Bypass final resistor in the tweeter's path to help compensate for hearing loss & tinnitus?

KJM

I own the final 1989 version of the SDA2b studios. Crossovers were recapped in 2015. My ears have suffered significant high-Hz rolloff along with hissing-tinnitus during the last few years. I can't adjust the treble on my equipment much higher at this point. (I have it cranked to +8.) Would bypassing the tweeter's inline resistor be musically "okay" to just gain more treble output, or would there also be a negative effect on the quality of sound from the mid-Hz drivers? (Not sure to what degree all parts in the crossover circuit interact as a whole, versus the [isolated?] tweeter-only output.)

SeleniumFalcon

Rather than trying to compensate for hearing loss with crossover changes I would recommend finding a good quality outboard equalizer. This is assuming you have a way to add one to your electronics chain. This is going to allow you to adjust specific frequency ranges, especially if you find one that has 12 or more frequency bands to adjust. With an equalizer you can reduce certain frequencies on either side of the effected frequency and accomplish more than just boosting. Have you ever had a hearing test done with a frequency response given for your particular hearing?

RTally

Another alternative is to visit a hearing specialist and get your hearing tested. If there is a loss that can be corrected, hearing aids may be a good solution. And anyone within hearing distance that does not share your hearing loss will appreciate not having their eardrums pierced with icepicks from overly emphasized tweeters.

skipshot12

I second the equalizer way to compensate for your hearing loss.
I use an old Phase Linear EQ with my speakers and can compensate for anything.
Best part is you can find some really nice vintage ones for next to nothing. Most folks don't use them like we did back in the 70's.

KJM

Thank you for the quick responses! Ironically approx. 10 years ago I GAVE AWAY a perfectly good Yamaha 10-band EQ which I had ceased using. (-_-) Yes I have had my hearing analyzed by an audiologist and I'm struggling just to compensate for a serious response-dip between 4kHz and 10kHz, while anything from ~11kHz and up is, well, completely gone. My doc and I are pretty sure it is due to loud-headphones "abuse" I endured when I fell asleep with them blasting, on *multiple occasions, a few years back. Luckily I sold those headphones on eBay before making things worse.

SeleniumFalcon

A nice Soundcraftsman EQ would be a good choice, plenty of adjustment capability. If I had one I'd send it to you.

KJM

I whole heartedly appreciate all your intelligent responses, but, (and go ahead and crucify me here if you feel the need), my aging & lazy a$$ took the shortcut and literally cut the resistors out, then twisting the leads together allowing full power to the tweeters. Wow what a huge jump by just removing 2.7 ohms! To a normal-hearing person, sure, my monitors' outputs are so "hot" now the suckers are figuratively "on fire"... but for me, the music suddenly sounds the way it *used to, and that is with dropping the treble from a [+8] down to a [-2] setting. I was worried about the overall response "balance" but I seem to have gotten lucky in that respect. The amp should actually work less-hard, as opposed to my inserting a system EQ and tasking the amp to push a ton of high-Hz into a resistor, right?
I failed to mention in my initial question that the (tripped) polyswitches went bye-bye during the recapping, so at this point my tweeters are completely "naked" to the amp, and I am considering buying two inline fuse holders (to put where the resistors used to reside) so my precious silver domes have some protection against unwanted high-Hz glitches. Mind you I live in the finished basement of my parents' Retirement Condo (please don't judge! -- when life gives you lemons you have to try to make lemonade), thus my sound system will *never get "cranked"... so any suggestions on a really low fuse value for the tweets? Maybe a 1/4 or 1/2 watt, to be super-conservative?

VR3

Will be easy to cook the tweeters, watch the volume.

Agree a fuse would be a must

skipshot12

Hey, if that works for you good job.

odcics2

Does removing that resistor change the crossover point??

SeleniumFalcon

No, it shouldn't. In most speaker systems the tweeter is more efficient than mid range or bass drivers. For this reason there is usually a resistor in series with the tweeter in order to compensate for this efficiency difference.
In the old days there used to be a variable resistor on the back of some speakers that let the owner make treble adjustments.

TennMan

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

... In the old days there used to be a variable resistor on the back of some speakers that let the owner make treble adjustments.

Around 1980 I had a pair of Bozak LS 250 speakers that had a tweeter adjustment on the back. It had three positions. Bright, Normal, and I can't remember what the other was called.

SeleniumFalcon

Maybe, "Reserved" or "Polite"?

TennMan

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

Maybe, "Reserved" or "Polite"?

After thinking about it some I finally remembered. It was "Mellow"

KJM

Save those CRS+ monitors for me, SeleniumFalcon, would you please? When both my parents pass away (an event coming sooner rather than later), I'll be forced into a government housing micro-apartment, and I doubt I will be allowed to take my "giant" SDA2b's in with me. The SDA CRS+ are basically the same speaker in a much smaller more manageable enclosure; even the crossovers are identical (I'd remove the upgrades from my 2b's and swap 'em)...

KJM

Oops, I mis-read the thread; the pair of SDA CRS+ are hidden in the closet of TennMan. Maybe in the future he would trade me for another (my) pair of SDA2b's.

skipshot12

KJM wrote: »

I whole heartedly appreciate all your intelligent responses, but, (and go ahead and crucify me here if you feel the need), my aging & lazy a$$ took the shortcut and literally cut the resistors out, then twisting the leads together allowing full power to the tweeters. Wow what a huge jump by just removing 2.7 ohms! To a normal-hearing person, sure, my monitors' outputs are so "hot" now the suckers are figuratively "on fire"... but for me, the music suddenly sounds the way it *used to, and that is with dropping the treble from a [+8] down to a [-2] setting. I was worried about the overall response "balance" but I seem to have gotten lucky in that respect. The amp should actually work less-hard, as opposed to my inserting a system EQ and tasking the amp to push a ton of high-Hz into a resistor, right?
I failed to mention in my initial question that the (tripped) polyswitches went bye-bye during the recapping, so at this point my tweeters are completely "naked" to the amp, and I am considering buying two inline fuse holders (to put where the resistors used to reside) so my precious silver domes have some protection against unwanted high-Hz glitches. Mind you I live in the finished basement of my parents' Retirement Condo (please don't judge! -- when life gives you lemons you have to try to make lemonade), thus my sound system will *never get "cranked"... so any suggestions on a really low fuse value for the tweets? Maybe a 1/4 or 1/2 watt, to be super-conservative?

I did the same with my SDA STS’s, just bypassed the poly.
I tried 3 different resistor values. Starting with the .5 working down. In my system with my electronics no resistor was what I preferred.
Just make sure you have extremely clean power with reserves.

F1nut

STS?

Viking64

F1nut wrote: »

STS?

Signature Temperance Series

Alcoholic beverages shall not be placed on speaker cabinets.

pitdogg2

Hold my beer!

skipshot12

^ Yup

skipshot12

Along with being a one finger typist that can't hit the correct keys...

Milito

My hearing aids have a music setting which helps a lot with the highs. I got them at Costco. I can tell a big difference when I change the setting to music on them.

At 72 years old I have significant high-Hz roll off along with hissing-tinnitus like you.