Super tweeters

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Indeed. Doesn't seem to be much info out there, but the little bit is favorable. Good that you can use them elsewhere if they don't do what you want.

I do see the Visaton for sale at several European shops, but it's 220 Euro. Ouch.
 
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I put a couple into a Digikey shopping cart and got a probable ship date of August 22. Then on the cart list it showed 'Backordered'. My experience has been that backorders usually ship. Often before the date they gave.

Nay people?
 

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Well it’s probably going to take that long to get everything else put together anyhow, and I would also venture digikey is a big enough company to make it happen or return funds if it doesn’t.

So what say all, is the visaton the my most viable avenue to success? Here again there is also another set of speakers in my collection that I’m sure would benefit a visaton on top if it doesn’t work on the mtm.

And just to be clear before making a final decision…..there’s no support for that amt dipole ?
 
The ‘rat shack’ tweeters seem to have a decent fr curve Radio Shack / Realistic 40-1310 Horn Super Tweeter
The curve is good on-axis, but like the JBL 075 or 2402 bullet tweeter, the dispersion is extremely narrow, dropping to around 20 degrees at 20 kHz. If you can hear up there, you won't hear it other than in a small circle ;^)

Of interest, if a 2405 diaphragm is used in a 2402, the on-axis response increases in level with frequency. IIRC, in the variant 16kHz was at least +3dB dB up from 8kHz, while the stock bullet drops about 4 dB in that octave.

Art
 
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At least the Visaton has published polar plots that look legit. You'll know what you're getting into. There just isn't a lot of info out there about any of these drivers.

The Visaton looks head and shoulders above the rest of their line-up. Makes me wonder if it was a pet project that went commercial.
 
I had either an Audax or Polydax budget bullet tweeter which made a perfect on axis graph to 20K but preferred the cheap and cheerful Selenium ST324 and its heavier aluminum faceplate relative, ST320. Did the craze for bullet phase plugs drive the slot variety out of existence ?

(btw - it would have been interesting to drive that flat face Motorola piezo with a step-up transformer)
 

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There just isn't a lot of info out there about any of these drivers.
I was surprised to see so little info to differentiate the three different AMTs from each other. No FR or Polar graphs, and between the medium and small the only difference in the info text is the power handling.
From a company that makes what could be called a 'milestone' or 'classic' driver, I imagined there'd be a more, what could you call it? . . . . generous? presentation.


Unless it is used as a blend rather than a cross
That's what I did with mine, just decreasing the capacitor value until it fit.
 
Well, interesting day!
The visaton TL16H-8 were designed for what looks like a kit which as such it’s crossed @ 7k (there’s a xo schematic there also) MONITOR 890 MK III | Visaton

I contacted digikey this morning and got reasonable answers and was proceeding to order then we were discussing the import tax she mentioned $40 from China! I asked her to double check and sure enough it’s China…….well that kindly blew my mind because I figured they were coming from Germany! So I said let’s hold off until I dig some more……dug some more and found that there is NO mention of China anywhere in the visaton literature (even in fine print) and in fact they go out of their way to make it seem as though they are of German manufacture. So I did a little more digging and this company seems to make more low end junk than anything else so decided against that crap shoot.

Later I contacted ESS and spoke to someone named Rick that I’m assuming was the owner the way he carried himself……anyway nice feller and quite knowledgeable, answering all my technical questions without hesitation.

He said the amt holds a 60 deg horizontal almost all the way to 20k and only has a 10 deg vertical but as a dipole if kept within 12”-24” from the front wall it’s more like 30 deg vertical. So I told him there was some concern about using a dipole tweeter on top of a mtm and he said there were several customers who had done it with great results it would just take some experimentation to get it blended properly. Also after explaining my speakers and room dimensions he strongly recommended the medium II version…..which is ok by me they still spec out fairly close. If anything the med. will be more useful if it doesn’t work here.

Also learned that if dipole isn’t such a hot idea for my situation one can block off the backside with foam to knock it down a little or wood to block it completely.

So long story short I ordered a set and he’s even going to custom match the diaphragms for me himself.

First step taken!
 
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Interesting news about the Visaton. Maybe that explains the high margin for discount I mentioned earlier. Though mine are about 15 years old and I'd thought they were German made, I went and had a look and found no "Made in . . . " anywhere on the driver or box, so maybe. . . . . . I have to wash my hands now. : )

On another note, I emailed ESS a couple of days ago out interest, asking if they had any better, printable data. I got a reply tonight with DATS results from another fellow there. I emailed back asking either for permission to post it here, or asking him to do so if he likes. Let's see.

Anyway, sounds like you hit a serendipitous groove with ESS. Glad to hear you're off the launch pad.
 
Don’t take me wrong, there are some very well made things that come out of China…..it’s just that they never ‘owned it’ like they were hiding the fact. What else might they be hiding? Seems they dug in deep with China around 2011 according to what I’ve seen poking around, my theory is they were made in Germany before that and moved manufacturing later (saving costs) so maybe Hearinspace and Troels has originals? No telling as there is just too much vagueness.
Am I wrong in assuming as such? At least with ess labs I can communicate any issues and know where they live! :D

Thx Hearinspace, looking fwd to seeing what ess sends us for measurements.

Pano, not sure how long but he said it wouldn’t be but a few days b4 shipping, I’ll be playing around with them on the speakers I have hooked up at the moment (Yamaha ns670, and my own recreation of Burhoe acoustics ‘Blues’)
 
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These look interesting and would be quite easy for me to build a set…..back in the day I made a set of omni’s with a upward firing 10” selenium coax and a down firing 10” jbl sub, both into cones I turned on the lathe (much like the ones pictured but bigger of course) I really liked the way it worked in big spaces…..they are still in use by the friend who bought them.
Anyone ever see or hear these before? Super Tweeters
 
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ESS very kindly sent DATS files for the three different Heil drivers with permission to post them here. I don't have the Dayton Audio test system. Can magnitude be inferred if the numbers are put into the program?
 

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