Anti-Diffraction Surrounds for Speaker Tweeters
I'm a stereo tweeker and thought I'd share some info regarding the latest thing I've successfully tried.
Read about speaker tweeter felt surrounds (see ad in AGon dated 12/3, under Accessories, Tweaks: "Anti-diffraction products for the removal of early reflection") in AudioCircle, and decided to give them a try. Anyway, the short version of the story is that owner Jim Goulding did a wonderful piece of custom felt surround work for each pair of tweeters for my Polk SDA 1-C speakers.
So, does the product work as advertised? That's a resounding "yes" in my system to my ears. The results I'm hearing are better imaging (and the speakers imaged well before), speakers seem to disappear, improved depth of soundstage (which I felt was already good to go), more realistic high frequency reproduction. Additionally, the Polk's SDA effect has been even more enhanced (which at first thought seems reasonable and consistent with the improved imaging others have mentioned; however, Polk does the SDA effect with a combination of 4 drivers in each speaker (2 regular, 2 SDA), so somehow my brain is interpreting the change to the tweeters / highs as improving the SDA effect.). My 1Cs are absolutely more enjoyable to me. I'm wicked glad I've held on to these speakers; Jim's product has brought them to a new, improved level of refinement.
I note that each Polk speaker has a pair of tweeters that are: 1) positioned vertically one above the other, 2) positioned atop (not flush) with the speaker face board, and 3) time aligned with the drivers. Jim's craftsmanship / ability to custom cut the felts to relatively close tolerances was impressive and necessary for the installation to succeed in this application. Also, I needed additional Velcro attachements as compared to simpler installations, which Jim was happy to provide. So, thanks again Jim for a job extremely well done, and I'm pleased to consider myself a 100% satisfied customer.