Pinnacle Ring Radiator Tweeter and various crossovers in the Reserve Series

DuctTapeTheory
DuctTapeTheory Posts: 2
in Speakers
I've had my R500s for about a year and a half. They sound better than ever.
I happened to be looking at the specs for the two-way design and found that the crossover to the tweeter is set at 2500 hz. The R200 and R700 have the cross at 3000 hz. The R600 has a cross at 2700. The R100 is also crossed at 2700.
I assume the drivers are the same. The woofers and boxes are not. I assume the various crossovers have a lot to do with tuning the speaker.
And so, if I am correct, I wonder how the lower frequency crossover of the R500 affects the tweeter's lower frequency (mid) range.
The R500 has the lowest upper limit at 36khz, (Even lower than the R100 at 39khz, which has the same woofer driver) but the highs are good--what I lose in "air" I gain in non-fatigue. However, that the Pinnacle driver is fed the lowest frequencies of all the Reserve line makes me appreciate the mids I hear in these towers. The little woofer drivers, 5 1/4", are pretty fast and clean. And since I have dual 8" subs to help fill out the bottom end to good effect, I am happy with a fairly sweet and full-range sound in my midsize living room.
Does that 200-500 hz difference in the crossovers push the Pinnacles toward a better midrange response, or am I just imagining things?
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Comments

  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,643
    Probably too much duct tape.
    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

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  • SeleniumFalcon
    SeleniumFalcon Posts: 3,831
    edited November 2023
    Hello,
    Welcome to Polk's forum. I'm glad you're enjoying your R500 speakers. Let me refer your post to a friend at Polk.
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  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,523
    The manual for the Reserve line shows a -3dB measured frequency extension of 38kHz for every speaker in the line but that high frequency limit doesn't affect audible performance. The Polk website lists something a little bit different but it's not a meaningful difference. Overall frequency response can be as high as 50kHz for the tweeter in any speaker. The same tweeter measures the same at the top end in the Legend line as well.

    The crossover point is critical to how different size drivers and cabinets used for speakers perform and there should be slight differences there. It's the same tweeter across all of the speakers including bookshelf, center channel, and floorstanders. The choice of the crossover point between midrange and tweeter is one design decision among more than one so the transition measures as smooth as possible for each speaker design. It's not a hard handoff point between drivers. It is true that each speaker will sound slightly different from each other and that speakers should be matched with the size of the room. Glad you like the R500s. That's not a model that gets much attention.
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  • SeleniumFalcon
    SeleniumFalcon Posts: 3,831
    Here is the response from Scott Orth, Polk's director of acoustics:

    I’m glad the customer is enjoying his R500s. My first bit of advice is to not spend too much time analyzing published specs. Trying to understand the performance of a complex system like a loudspeaker from a couple of numbers is only going to lead to frustration and misunderstanding. The crossover point for each model is determined by a large complement of factors. In general, we find the point at which the tweeter blends best with it’s partnering midrange while maintaining good dispersion, distortion and power handling characteristics. Usually, that means a XO point in the 2-3kHz region. Since every system has different transducers, cabinetry, etc., the XO point will vary model to model.

    2.5kHz is not a magic number for the Pinnacle tweeter. Changing the crossover points on the other models to 2.5kHz would most likely not improve their midrange performance. Lowering the crossover frequency might widen the dispersion in that band slightly, but that might not be a good thing and the other consequences (mainly poor blending) would probably outweigh the benefits.
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  • DuctTapeTheory
    DuctTapeTheory Posts: 2
    edited November 2023
    First off, thank you for your responses. I am enjoying listening to these speakers in my midsize living room very much.

    I only noticed the different crossover points because I recently heard someone talking about two-way versus three-way speakers, and since I have been happy with the mid-range presentation in the two-way R500s, I thought to look up the different speaker specs in the Reserve Series. Noticing the crossover differences, I wondered if the R500s crossover gave the Pinnacle a fuller range, which explained the well-balanced presentation.

    Second, your responses help me to better appreciate the tuning of this model--nicely blended! They simply sing: I sit for hours enjoying music!

    I've had the R500s since mid December 2021 and they seem to sound better as they and I age!

    So, again, thank you for your informative replies. I appreciate it.

    for context:
    Linn Axis w/ Basik Plus & Sumiko Blue Point #2
    Oppo 105 BDP
    Bryston .5b Pre Amp
    PS Audio M700 monoblocks
    R500s & Definitive Tech ProSub800s
    Room: 11'5' X 15'8"
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