Super Tweeters & Tannoy 15" Monitor Golds

[YNWaN]

I'll find the link - I think you can buy them on eBay UK now for less than £25 each. I'll have a look tomorrow for you.

As super tweeters they punch well above their weight as they have quite a broadband output - they aren't very linear at the bottom end of their range but as a super tweeter the crossover point is way higher than their patchy output level and from 15k to 40K they are more linear than most alternatives (RALL excluded) and have good dispersion too.

[The Black Adder]

To all that's answered, thanks! It's much appreciated.



Cabs not sorted yet altough I'm probably gonna have sort out, get the cash together and either go down the handmade Lockwood route or have a word with Paul at RFC for some Fidelio's (SIC?). Then, new pre-amp and probably a couple of new monoblocks!




What sort of cost are we looking at Mark?

Sounds like you have your work cut out then, sounds ruddy great!

By all means try some ST's - the ones Mark shows look ideal and to be honest they're more appealing in regards to them being ribbon rather than dome... IMO

[YNWaN]

Here you go:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dayton-Aud...item4ae29411e2


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The RAAL 130-15D has the best high frequencies I've heard from any driver - but then they are $630 each and rather over the top just to be used as a supertweeter as it's really a tweeter than goes very high (it's not exactly small either):

[The Black Adder]

That looks superb!... Pricey but well worth it I'd imagine. Ribbons are much nicer than metal dome IMO.


The ST200's are really nice to look at though... lol

[PaulStewart]

Yep.. they sound good but I personally couldn't get on with them though with the 12" MG's. Why?... VFM didn't seem to balance. I paid something like £700 for them and I've not missed them.

As been said before, ST's are a 'suck it and see' kinda thing.

I had the ST200's too. They are very cute things I must admit.

I do like ST's, and I really liked them in the Harby SHL5's and the Dali Helicon 800 MKII's (although they were ribbon, much nicer, smoother sound me thinks)... Dunno, maybe they worked better for me in the staggered driver configuration rather than a DC.

btw.. Andrew... have you sorted your cabs yet? - If not then that is where the effort should go in to IMO and not Supertweeters.

That looks superb!... Pricey but well worth it I'd imagine. Ribbons are much nicer than metal dome IMO.


The ST200's are really nice to look at though... lol

As I said I love them with MGs in Lockwoods I have a small room and the bass can be lumpy, but and of course it's all a case of intermodulation, the STs not only give a greater sense of space they smooth the overall response. On talking to my mate who is an ex Tannoy rep, who sold me mine, what I have are the first prodution batch of the ST 200 which have different printing on the top saying Universal rather than Prestige. I was lucky enough to get these from him, with the dedicated VDH cables for £300 and the cables alone were about that at the time.

The thing is they blend so well with the MG sound, I can't recommend them enough.

[Marco]

I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of trying super-tweeters with my 15” MGs, but it’s something I’d have to hear first in my system, before shelling out for a pair, primarily because although no speakers are perfect, to my ears, nothing obviously needs ‘fixed’ with my Lockwoods.

There is no audible lack of top-end ‘sparkle’ or high-frequency extension (quite the opposite), nor do they (or my room) suffer from lumpy bass, and I have no desire to ‘smooth’ their response - all of which sums up why I haven’t gone there yet, as it were, with super-tweeters.

I’m not saying that they wouldn’t make an improvement, but I’d need someone to loan me their pair, or bring some round to try, before I’d commit myself to buying any

Marco.

[YNWaN]

When I added mine (super tweeters that is) I didn't think they altered the bass (though I have read this before) or 'smoothed' the response in the mid. In fact, I didn't think they really did anything other than add a touch of perceived 'air' to the sound and slightly better focused stereo and sense of depth.

The RAAL units are expensive but the ones I used are about £27 each (the small ones I eBay linked to).

[Marco]

When I added mine (super tweeters that is) I didn't think they altered the bass (though I have read this before) or 'smoothed' the response in the mid. In fact, I didn't think they really did anything other than add a touch of perceived 'air' to the sound and slightly better focused stereo and sense of depth.

That’s all I’d be looking for too, Mark. However, the speakers we use are radically different, so there’s no way of me being able to predict the outcome.

The RAAL units are expensive but the ones I used are about £27 each (the small ones I eBay linked to).

Do you have a link to the more expensive RAAL units? Apart from anything else, I like the look of those and think they’d fit well with the Tannoys

Marco.

[YNWaN]

I would have to look up a link for the Raal's. If you just Google the model number it will come up easily. The unit I showed a picture of is intended as a tweeter and not a super tweeter as such (though it extends quite flat beyond 40K. To use it just as super tweeter would be to not use 70% of its capabilities which seems a touch wasteful. Sq225917 (Simon) has a pair of these exact units that he uses with his Yamahas but he has disconnected the standard tweeter. You could also do that with your speakers but it would mean making some pretty major changes! Not much point in a duel-concentric driver with the tweeter disconnected IMO.

RAAL do make a smaller (and cheaper) version but it isn't as linear above 20K so isn't as well suited to being a super tweeter IMO.

Yes our speakers are quite different but there's no reason why just extending the frequency range at the top end should have a different impact.

[Marco]

Indeed, however, Paul’s earlier remark (a Tannoy 15” MG owner himself) about the STs ‘smoothing the overall response’, would worry me, as I wouldn’t be looking to ‘smooth' anything. My system’s all about realism and maximum information retrieval, delivered in an addictive, musical sounding, non-fatiguing way.

Therefore, any further improvement would have to be along those lines. I’ll have a look at the RAAL stuff, but it’s pretty much immaterial, as there’s no way I’d go down that road without listening to their effect first.

Perhaps Paul would loan me his STs, as they should simply be ‘plug & play’ in my system?

Marco.