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

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.)

Answers

  • RTally
    RTally Posts: 14
    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
    skipshot12 Posts: 990
    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
    KJM Posts: 9
    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
    SeleniumFalcon Posts: 3,452
    A nice Soundcraftsman EQ would be a good choice, plenty of adjustment capability. If I had one I'd send it to you.
  • KJM
    KJM Posts: 9
    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? :)
  • skipshot12
    skipshot12 Posts: 990
    Hey, if that works for you good job.
  • odcics2
    odcics2 Posts: 305
    Does removing that resistor change the crossover point??
  • SeleniumFalcon
    SeleniumFalcon Posts: 3,452
    edited April 2023
    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
    TennMan Posts: 1,261
    ... 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.
    • SDA 2BTL · Sonicaps · Mills resistors · RDO-198s · New gaskets · H-nuts · Erse inductors · BH5 · Dynamat
    • Crossover upgrades by westmassguy
    • Marantz 1504 AVR (front speaker pre-outs to Adcom 555)
    • Adcom GFA-555 amp · Upgrades & speaker protection added by OldmanSRS
    • Pioneer DV-610AV DVD/CD player
    • SDA CRS+ · Hidden away in the closet
  • SeleniumFalcon
    SeleniumFalcon Posts: 3,452
    Maybe, "Reserved" or "Polite"?
  • TennMan
    TennMan Posts: 1,261
    Maybe, "Reserved" or "Polite"?

    After thinking about it some I finally remembered. It was "Mellow"
    • SDA 2BTL · Sonicaps · Mills resistors · RDO-198s · New gaskets · H-nuts · Erse inductors · BH5 · Dynamat
    • Crossover upgrades by westmassguy
    • Marantz 1504 AVR (front speaker pre-outs to Adcom 555)
    • Adcom GFA-555 amp · Upgrades & speaker protection added by OldmanSRS
    • Pioneer DV-610AV DVD/CD player
    • SDA CRS+ · Hidden away in the closet
  • KJM
    KJM Posts: 9
    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
    KJM Posts: 9
    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
    skipshot12 Posts: 990
    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
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    STS?
    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

  • Viking64
    Viking64 Posts: 6,646
    F1nut wrote: »
    STS?

    Signature Temperance Series

    Alcoholic beverages shall not be placed on speaker cabinets.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
  • skipshot12
    skipshot12 Posts: 990
    Along with being a one finger typist that can't hit the correct keys...
  • Milito
    Milito Posts: 1,907
    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.
    Yamaha RX-A2070, Musical Fidelity M6si integrated amp, Benchmark Dac1, Bluesound NODE 2i, Audiolab 6000CDT CD Transport, Parasound Zphono USB Phono Preamp, Fluance RT85, Ortofon 2M Bronze, Polk L600's, L400, L900's, RC80i's, SVS 3000 Micro, Audioquest Interconnects and Digital Cables, Nordost Silver Shadow Digital Cable, Cullen Gold and Crossover Series Power Cables, Douglas Connection Alpha 12AWG OCC Speaker Cables, Douglas Connection Alpha Analog Interconnect Cables, Douglas Connection Alpha 11 OCC Custom Power Cable, Signal Power Cable, Furman PL-8C 15 Power Conditioner, Sony 65" 900F, Sony UBP-X700, Fios, Apple TV 4K, Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables.