Question on SDA 2.3TL tweeter output

dpowell

I'm loving the 'new to me' 2.3TLs I bought from nooshin but find the highs to be too harsh for my taste. I put my ear up to each SL3000 and noticed that the top tweeter in each speaker seems to be playing the 'highest, brightest' highs while the other two seemed a bit more subdued. Is this normal for SDA's with more than one tweeter?

If I replace tweeters with RDO-198's, do I need to replace all 6 at one time or can I tame some of the harshness by replacing the top tweeters? (this assumes that what I heard is correct).

EDIT: Guess I should mention that these have stock XO's and SL3000's and Larry's rings installed. XO upgrades are most definitely in the future since I know what they did for the 1C's.

nooshinjohn

THe tweets are in a "cascade" array, and they are loudest at the top of the chain and get softer going down. With my setup, I prefered the sl3k's to the RDO's. I see no troubles swapping out the top two first and working down, but others may have another opinion. Usde, the SL's seem to be worth about 20 bucks apiece, so selling them off and replacing them all at the same time may not be so bad either.


Glad they are rocking out with you Doug. They deserved a good home.:cool:

dpowell

Thanks John. I do like the 'detail' of the SL3000's but I'm just so used to the silky smooth sound of modded XO's and the 194's on the 1C's that I find these are fatiguing to listen to at higher volumes. That means I can't take advantage of the SLAM these bigger boys offer for too long. Once you find those custom XO circuit boards, I'm going to get started on the XO mods.

inspiredsports

Before you swap out the tweeters, did that set of speakers have a polyswitch, and if so, was it removed ??

Just the approx. .5 ohms of impedance a poly provided doesn't seem like it would be significant, but I found my TL's 2B's to be a bit harsh until I added a .5 to compensate for the poly I removed there. I think others have found this to be the case also.

nooshinjohn

The poly's have been removed on these....

headrott

And replaced with a .5 ohm resistor John?

Doug, if there is no .5 ohm resistor in the crossover to cover the polyswitch, that would account for the harsh highs partially. Further adding to the harshness (IMO) would be the SL3000's and finally the original capacitors. If you modify these things, you will be happier with the high end. Cables and gear will aso make a difference as well (of couse).

Greg

nooshinjohn

headrott wrote: »

And replaced with a .5 ohm resistor John?



Greg

no on the resistor as well. this is actually the first time I have heard that.

Joe08867

The resistor puts the response curve of the crossover back inline with how it was designed. Without the resistor they can be a bit bright to some.

The SL3000 will never be less fatiguing than the RD0 replacement.

Schurkey

dpowell wrote: »

these have stock XO's and SL3000's and Larry's rings installed. XO upgrades are most definitely in the future since I know what they did for the 1C's.

Just me, and others disagree...but I would rebuild the crossovers BEFORE replacing tweeters.

You KNOW the crossovers are bad if they have original electrolytic caps in them. You might as well replace the known problems before trying to tackle the suspected problems.

drumminman

I have the 2.3TL's, and did all of the mods I could find or think of.

The easiest thing to do is go ahead and put the mills resistors in place of where the poly switch was, 0.5 watt 12 ohm. Very simple and may solve the issue you're hearing.

I modded my Xovers with Sonicap/Mills, and then installed the rd-0198's before the Xovers had burned in. The Xovers had like 10 hours on them. At that point the speakers sounded a little better than with the old caps/resistors in place, but not much.

Then I installed the new tweeters. Holy crap! It was a dramatic, instant improvement. The harshness I heard was gone, imaging was better, and yet there was no attenuation of the highs. I was concerned that I might be trading smoothness for upper frequency range, which is why I waited to replace the tweeters.

Since you're planning on doing lots of these mods anyway, think about cash flow and parallel burn in:cheesygrin:

IOW, if you do the Xovers and tweeters at the same time, they'll burn in concurrently.

If you only want to do one mod do the resistor (they're like 3$ each). If you plan on replacing the tweeters I would do all 6 for coherency of sound.

I had lots of fun doing all this stuff and listening for changes.

Good luck!

gimpod

drumminman wrote: »

I have the 2.3TL's, and did all of the mods I could find or think of.

The easiest thing to do is go ahead and put the mills resistors in place of where the poly switch was, 0.5 Ohm 12 Watt. Very simple and may solve the issue you're hearing.

I modded my Xovers with Sonicap/Mills, and then installed the rd-0198's before the Xovers had burned in. The Xovers had like 10 hours on them. At that point the speakers sounded a little better than with the old caps/resistors in place, but not much.

Then I installed the new tweeters. Holy crap! It was a dramatic, instant improvement. The harshness I heard was gone, imaging was better, and yet there was no attenuation of the highs. I was concerned that I might be trading smoothness for upper frequency range, which is why I waited to replace the tweeters.

Since you're planning on doing lots of these mods anyway, think about cash flow and parallel burn in:cheesygrin:

IOW, if you do the Xovers and tweeters at the same time, they'll burn in concurrently.

If you only want to do one mod do the resistor (they're like 3$ each). If you plan on replacing the tweeters I would do all 6 for coherency of sound.

I had lots of fun doing all this stuff and listening for changes.

Good luck!

Fixed it for you. :cheesygrin:

dpowell

John has the custom circuit board replacements for these. I just need him to find them so I can get started.....hint hint.

gimpod

dpowell wrote: »

John has the custom circuit board replacements for these. I just need him to find them so I can get started.....hint hint.

When you get them from John and get started if you need any help or have any questions please don't hesitate to ask as I will stand behind those boards the same as if you bought them from me.

dpowell

Thanks, much appreciated! I don't do soldering but know a guy locally who repairs electronics for Carver currently who can do them for me. Can they be built in parallel with the old XO's staying active in the speakers or do parts have to be stolen from the old XO's and placed on the new boards?

gimpod

No they can't you need the board level inductors from the original crossovers.
Whoever you have do them for you have them check out the web site www.gimpod.com for the schematic, parts list, parts placement ..etc.

dpowell

I was kind of thinking of going with the clarity caps vs sonicaps on the highs this time. Hoping to make these my long-term SDA's since based on the WAF for the 2.3's (while not being disapproving, was not as appreciative of their size as I am) I don't think bringing 1.2TL's into the room is the right move. Might as well go with the best I can afford on the XO's.

civilian

Congrats Doug, your room could easily swallow some 1.2's
Anyway, looking forward to the progress and results. Maybee I'll have to start on mine soon.