Anti diffraction rings (for tweeters)

stevep

That's a SL 2500 or SL 3000. Their bezels are molded so that the screw mounts are flush with the rear edge. The RDO tweeters aren't for some reason.

xschop

VR3 wrote: »

Inquiries not invoiced yet -

@xschop RTA8TL (one pair with the tab and one without)
@honestaquarian 3.1tl (one pair with the tab and one without)
@JayCee 3.1tl (one pair with the tab and one without)
@Drumingman (one pair 2.3)
@gudnoyez (one pair 2.3?)
@muncybob (2b)

Not sure if I missed anyone else??

Send PayPal info. Looking forward to them. Thanks Trey.

VR3

Sent everyone a pm!

Not a bad first batch!

gudnoyez

PM sent thanks.

audioluvr

PM sent

Toolfan66

Trey,

I will try a set for my 1.2tl's, and CRS+'s

Let me know cost..

xschop

From someone that likes to build custom stuff....
NICE job Trey. These are quality craftsmanship with nice engraving. The angled flap sets @30 degrees like the flimsy plastic piece does.

IF you have classic Peerless silk dome tweeters, I'd suggest grabbing these....

Gardenstater

Yes thanks so much Trey! Listening now with the grilles back off. I dare say the highs sound a bit smoother. Tamed a certain sensation of harshness. Will have to listen to my full range of material to be more definitive. Using scotch tape loops for the time being.

VR3

Glad to hear you guys are enjoying them! 😁

gudnoyez

Mine showed up today thanks.

jonicont

Taking them for a test run

JayCee

Newest beauties. Excellent work, Trey, and absolutely speedy shipping.

Velcro dot placement. I went overkill and secured more points than recommended. I used 4 temp squares of bulky scrap Velcro, centered and between the bezels, before going out to get the dots. Not being flush seemed to mess with the sound stage. Listening impressions to follow.


Cross threading here...I really like the newly installed "Rob's Tweeter Bezels", too. I custom pimped them out with a rattle can and the black paint is way more impressive in person. Dare I say it's, "None more black..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSkGtW-fQ3s

JayCee

xschop

"I see a tweeter and I want it painted black"

dromunds

My whole world is black

VR3

Unlike pluto - everything black feat Mike Taylor

Pretty good song with good recording quality!

Toolfan66

Mine showed up today, look much better in person IMO. We have a big snowstorm heading in not sure when I can get the Velcro dots to try them out..

Thanks again!!

drumminman

Must have bought the wrong Velcro. Doesn’t want to stick to the diffraction pads - suggestions?

VR3

That is very odd, do you have pics of the velcro or a link?

Stay safe Larry!

JayCee

drumminman wrote: »

Must have bought the wrong Velcro. Doesn’t want to stick to the diffraction pads - suggestions?

This is what I purchased and it's worked out. Walmart...$2.97 for 20.

They also have a low profile oval that I almost picked up, and would be more flush, but it's heavy duty and I was afraid it might take off the paint from my newly painted bezels if I decided to move/remove them.

Edit to add...look at the center install pic I posted on 9 Mar and you can see the grip side (non "fluffy) dots between each tweeter in the array. Attach the fluffy side, mate to the Velcro pair, to the tweeter dot and then align the felt. Push together and work the material; it'll contour, as Trey explained, and help bond the adhesive. I also added a bit of rolled over Scotch tape on the outer edges to ensure there are no gaps.

VR3

This is what I'm using on mine

JayCee

Damn, I have a box of 100 of those, just remembered.

gudnoyez

I got these at Menards today and plan on putting the pads on tommorow are you guys using both parts of the velcro pads or just the velcro part to let it attach to the felt diffraction themselves? I can't imagine putting the adhesive side on to the felt diffactors as it probably wont stick.

VR3

You just need to use the hard part of the velcro, I would guess it's the "hook" part of the hook and loop.

I'm looking forward to everyone's feedback. This was a first run, I know @JayCee has some good thoughts to post

stevep

Toolfan66 wrote: »

We have a big snowstorm heading in not sure when I can get the Velcro dots to try them out..

It's only a couple of feet, you can slog through that.

VR3

So I designed it where the bolts for the mid woofers have a route so everything sits flush, turned out nice I think

xschop

I'll take 4ea please.

VR3

Ok, cool. Ill send you a PM!

JayCee

The past 2 weeks have been very busy for me. Anyone following the thread on @Xschop’s billeted bezel’s will know I replaced my RD0198 OM plastics with his. I noticed an immediate improvement in air, space, detail and believe it’s relevant to understand my baseline. https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2638260#Comment_2638260

@VR3’s (Trey) felt dispersion pads…I have 1.2tl’s and because of the large real estate the tweeters occupy, believe there’s a lot of surface area that may negatively play w/diffraction. Polk’s original tweeter in the 1.2’s was the SL-3000 and they incorporated a diffraction ring in the design. The replacement RD0198 (and 194) don’t have this. Always assumed it was because of the “better” design but now speculate if it was a cost cutting measure.

I read Trey’s Focal thread re. experimenting with diffraction pads and thought the SDA’s would benefit. I was the first SDA’er to jump on them and, because I’m naturally a curious and interactive person, became Watson to Trey’s Sherlock skills. Received them earlier this week and now have four good days of listening.

Trey and I did a lot of PM’ing after my initial install. So, in an effort to get this post out and not have to write more than I need to, I’m going to pull from our PM’s. Keep in mind, this is my experience and my speakers are uber modded. However, I believe it’s relevant as other’s are installing their pads for the first listen. Also, Trey encourages sharing feedback w/everyone.

First impressions…

JayCee
Immediately, the sound stage changed. Moved much more forward F/B vs L/R with L/R moving inward but definitely did not collapse. Bigger (larger) image...think floating head/singer analogy, at first, but now I'm not convinced. Also, much more weight, meat-on-the-bones to the sound. Last point is good!

Soundstage's not so wide anymore but a bit more natural. I've had to recalibrate my brain w/SDA and, being objective, it's actually better. I love the wide-open spaces that sometimes are not realistic with previous SDA experience. But doing A/B comparison w/the pad's on/off, see where it's more in-line with what a speaker should do. Interestingly, these differences I've also experienced w/cables.

The detail, even after Rob's plates, is a big change. Details are much more subtle and I'm left wondering if it is delicate....or am I missing something? Also found myself listening at a much higher volume. Lowered the volume and as long as I don't adjust it louder and get used to a certain SPL, lower volume is just as enjoyable.

I know Gardenstater modified for off-axis. My 1.2's are in a sweet spot and I'm the only one that listens to them. But, off-axis, not a factor for me, may be for someone else.

As a whole, I absolutely love the change...but can't help wonder if there's room in the design to experiment for an even better outcome? I repeat, I've really stepped back and tried to objectively put aside my bias and "recalibrated" my brain. In that vein, I believe, Trey, you've helped get these closer to negating the faults non-SDA lovers find w/SDA.

One last caveat. My SDA's are uber modded and I'm a firm believer that small positive changes have a BIG cumulative affect.

VR3
Great feedback and oddly similar to what I experienced with the Focals. The focals super cleaned up with the design similar to yours but I lost a bit of flare and air so to speak. The oval cut out I modified gave me the best of both worlds. I also think an oval cut out would help with off axis response as well.

So, the width of the stage issue can definitely be resolved by enlarging the cut out. If you have a real nice pair of scissors, cut the cut outs to 2.25 h x 3" w and let me know your thoughts. I think this will give you more of the width back without taking away any of the benefits you experienced. I really think the larger singular pad is the answer for these large Polks if someone wanted to try to address diffraction.

Took Trey’s suggestions and got to work…

Working on modding the pads. Just made a template and have a really good utility knife to cut. This look good?

VR3
That should be close enough. The issue with the round cut out seems to be some horizontal dispersion that is desirable is being adsborbed versus just the undesirable stuff. May not hurt to be a little "rounder".
JayCee

Much better. I've amassed 92 tracks that are on a demo list. All have brief things I key in on. I've moved so much since getting these speakers and have honed down to the following 5 tracks when I redo my system. Always in this order.

1. Bonnie Raitt: Left/right and center placement. Cymbals/percussion/shimmer in left channel, female voice and drums that muddy if nodes in room, acoustic guitar natural and well defined outside the right speaker.
2. Cars: Heavily mixed track that has wicked fake echo/space, singer's voice pans across the soundstage and then moves away to deadcenter and deep. Recorded to sound like a church, cave, etc...big hall effect. Tells me in 10 seconds if SDA's off.
3. Cyndi Lauper and Tony Bennett tracks: Female & male voices, jazz instruments. Placement, realism, percussion, snare drum, clarinet & placement. Voices sound more real the better my system gets. Voices collapse when it's off.
4. Cheap Trick (CT): Not your average CT. Very synthed spacey soundstage and bass line. Then come in crunchy guitars. Would never guess it's CT.
5. Dire Straits: If above is GTG, this track is a dream for subtle details, dynamic range and soundstage. Interestingly, after I purchased my MIT S1's from Joe Abrams, he recommended this song. I laughed because I was listening to it when I read his email. I own different mixes on LP, CD and SACD x2. I prefer the CD mix. Saw them in concert the first time they debuted the album.

Feedback: Space and shimmer I was questioning has returned. First impression is modding wider is not a mistake.
.......Later
JayCee
I've moved on in my demo list and 2 songs had me looking outside and down the hall. Details I've never heard. Honestly, thought it was something around my house. Thanks, again, and I think we're locked in. Good work.
VR3
Excellent, yeah that dimension seemed to be perfect for the focal as well. You can post your thoughts on the forum, if anyone wants a new pair with the revised design, I can ship them out or walk them through to alter it! Part of the process!

As of this morning, here’s the much purdier replacement for the hack job I did on my felts. Trey refined based on my feedback.

The RD0 is clearly a better tweeter, vs SL’s of old, but the new faceplate and felt mods are a welcome fine-tuning and exceed my expectations. The felt brings a balance to the speakers I’ve never heard in SDA’s. The highs are sublime; space and air are the most relaxed and natural I’ve experienced. A secondary improvement is the midrange and bass. Can’t help but believe it’s a result of the cleaned up highs and secondary absorption properties with respect to location and the MW’s. The mids are so well defined. Much cleaner, too. Third improvement is the cumulative effects also lend to low bass and tighten. This is the most balanced and natural I’ve ever heard an SDA. So much so that I mentioned to xschop in a PM…gear & xo mod preference aside, “I'd venture to say, at this point in time, I have some of the best sounding 1.2's on the planet”. All this mod stuff goes to prove Polk designed/sold these speakers based on price point. The design far exceeds the original materials.

Shameless plug...One of the many reasons I like Trey, met him at Polkfest ’12, is his genuine passion for this Vr3 gig he does. Helped me in the past, really a nice guy and took all the above back-and-forth in stride; gracious and willing to go the extra mile.

Next chapter….revised replacement's and new ring felts incomming. More to come.

Gardenstater

Cored out the pad for the large protruding screw heads on the Peerless and I'm pretty happy with the way it looks. Imaging is very good also with the 30deg bevel I trimmed them to, both on and off axis. I used 4 little square velcro pads (hook side) and it is holding very nice and flush to tweeter bezel. I still have the little fuzz cylinders where they were cored out and I'll keep them in a ziploc bag. For now I'm leaving them out.
Now for some more critical listening!

Edit _ @JayCee Dire Straits "Critical Investigations".......WOW! Super airy and deep deep soundstage. Unfortunately I never heard it before, but still!