Scanspeak d2905 9300 vs 9500

I have not heard the 9300 but I have compared the 9500, 9700 and 9900. To my ears the 9700 and 9900 are too 'polite' and sound a bit closed in. Some people love them as souning better but for my money the 9500 is a great sounding tweeter that is open and involving in it's sound. I rate it as the pick of the bunch but not all agree with me!
 
I have not heard the 9300 but I have compared the 9500, 9700 and 9900. To my ears the 9700 and 9900 are too 'polite' and sound a bit closed in. Some people love them as souning better but for my money the 9500 is a great sounding tweeter that is open and involving in it's sound. I rate it as the pick of the bunch but not all agree with me!

Aren't you the guy from hifiwigwam that swapped the 9900 for 9500 in your Living voice speakers?

Did you take any measurements? Was it just a straight swap without any adjustment to the crossover?
 
Aren't you the guy from hifiwigwam that swapped the 9900 for 9500 in your Living voice speakers?

Did you take any measurements? Was it just a straight swap without any adjustment to the crossover?

Yep, that's me. Straight swop. No measurements. Trusting to my ears. After all, it's me listening to the music and if I like what I hear then that's a good enough analysis because I'm not making any claim beyond that.

I was at Living Voice today to collect a pair of their own version of the 990000 made just for them by scanspeak and we were discussing the various scanspeak tweeters that they use. Basically they agreed with my like of the open nature of the 950000 but also agree that it does come with some courseness. The more refined sound of the 990000 by contrast can sound a bit 'closed in'. The Living Voice specially made version of the 990000 is an attempt to get the best of both worlds. I have a pair now so will be trying to see if they have succeeded.
 
Yep, that's me. Straight swop. No measurements. Trusting to my ears. After all, it's me listening to the music and if I like what I hear then that's a good enough analysis because I'm not making any claim beyond that.

I completely understand where your coming from, but with loudspeaker design a lot of people don't realise that you can get phase problems and a wonky frequency response when you swop drivers (Guessing without measurements is like trying to win the lottery), but on the other hand, If they sound better, then they are better.

With a clever bit of crossover tweaking, it's quite possible that the 9900s could have been made to sound how you want them to sound, but the best way to do it properly would be with measurements.

I was at Living Voice today to collect a pair of their own version of the 990000 made just for them by scanspeak and we were discussing the various scanspeak tweeters that they use. Basically they agreed with my like of the open nature of the 950000 but also agree that it does come with some courseness. The more refined sound of the 990000 by contrast can sound a bit 'closed in'. The Living Voice specially made version of the 990000 is an attempt to get the best of both worlds. I have a pair now so will be trying to see if they have succeeded.

Will be very interested in your opinion and if you want to sell those boring old 9900s cheap, let me know :)
 
I spent a bit of time on this because I know a bit about these tweeters, at least theoretically:

https://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/d2905-930000.pdf
https://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/d2905-950000.pdf
https://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/d2905-970000.pdf
https://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/d2905-990000.pdf

The D2905 9300 and 9500 are 90db tweeters with ferrofluid.

The D2905 9700 and 9900 have no ferrofluid and hence a bigger Fs impedance peak. They have copper rings. Fundamentally around 88dB, but the 9900 has a small waveguide, which lifts it 2dB in the 3kHz area.

Easily enough adjusted in the crossover with various values:

ScanSpeak-9500-9700-9900

Lynn Olson has played with them:

The Scan-Speak D2905 family of tweeters communicate this subtle essence in the most natural way I've heard so far. Here are my personal impressions of the top three models:

D2905/9500: This Scan-Speak tweeter is a combination of the 9300 dome assembly, front plate, and Ferrofluid damping, combined with the 9900 aerodynamic non-resonant rear chamber. Since I have a few reservations about the sonics of the 9900, that makes this the best all-around choice for the Ariel and ME2. The reports from the Ariel Builders Club all agree: this is their favorite tweeter ... guess I better replace my old sticky-dome 9000's with the 9500's one of these days.

D2905/9700: A 9900 with a flat faceplate. I've heard a rumor that Siegfried Linkwitz commissioned this tweeter for the Audio Artistry line of speakers. He wanted all the features of a 9900 without the shallow horn, thus the 9700. No question about it, they sound very good in the Audio Artistry speakers - with Linkwitz as the designer, they should!

The 9700, along with the 9900, do not use any Ferrofluid in the voice-coil gap. (A very unusual feature in any tweeter these days.) That creates a large peak in the impedance curve at the tweeter resonance of 600Hz, thus requiring a precisely tuned notch filter in the crossover. More significantly, this also means the tweeter portion of the Ariel and ME2 crossover requires a complete redesign for the 9700 - if you use the "stock" crossover there is a real possibility of damaging the tweeter and the certainty of very high IM distortion as the result of uncontrolled excursion at the tweeter resonance.

D2905/9900: The top of the Scan-Speak driver line. Unfortunately, this tweeter isn't my cup of tea. I haven't heard any speakers that use this tweeter that are to my taste; the measured wrinkles in the response in the 12 to 18kHz region are audible (to me, at least), and I am not a fan of short horns, which is what the 9900 uses as a faceplate. (Short horn = "directivity control element".)

In any event the standard Ariel and ME2 crossovers require a complete redesign for the 9900. If you select the 9900, you are on your own. Make sure you have CLIO, MLSSA, and a calibrated 1/2" condenser microphone nearby. If you are a very advanced builder with a fully equipped lab, this could be an interesting challenge.

In purely objective terms, the Vifa P13WH-00-08 and Scan-Speak D2905/9500 are the flattest, most neutral drivers in the world; the group-delay vs. frequency and MLSSA waterfall results are truly exceptional. Not to mention they sound great as well!

http://www.nutshellhifi.com/Arieltxt1.html#td

Hope that covers it.