Stand alone tweeter?


Dear all,
I think my speaker’s HF sounds too harsh, I have tried all possible acoustics treatment that I can afford and repositioning it, however it still sounds harsh.

I am not good in DIYing, and the dealer said that the tweeter is ok, and for now my budget doesn’t allow me to buy new speakers.

I understand that there are stand alone super tweeter, but is there any stand alone tweeter?

What is considered best to produce smooth HF?

Thanks alot in advance for any advice
gondo101
@gondo101 

I have looked at the Forest in the Past.  I like the drivers that they have chosen and actually use the midbass myself in a few speakers.  
1 easy change to the crossover is to replace the tweeter cap.  The Forest are well thought out, but I'm sure that cost was kept inline.  
So, replace the single series tweeter cap with a cap that leans dark or rich harmonics that is still very detailed.... The Jupiter Condenser Beeswax  comes to mind... I'm sure that there are others, but this would be audible.... 

@gondo101

What speaker do you have? Also, here's some free, or nearly free ideas. First, throw some blankets/pillows around on the floor between the speakers and even behind them. See if any of that helps.

If your tweeter is mounted on a panel, PSA backed felt around it may help.

Depending on what your speakers are, a tweeter cap upgrade may also help, or perhaps you need to lower the tweeter level via an added resistor, but that's best left for the DIY forum here:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/
@gondo101

One additional simple "tweak" is, if you are using Totem’s "claws and balls" supplied with the Forest, take them off the balls. Just have them sitting on the flat surface of the claw. I found the slight lowering of height that results does reduce treble energy from the Forests.


I don't think you can just swap the tweeter without having some knowledge of the crossover design. One common and easy way to "tame" a tweeter is by adding a resistor in series with the tweeter to lower its amplitude. Just be aware that nothing short of trial and error can yield any meaningful results. The easiest approach is to experiment with different off axis listening positions until you find one that suits your taste.
If you have grills for the speakers try placing a small coin sized, single layer, piece of soft tissue paper on the inside of the grill @ the center point of the tweeter.

Sounds dumb, but it's subtle enough to be useful.

The tissue may hold/stick with static electricity alone.

Also, if the tweeters and/or mid-bass drivers have rounded head mounting screws sticking out...

Try placing small self adhesive felt dots on the screw heads.

The small felt dots are also subtle, but can be effective as well.

I'll also mention that I do use two power conditioners in my setup and my speakers don't even have tweeters (just single wide range drivers).

Without the conditioners (one for digital source and the other for amps/preamps/TT) the mids and highs do exhibit glare with some source material (both digital and analog). 

DeKay