New RD0-198 do not seat right

Just got 6 new RD0-198 tweeters for my 2.3TL's and none of them seat well. I can actually rock them from side to side where one side is flush with the cabinet and the other is not, makes me think the gaskets would not be sealing if the speakers are not seating equally . I also noticed after trying to tighten them down it looks like the plastic was indenting or deforming around the screw. Has any one else had this problem and if so what is the fix
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Comments

  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 5,000
    The inherent nature of plastic mold injection lends itself to many variables of defects.
    My RD-0194 housings suffered from the same fate as yours. Uneven post-mold cooling or improper plastics/chemicals ratio is the culprit.
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 5,000
    Sorry, typing on a phone syndrome.
    Call the manufacturer. From my experience, trying to fully seat the plastic frames required too much stress/torque from the screws that affected the driver diaphragm and causing resonances.
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • Thanks xschop I'll give them a call. Has anyone tired to shave or sand the sides down to make them fit?
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,546
    Drahthaar wrote: »
    Just got 6 new RD0-198 tweeters for my 2.3TL's and none of them seat well. I can actually rock them from side to side where one side is flush with the cabinet and the other is not, makes me think the gaskets would not be sealing if the speakers are not seating equally . I also noticed after trying to tighten them down it looks like the plastic was indenting or deforming around the screw. Has any one else had this problem and if so what is the fix

    This is well known. The plastic bezel is a bit different than the original and do not seat the same. If yours are too proud file a little plastic off the edges.

    Do not call the manufacturer because they aren't changing a thing after all these years.
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  • I would go with seals thick enough and supportive enough to allow a reasonable seal without any undue stress of higher than needed torque on the plastic. The seal needs to be the same thickness throughout the entire area of bezel's coverage. Torquing the screws down too much can actually cause the voice coil to rub within the magnet gap due to distorting it out of alignment. The RDOs plastic doesn't seem to be as rigid as the original tweeters but this might be due to the age of the older units.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,546
    xschop wrote: »
    Sorry, typing on a phone syndrome.
    Call the manufacturer. From my experience, trying to fully seat the plastic frames required too much stress/torque from the screws that affected the driver diaphragm and causing resonances.

    I'm struggling to understand how the screws in the corners could possibly affect the driver diaphragm. In fact, it's impossible.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

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  • Dennis Gardner
    Dennis Gardner Posts: 4,861
    edited September 2017
    Jesse, I think it has to do with the shoulders of the hole not bottoming out at the same time as the rim of the bezel edge. I have seen others that over torqued them claiming that it caused issues. I can't find the thread that covered this, but it was within the last few months. I don't see the cause and affect myself, unless someone was messing with the actual bezel mount to magnet structure screws. Maybe Xschop will recall the discussion as he might have been in on that thread.
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  • Thanks F1nut and Dennis for the advice. I'm already experimenting with new seals, using Armicel and the original gasket, then tightening each corner of the tweeter equally. If this doesn't work well I might have to take F1nuts advice and file the bezel down. I sure will hate doing that to new speakers!
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,546
    You can, if not wise enough, over tighten the corner screws causing cracks at the corners, but that would have no effect on the driver diaphragm. The entire motor structure is attached and supported separately by the 4 screws near the center.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

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  • You've got it, adjust the seals or adjust the bezel surfaces a tad. Either approach works.
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  • Dennis is right, one side of the bezel bottoms out and the other side does not. This created a dimpling effect around the screws. I did not hear any issues with the tweeters but maybe I caught mine early enough and didn't keep torqueing them down to hard
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,546
    Yes, you will get dimples at the corner screws.

    I've installed a few dozen of these without any performance effects.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

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  • motorhead43026
    motorhead43026 Posts: 3,897
    edited September 2017
    Make gaskets from Armacell.
    Post edited by motorhead43026 on
    The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

    It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact.
  • I also noticed the SL3000's bezels have a better bracing than the RDO-198's. That probably keeps the bezel from deforming
  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 5,000
    One of mine would not stop resonating until I loosened the 4 attachment screws. I recall not having a feeler gauge thick enough to measure the run-out of the bezel.
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • I have thought about the mounting issue that someone posted about on here a month or so back and recalled what their issue was. They had a cabinet cutout for a tweeter that wouldn't clear the connection tabs and pressing the connection tabs against the cabinet cutout cause the diaphragm to distort its shape and cause an issue with distortion in that tweeter. It rubbed on the outer groove of the magnet, I suppose. Not related to outer screw torque. Just wanted to clear up my poor memory of the situation. DG
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,546
    Bravo Dennis, I had forgotten about that as well and IIRC it was with the RD0194. Loosening the corner screws as xschop did would probably relieve the pressure.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


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  • Viking64
    Viking64 Posts: 7,060
    Drahthaar wrote: »
    I also noticed the SL3000's bezels have a better bracing than the RDO-198's. That probably keeps the bezel from deforming

    Yes. That, and the collar around the screw holes. On my 198's, the only part of the bezel that touches the gasket/baffle is the 1/8" lip around the outside edge. On the 3000's, there is much better contact, therefore more stability. I wonder if the new design is to make them more compatible across a larger range of cabinets?
  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 5,000
    I pulled these out of storage to check what issue I had with them so d6jfz9q9zacw.jpg
    I will expound. The 4 screws holding magnet, once loosened, ameliorated the resonance that was not present while on bench, but reared its ugly head once bezel was mounted to baffle. The 4 corner bezel/frame screw holes have a design flaw that is missing 0.060" thru-wall depth. This is what causes the dimpling/deformation of it's frame whilst torquing screws. Some thin plastic washers would solve this issue.
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,546
    Strange that no one else has experienced this resonance.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

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  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 5,000
    In all fairness, these were second hand, but the plastic is also warped where it does not sit flat/flush when disassembled and placed on a flat surface.
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,546
    xschop wrote: »
    In all fairness, these were second hand, but the plastic is also warped where it does not sit flat/flush when disassembled and placed on a flat surface.

    Interesting, I wonder if it suffered some sort of heat damage or whether it was simply defective?
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 5,000
    edited October 2017
    Maybe QC can answer that. Awhile back I modded a set of SL1000 plates to accept the RD0194 magnet and diaphragm.... Tell Polk to bring back the shiny plates already.... Double the thickness while you're at it...
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • Viking64
    Viking64 Posts: 7,060
    "Polk, bring back the shiney (sic) plates already." There.....done.
  • Thinking about what I did with doubling the gaskets (Armacell and original gaskets). Basically I'm "floating" the tweeter on the gaskets. Is that a bad thing?
  • I don't think a tweeters it makes a difference. A MW or passive that would be an issue.
    The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

    It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact.
  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 5,000
    Diffraction is the difference if you're OCD.
    I assumed that the roll-over edge of the bezel was to blend as close as possible to the baffle plane.
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • xschop wrote: »
    Diffraction is the difference if you're OCD.
    I assumed that the roll-over edge of the bezel was to blend as close as possible to the baffle plane.

    Well there could be just a tad of OCD. But your exactly right with the roll over edge being a flush as possible
  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 5,000
    This is the 3mm thick EVA foam I made a plate adapter gasket from. It comes in 5mm thick also...9mqq7azzdsa2.jpg
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • sbb2112
    sbb2112 Posts: 134
    FYI, my 194’s were not quite fitting either and so, owning a plastic mold/ injection molding company, I measured the frame and found both the size of the rectangular frame was too big and that the screw bosses were short of the perimeter by 1.3mm. Since plastic is not by nature good at being kept under stress, I looked at a good way to fix. Turns out that a #10 washer is the right thickness and armacell seals really well. I glued a washer to each boss and made a gasket with the armacell. No stress and good seal. Done
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