Are you using Voxativ AC-1.6?
Have you tried any other FR like EMS, Lowther or the Voxativ is really worth the price?
..there have been others as well.
Pioneer I believe did a Be alloy.
Sony had an Ag alloy in the late '80s.
-I'd think that BeCu would work well, and for VC's generally.
The couple of speakers I've heard with a RAAL tweeter sounded very clear and low distortion BUT somewhat "electronic" to me and not as "natural" or convincing as I'd need.
On a related note.. I've found ~ great success believe it or not with the lowly PE MTM design using PE reference series alum drivers. But as many would agree, they sound pleasing but a bit "grungy" and unrefined. But otherwise quite good sound.
HOWEVER- that all changed with the Naim 180 amp improvement project. Turns out the alum dome tweeter was actually just happily passing along the grunge from the chain below it.. Now that the amp is much, much cleaner so is the tweeter sound and thus the PE MTM sound. The analog system sounds utterly amazing on the whole GFR red album for example. Funny how that works huh
And I never dreamed there was sooo much audio gold still laying down there waiting to be mined in the classic amp design for example. But indeed there is.
And a bonus, the MTM design SOLVES a horrible room boom problem I've been plagued with for years. That's another topic though.. But it means no digital EQ needed anymore (or very small bookshelf) and thus the ~ decked out Linn LP12 with Akiva MC comes out to play again, AND in fact digital has been parked for well over a year again now LOL..
So I guess the moral is, likely that system ~ grunge impacted the RAAL listening as well at the time. Would love to try it again someday, but honestly am not hearing the need to anymore either. Which means the brain is ~ satisfied (a good thing).
Turbo in TX
On a related note.. I've found ~ great success believe it or not with the lowly PE MTM design using PE reference series alum drivers. But as many would agree, they sound pleasing but a bit "grungy" and unrefined. But otherwise quite good sound.
HOWEVER- that all changed with the Naim 180 amp improvement project. Turns out the alum dome tweeter was actually just happily passing along the grunge from the chain below it.. Now that the amp is much, much cleaner so is the tweeter sound and thus the PE MTM sound. The analog system sounds utterly amazing on the whole GFR red album for example. Funny how that works huh
And I never dreamed there was sooo much audio gold still laying down there waiting to be mined in the classic amp design for example. But indeed there is.
And a bonus, the MTM design SOLVES a horrible room boom problem I've been plagued with for years. That's another topic though.. But it means no digital EQ needed anymore (or very small bookshelf) and thus the ~ decked out Linn LP12 with Akiva MC comes out to play again, AND in fact digital has been parked for well over a year again now LOL..
So I guess the moral is, likely that system ~ grunge impacted the RAAL listening as well at the time. Would love to try it again someday, but honestly am not hearing the need to anymore either. Which means the brain is ~ satisfied (a good thing).
Turbo in TX
This is a fairly classic condition at both Dealers and Shows.
Most of the time it's a new component - be it the loudspeaker, amp, etc.. Sometimes though it's a really poor electrical system and inadequate isolation from it.
I remember going to a Dealer and the owner exclaiming how the new amps he was about to hook-up to an Apogee Loudspeaker I was interested in at the time was probably "the best solid-state amp available".
-the sound was of course "flat"/2D, "small", and the classic grunge - "chalky"-sounding.
I stopped by there a few years later and he still hadn't sold those same amps - and sure enough, they were very good - quite unlike the description above. (..maybe even the best solid-state amp I'd heard by then - at least in a few respects.)
One of the few ''revelations'' i had in my audiophile life was almost 10 years ago when i first listened to a pair of Lowther DX4.
I was not interested by the fullrange thing, in the purist way, but i instantly noticed the potential as a midrange... and i promised myself i'd do something about it one day.
Took a while but i did it. So i tested and/or listened:
Visaton B200 (the ''poor man exotic FR'')
Lowther DX4
Seas F8
Manger (different technology but still a FR)
Supravox 165 & 215
Voxativ AC-2.8
Voxativ AC-1.6
Best bang for the bucks is the B200, hands down. Manger and Supravox are good drivers but too smooth for my taste.
So what is left is, indeed, a bit expensive
Is that really worth the price ? Considering i use it as a MID ?
Yes, i think so. But then again: i decided to spend my money into my hobby instead of a small red convertible car, can't do both.
When you're looking for the absolute best, sometimes you get bargains, sometimes you have to pay. For all my drivers: i had to pay!
Zaph says the Fountek brand ribbons measure very good, and are about $50 - $100 each, with built in transformers that allegedly show the amp a resistive load. If you use a midrange driver such as the Peerless/Tympany TG9FD or TC9FD and cross them over to a Fountek 1.5 inch ribbon at 7-8kHZ, you should have a very competitive system. I doubt if the $1000 Raal sounds audibly better. I have heard both, but in different systems and rooms.
No offense but i'm sure wouldn't compare a TG9FD+Fountek kit with a Voxativ+Raal kit... Not the same league at all.
Unless you find Olive Garden food to taste the same as Joël Robuchon's...
I'm not sure I would call that a good article, so much as a simple overview. Despite a picture of a Mundorf AMT they never mention the tweeter technology, do they know the difference? Also some biased, if not just overly broad statements.
The elitism here stinks quite terribly. Just because a driver is inexpensive does not mean that its performance or sound quality, for that matter, are going to be sub par.
It works both ways, there's plenty of expensive and flashy drivers(some mentioned here) that aren't worth close to their asking price.
I never said anything like; inexpensive = bad.
and, yes, it works both way: expensive doesnt mean it's automatically overrated...
I think there is some kind of people that like to bet on the underdog and when the underdog gets, well, under.. They're frustrated.
I'd be more than happy to spend only 50$ on drivers and get better results than 1,000$ drivers, but it's not the case. I did it with amplifiers, though!
Oh, also some people are victim of what we can call a lack of refinement. In which case they should be very happy with their state, as it costs less to get the same levels of climax in various things
Elitism ? Well, ok. I'll assume happily.
Feel free to start your own ''Best Value Tweeter'' thread, which, i am sure, will interests many people. But not me.
Elitism ? Well, ok. I'll assume happily.
Feel free to start your own ''Best Value Tweeter'' thread, which, i am sure, will interests many people. But not me.
Thanks 5th. I was a bit put off by Johnny Boconnie's slam. I've met a lot of intensely egotistical people in the audiophile world. Also, transsexuals, transvestites, mormons, intense introverts, etc. It's a largely weird crowd. But I appreciate diversity, so...
Zaph also measured the Raal ribbon and found it to be the best, but the Fountek was 2nd best out of the maybe half dozen ribbons he chose to test. And the 2-4 inch driver evaluation thread test results appeared to show that the TG9 was actually a pretty good driver. So whatever.
A good friend of mine bought the Raal's, which I heard. One was defective and had to be sent back for repair. Sound wise I can't say it sounded any better than the Fountek to my ear, but different system, diffferent room, etc. I can't help but wonder if the huge price difference between the Fountek and the Raal is God's way of punishing the egotists. People who are more interested in bragging, than listening to and enjoying music.
Scientific testing has shown that even an uneducated persons ears are just as good at determining what sounds better. Whether or not they care to appreciate it is another matter, but you can use whoever you want, providing they are of sane mind and have biologically functional hearing to tell you what sounds better.
Loudspeaker performance can be summed up by measurements and yes you do need to spend a certain amount of money to arrive at this, but it is not necessary to spend ridiculous to get there. This is not to say that you're not going to get something for spending all that money some of the time, but within their respective limitations, the TC9+Fountek is not to be sniffed at. And to simply dismiss someone's point of view or attempt at a discussion, with snide remarks and comparisons to food that I wouldn't even want to eat, is simply not sporting.
Loudspeaker performance can be summed up by measurements and yes you do need to spend a certain amount of money to arrive at this, but it is not necessary to spend ridiculous to get there. This is not to say that you're not going to get something for spending all that money some of the time, but within their respective limitations, the TC9+Fountek is not to be sniffed at. And to simply dismiss someone's point of view or attempt at a discussion, with snide remarks and comparisons to food that I wouldn't even want to eat, is simply not sporting.
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