Trying the FT17H now with a total of 10 uf Mundorf caps (3 in parallell). Much better than just one in parallell. I made an L-pad with R1=3 ohm and R2 = 13.7 ohm, which should lower it with -4dB. Still a bit louder than the Greencone. I think why it sounds screechy with a 3 uF cap is that a) it is louder than most other drivers, even with L-pad of -4dB. Will try another L-pad tomorrow (i.e. burn more pencils). b) It is a good driver that can go far below 10kHz. Why not follow its own slope. It starts going down after 2kHz. I am sitting right next to it now and it sounds very smooth. A little plastic sounding, compared to metal, but without the ringing.
The sounds is more present and with a Live feeling, more so than with the Beyma TPL-150 which is more polite. I am playing with any other horns and at low to moderate listening levels with a Camp Amp class A 6W.
The sounds is more present and with a Live feeling, more so than with the Beyma TPL-150 which is more polite. I am playing with any other horns and at low to moderate listening levels with a Camp Amp class A 6W.
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>>> It sounds to me like the supertweeter is crossed to low. Using a 1.0 or possibly a 1.5uF high pass capacitor is more typical...
I love the Beta 12lta and the Fostex super tweeter but they are not a good match IMO. The 12lta sounds best with a pro tweeter in a small horn. I use the $30 Eminence. The Fostex tweeter is too sweet sounding and yes, it needs to be crossed much higher with a 1.5uf cap as a maximum value. I think I had .68uf on them with the 12lta but ultimately swapped them for the pro tweets. The 12lta sounds best to me without the dustcap and with a phase plug. Otherwise, it has a honky sound that's not appealing during critical listening. It's always fun tho because it has a big dynamic sound - not like a 3 or 4 inch full range driver that many of us also enjoy.
I love the Beta 12lta and the Fostex super tweeter but they are not a good match IMO. The 12lta sounds best with a pro tweeter in a small horn. I use the $30 Eminence. The Fostex tweeter is too sweet sounding and yes, it needs to be crossed much higher with a 1.5uf cap as a maximum value. I think I had .68uf on them with the 12lta but ultimately swapped them for the pro tweets. The 12lta sounds best to me without the dustcap and with a phase plug. Otherwise, it has a honky sound that's not appealing during critical listening. It's always fun tho because it has a big dynamic sound - not like a 3 or 4 inch full range driver that many of us also enjoy.
Listening to it now. As long as the music is not too complex the open baffle Greencone and FT17H produce very very clean sounds when highpassed as low as 2000Hz with a 10uf cap, and L-pad. Of course without much bass. However, I doubt I will ever enjoy open baffle midbass. And using open baffle mixed with sealed or vented midbass boxes would not fit. Bummer. Very fun experiment.
"Maybe the 6db cuttof isn't sharp enough and the driver has brake up problems?"
I am using the FT17H in a 3 way high efficiency system crossed over at 6kHz and 3rd order Butterworth.
I had tried 1st and second order crossovers at above 6k, but was never very pleased with the sound.
I have not done any measurements but I like the tweeter's sound much better with 3rd order.
I am using the FT17H in a 3 way high efficiency system crossed over at 6kHz and 3rd order Butterworth.
I had tried 1st and second order crossovers at above 6k, but was never very pleased with the sound.
I have not done any measurements but I like the tweeter's sound much better with 3rd order.
Hello!
Do you have the diagram and values parts for the xover?
I just bought a pair of FT17H for my FF225WK.
Thanks in advance.
Do you have the diagram and values parts for the xover?
I just bought a pair of FT17H for my FF225WK.
Thanks in advance.
I would just return them and get better tweeters. :S Not worth spending too much time on. The problem is that plastic memrane.
The smoothest tweeters I have heard are ribbon tweeters, Raal being the best, but too expensive maybe. If you want an expressive tweeter, but with slightly more distorton, you can look at other bullet horn tweeters from Fostex or others. Less smooth but more expressive. Then you have regular dome tweeters which is allround, not being too great or too bad at anything. I try to stay clear of them.
The smoothest tweeters I have heard are ribbon tweeters, Raal being the best, but too expensive maybe. If you want an expressive tweeter, but with slightly more distorton, you can look at other bullet horn tweeters from Fostex or others. Less smooth but more expressive. Then you have regular dome tweeters which is allround, not being too great or too bad at anything. I try to stay clear of them.
Thank You Rewind, those Raal looks great, sadly out of my budget, I'm looking for something under $75 usd each, any other suggestions?
It is a gamble but I would go for these, as long as your current driver can do midrange. Fountek NeoCd3.5H Horn Tweeter
I can't promise that it will sound good, and with ribbon tweeters you can usually not cross as low as with dome tweeters. Safe bet qould be 3000Hz, maybe 2300Hz. It loos more sensitive than your Fostex cone driver, so maybe add a resistor or biamp. Consider that some ribbon tweeters already have a coil in the form of a transformer My Raal has 2mH in its transformer, so I need to think about that when making the crossover. If I add a coil, I can't just think about that coil. I wouød make the passive crossiver as low and as simple as possible and then experiment with a digital filter like minidsp to find the sweetspot, and then look at the B4 active analog filter when it comes out eventually.
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There's a lot of good advice here, a steeper slope would go a long way, and it likely wants more padding, and the midwoof should have some shaping. The midwoof may be part of what's bothering your ears, high-bandwidth minimal XO drivers with whizzers can shred your ears, and moreso at higher level.
I get the appeal of a minimalist widerange/supertweeter setup, but the more experienced I've become the more I appreciate a well designed multiway system with good XOs. In this case, a proper horn/waveguide would be a much better solution. You can use something like the "Econowave" project as a start point.
I get the appeal of a minimalist widerange/supertweeter setup, but the more experienced I've become the more I appreciate a well designed multiway system with good XOs. In this case, a proper horn/waveguide would be a much better solution. You can use something like the "Econowave" project as a start point.
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