danish High end culture in a short while. They will transform the brand name into the usual Asian greed driven, expensive plastic production. I fear European customers will not even realize it for quite some time.
Expect after sales customer care to meet Chinese standard very soon.
If the tweetrers are just old but not broken, I will just clean the old ferrofluid on the voice coil and gap. And try a listening test without ferrofluid but cleaned from the thick FF coumpound :some FF can age bad according the thickness grade after 20 to 30 years according how you used the loudspeaker (heating plus area where you live if hot).
Dynaudio should be able to tell you the FF grade for refurbishing if lacking after a listening test. Also some high ends Morel arre cetainly worths a try.
Dynaudio should be able to tell you the FF grade for refurbishing if lacking after a listening test. Also some high ends Morel arre cetainly worths a try.
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The first thing to do with an old speakers chassis, is recording an impedance curve. It is much less complicated than recording the response. Start quite high, like 300Hz. You can see if the FF still works or what other problems may arise in the gap. Run it on different levels, as some problems will only be visible when the VC moves quite a bit. Just a few mVolt are not enough.
When your speakers seem to sound OK, but sometimes you get a very short impression of something being wrong, this can usualy been seen in the impedance at higher levels.
If you really start to work on them, the impedance curve is the only way to check the right amount and viscosity of FF has been applied.
Have a look at the x-over, any bipolar electrolytic, if used, should be renewed after 20 years.
When your speakers seem to sound OK, but sometimes you get a very short impression of something being wrong, this can usualy been seen in the impedance at higher levels.
If you really start to work on them, the impedance curve is the only way to check the right amount and viscosity of FF has been applied.
Have a look at the x-over, any bipolar electrolytic, if used, should be renewed after 20 years.
"I'm sorry you are such a thin skined Dynaudio fan boy that you are unable to fully understand my post..."
Again with the personal insults and disrespect!?
Well, I'm sorry for you & hope you learn from us,
Even if well intentioned, such a tone is just bad manners and counterproductive in our forum.
Pray you treat others respectfully in person. It is not January 6th, 2021 and this is not a political arena.
Forgiveness to you & thanks to everyone else.
-Charles (NOT the king)
Again with the personal insults and disrespect!?
Well, I'm sorry for you & hope you learn from us,
Even if well intentioned, such a tone is just bad manners and counterproductive in our forum.
Pray you treat others respectfully in person. It is not January 6th, 2021 and this is not a political arena.
Forgiveness to you & thanks to everyone else.
-Charles (NOT the king)
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Excellent point!
I happened upon several posts here and there by the usual "experts" to the effect that Ferrofluid does degrade tweeters with time. Since my tweeters were purchased 23 years ago(and may have been on the shelf for a year or two), I was doing research and posting for advice on prospects for service or replacement, while there are still "NOS" parts available. I just did not expect the pushback which I received.
Naturally, I would prefer to "leave well enough alone"... I'm currently listening to some nice jazz with Lpads at "+1dB" they're nice to 65yo ears!
Thanks for the objective info and reassurance!
I think I may still try to obtain another single unit as insurance in case of unexpected damage, such as a dome poked by grandkids.
Peace and happy New Year to all who replied.
-Charles