It's 2017! Time for a afford. tweeter roundup..

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Thought it might be a good time to listen to what other DIY'ers like to use for their "goto" affordable tweeter.

Can anyone beat the Vifa XT25 / ScanSpeak Discovery R2604/8320 for price/performance?

Maybe we should set $50-ish as the upper range? I know there will be SB Acoustics fans who will want to bring up the SB29RDC

What else are you sweet on after buying?

Best,


E
 
Hi Eriksquires,

I use Scanspeak D2608 same ref than Peerless 8210921in my Nomex 164 and in my future Elsonore speakers.
Joe Rasmussen have done tests between XT25 and D2608 :

Elsinore Tweeter Test

Tests in favor of the D2608 !

Zaph was saying about this tweeter :

Peerless 810921 ($78) - Also known as the new HDS tweeter. Peerless finally creates a world class tweeter to compete with the best from Seas and Scan-Speak. Very low distortion levels and smooth, controllable response. Minor FR dip at 6.5kHz. Beautiful cast metal frame. Reasonable price. There's not much to complain about here and this is one of the best in the group. Tested June 2006.

But note really sure it's in in the price range of 50$ because it costs around 70 € in Europe ;)
 
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Had both the Scanspeak & Vifa versions of the XT25's. The Scanspeak versions have the clear edge in QC for sure. I love these tweeters thanks to their linearity and lack of need for ferrofluid damping to get it. But thanks to PartsExpress who have the Fountek CD1.0 ribbon for $52.80 US $ has to edge out the former as the best bang for buck on the planet. They are tricky little guys to integrate seamlessly. But when you get it right they offer a dimension of realism to the upper registers nothing else can touch. Well not for around fifty bucks anyway.
 
I think there is a point everyone is missing. I also have used the Peerless 810921 or whatever Scanspeak call it now. I chose it initially because on paper it looked real nice. In my Peerless three way setup I only started getting the 3 dimensional imaging realism I was after when I swapped it out for a Fountek CD1 ribbon. Every Tweeter is a team player that is only as good as it's integration into a complete loudspeaker system. In those situations the meaurements as a whole for a component in isolation carry less meaning. I had the chance to listen to the XT25's big brother the Scanspeak 7000 with the needle phase plug. There is a reason it is so expensive. It added that 3 dimensional realism to the upper registers a little better than my home setup with the Fountek CD1.0. But @ close to 6 times the cost. In that particular setup it was not to my ears well integrated into the musical presentation. It was saying hey look at me I'm the star of this show instead of being a team player. I suspect that is because the SB Acoustics 6 in bass/mids were a little outclassed or the crossover needed more work. The XT 25 CAN sound amazing but the crossover has to be right. It was initially very frustrating for me as it was a long tall learning curve to learn HOW to best do that in the crossover IF the bass or mid underneath it allowed it to do so. Be glad to go dsp active and leave many of these woes behind.
 
Usher 9950-20 / Dayton RS28

I've read good feedback on the Tymphany D19 3/4" but have no experience

https://www.parts-express.com/peerless-by-tymphany-d19td-05-3-4-poly-dome-tweeter--264-500
Really old design. Not terrible but not great. The main problem is that crossing it below 3KHz is straining it and it has a huge faceplate so your centre-to-centre spacing with the mid/woofer will cause lobing issues off-axis. You can now get tweeters comparable to a D19 with tiny faceplates e.g. XT25SC, Dayton ND20, ND28 - with those you can achieve a much smaller CTC spacing and cross at 3K without too many problems off axis
 
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I use the SEAS 22TAF/G. It has the most 'artifact' free top end I've heard.

I could afford something more expensive but I don't see any reason to change. I use mine with a dome mid so it's power handling is fine. It can go down to 2k and still sound great but with limited power handling; using a 2k x/o in a high power environment would be the only reason for me to get something else.

By comparison soft domes sound fuzzy and other metal domes sound metallic.
 
I honestly get sick of being misunderstood. The Scanspeak 7000 was not a suggestion but a contrast for comparison. The performance that can be gleaned from the "budget" Peerless BC 25SC06-04 makes it a contender IMHO. If you're bigoted against it due to its low price you loose not me. Mmmm no support for the Fountek.CD1.0 Oh well same story. Guess I'll leave you all swimming in your own preparation. Outta here
 
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