1st impresssion RDO-194 in SDA IIb speakers.

VSAT88

Yes, I am glad I bought them. They immediately sounded better than the stock tweeters. I suppose I should say that I do not have very good ears, certainly not audiophile hearing here. I am using a Win 7 PC for a source running Foobar 2000 (DS setting not WASAPI or ASIO) into a Schiit Modi DAC VIA USB cable into a SPEC-1 Pioneer Preamp into a Kenwood Basic M2 Amp out to the SDA IIb speakers thru pretty much standard 14 G speaker wire. So no high end equipment here. There is an audible difference. The new tweeters sound softer to me. They sound more crisp than the stock ones. Not as edgy .They are not as loud. It even seems as if the SDA effect is better, possibly because I can hear the 6511 SDA speakers better now ?? I cant wait for them to break in so I can give them a good listen. I will start out slow and listen as carefully as I can to some known FLAC files. By Monday or so I will try some louder volume listening. Fact is as long as I was listening at low volume I never really disliked the stock tweeters, however at louder levels they hurt my ears and I could not listen for long. Wish me luck !

aprazer402

How do you like the Schiit Modi, is it the first version? I have one I have never used. I bought it because Schiit is pretty highly thought of (sounds funny) and it was only $99.00. I also need to purchase a Schiit load of 194's and 198's for upgrading.

slbenz

I have to agree with you that the RDO-194 tweeter is superior to the stock tweeter. When I found my pair of 2Bs, I wasn't sure at the time that the highs seemed to be off. I found out later after I purchased them from the previous owner that he replaced one of the stock tweeters with an RDO-194 but connected them out-of-phase. Once I replaced the remaining stock tweeter and reconnected the existing RDO-194 tweeter correctly, I was very pleased with the sound. The mids equal my Magnepan IIIas but the mid/bass is superior. Only the highs do the Magnepan true ribbons best the dome tweeter in the Polks, and only by a little. If you haven't done it already, you should Dynamat the drivers and upgrade the crossover components. It will take your speakers up a couple of notches.

VSAT88

aprazer402 wrote: »

How do you like the Schiit Modi, is it the first version? I have one I have never used. I bought it because Schiit is pretty highly thought of (sounds funny) and it was only $99.00. I also need to purchase a Schiit load of 194's and 198's for upgrading.

Yes I do like it. For 99.00 it can not be beat as far as that is concerned. Built here in the USA ! Some parts are outsourced as in every device made in USA are now but excellent build quality. The case looks like you could run over it with a car and not hurt it. It is very light weight and it can be pulled around by a heavy USB cable. It is very simple and has just a few capacitors on the board. I would recommend it to anyone. And yes it is the first version.

VSAT88

slbenz wrote: »

I have to agree with you that the RDO-194 tweeter is superior to the stock tweeter. When I found my pair of 2Bs, I wasn't sure at the time that the highs seemed to be off. I found out later after I purchased them from the previous owner that he replaced one of the stock tweeters with an RDO-194 but connected them out-of-phase. Once I replaced the remaining stock tweeter and reconnected the existing RDO-194 tweeter correctly, I was very pleased with the sound. The mids equal my Magnepan IIIas but the mid/bass is superior. Only the highs do the Magnepan true ribbons best the dome tweeter in the Polks, and only by a little. If you haven't done it already, you should Dynamat the drivers and upgrade the crossover components. It will take your speakers up a couple of notches.

I have epoxied the drivers and replaced one of the 6511's as well as two 6510's (I think, or maybe it was one, cant recall for sure) it seems as if I made a crossover downgrade by experimenting with cheap electrolytic capacitors in the mid woofer curcuit. I still have not bought any decent crossover capacitors or dampened the drivers and passive however it is just a matter of time.

heiney9

Wait until they are fully brokenin after about 200 hours, they get even better.

H9

motorhead43026

You definitely need to upgrade the caps, those you have are schiit.

VSAT88

motorhead43026 wrote: »

You definitely need to upgrade the caps, those you have are schiit.

No crap

soundfreak1

Yup, the 194 are the ones! Had the stock in my rta12b's but the rdo194's in the 12c's and what a difference. Enjoy!

VSAT88

I shall not kid around. These tweeters make a difference for the better that is just short of phenomenal ! The SDA effect is better without a doubt. I have listened today at relatively high levels, levels that I could not have listened to before for any length of time because the speakers hurt my ears at higher volume levels and they sound really really great now. I love the album Pink Floyd The Final Cut however Waters voice hurt my ears on every speaker I have in rotation. With these tweeters I was able to listen at relatively high volume all the way thru the album something I have been unable to do in the past. Keep in mind the tweeter side of the crossover network has not been re capped, only the polyswitch has been removed and a Mills 5 ohm resistor was put in place of it, and that was before the tweeter swap. Hands down recommend these tweeters

heiney9

Yep, and you'll get another nice little surprise when you re-cap if you use caps like Clarity or Sonicap. For the tweeter array stay away from Solen or Dayton. If you need to save $$$ use Solen or Dayton for the low pass.

Good luck and happy listening

H9

VSAT88

heiney9 wrote: »

Yep, and you'll get another nice little surprise when you re-cap if you use caps like Clarity or Sonicap. For the tweeter array stay away from Solen or Dayton. If you need to save $$$ use Solen or Dayton for the low pass.

Good luck and happy listening

H9

I think I will go with Sonicap 12uF for the tweeter array and Dayton 20uF and 40uF for the low pass. I can afford that. I will dampen the 6510s and 6511s as well as the passives while I am rootin around in there as well.... Question for clarification... I do not need to leave the 750 pF in the curcuit or replace it with another cap right ?

agfrost

With the upgraded caps, you can omit the 750 pF.

VSAT88

agfrost wrote: »

With the upgraded caps, you can omit the 750 pF.

Thank you kindly.

VSAT88

Went with the ClarityCap. Vr3 hooked me up ! I cant wait to put them in. I built a new interconnect cable as well using SpeakOn connectors. So now, All I have left to do is re work the networks, dampen the drivers, and spike them !

leftwinger57

Here again I followed suite and changed out the dry and scratchy SL2000s Silver Domes to the incredibly easy to drop in RDO-194s. Because I have early M7s w/ the Peerless Tweeters in them I can see why people loved them so much but the more updated 194 is the way to go w/ anyone doing mods to SDAs. It's cheap and easy enough even for me and well worth the investment of a $100 and a few minutes of your time.

VSAT88

leftwinger57 wrote: »

Here again I followed suite and changed out the dry and scratchy SL2000s Silver Domes to the incredibly easy to drop in RDO-194s. Because I have early M7s w/ the Peerless Tweeters in them I can see why people loved them so much but the more updated 194 is the way to go w/ anyone doing mods to SDAs. It's cheap and easy enough even for me and well worth the investment of a $100 and a few minutes of your time.

Totally agreed. Best 10 min. upgrade ever. These RDO 194s are great to me. I am still listening for them to become even sweeter after a "break in" period. Just tonight I rebuilt the crossovers so far so good. I will not be able to crank them any till tomorrow AM. Cant wait !

slbenz

Your going to have a very pleasant surprise tomorrow morning!

VSAT88

Had one last night. Even at low volume..Pretty awesome so far. Starting to listen again...Right now..