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Paradigm Studio 100 v1 Tweeter Swap Success

I recently got the deal of the century on a set of Paradigm v1 Studio 100s. I purchased them from an insurance company as they were involved in a lightning claim. They came in a set with other speakers and equipment which I sold, keeping only the Studio 100s as they were the only ones damaged. They wound up needing repairs to their crossovers (there were bad capacitors as well as coils) but even after the cost of the repair I actually made $34!

I have been quite happy with their performance but just wasn't getting along with how bright they were. After doing some research I found some information stating that Paradigm had Vifa make the tweeters on the early versions of the studio series. I've had previous experience with the Vifa/Scanspeak/Peerless lines and the lure of doing a tweeter swap eventually got strong enough that I went through with it.

Enter the replacements....

I used a Scanspeak D2905/9500 1" textile dome tweeters. I removed the Paradigm's tweeter driver from the square flange it was bolted to and did the same with the Scanspeak drivers, removing them from their round flanges which were too large in diameter to fit in the opening on the Paradigms cabinet. Using a titanium bit set I made new mounting holes in the Paradigm's square flange and the Scanspeak drivers bolted right in.

The sound...

I really couldn't be happier with how these speakers are sounding. They are so much smoother, the previous harshness is now gone. Last night I listened to two albums back to back at a healthy volume with no fatigue, an even that previously wouldn't of happened. Replacement of the tweeter has really changed the Paradigm's for the better.

My one qualm is the fit and finish of my "craftsmanship". Although it looks "OK" and is fully functional regarding the sound, you can see the unused holes from the prior drivers and the paint nicks from the drilling. There's hope though, I have a friend with access to a CNC machine and have sourced some aluminum plating. Making a new flange specifically for the D2905 in the Paradigm's opening should be relatively simple and look nice, I'll just have to pay to have it done.
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capital_ OP
8 posts
 
I purchased the tweeters from www.Madisound.com. I've purchased from the on a couple different occasions and highly recommend them. They also carry the Vifa D25AG3 that your Paradigm should have now so you can see its specs.

My current setup is two vertically bi-amped Adcom GFA-545s, Counterpoint SA-1000 pre, Onkyo CD running to a California Audio Labs Sigma II DAC. Using Paul Speltz speaker cables and Audioquest Copperhead interconnects.
capital_ OP
8 posts
 
I sourced 8 aluminum plates measuring 6" x 6.75" and roughly 3/8" thick. I have two machine shops I'm looking at to drill these so the Scanspeak tweeter bolts directly in. If you're still interested in doing the swap just let me know and I'll have extra plates machined the same way.
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shadorne
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I used a Scanspeak D2905/9500 1" textile dome tweeters.

That is indeed a nice tweeter.

The Vifa DG25AG35 is a not good tweeter particularly when driven hard. It has fantastic specifications and is cheap...that is all...it simply does not sound natural. It is a great and cheap tweeter if you want to sell speakers and impress reviewers with an amazing on axis frequency response (no matter how bad it sounds)

One problem is when tweeters are crossed over quite low at 2Khz or less - on a big speaker like that you tend to crank it and the first thing to compress and sound distorted is the tweeter.

A second problem is the dispersion.

FWIW: The D2905/9500 has what looks like a waveguide loading. It is similar to the old tried and true Vifa D27TG-45-06. I suspect that the horn loading helps give it more headroom at lower frequencies before it compresses, as well as creating a more natural dispersion. A waveguide is tehrefore beneficial for TWO reasons. If you look at most pro designs (see Genelec 8050a) they often use "waveguides" or a slight horn loading on tweeters.

See this interesting link for some details...
capital_ OP
8 posts
 
Thank you for posting, very interesting read! Right now I feel I know just enough to be dangerous, definitely have a lot of learning to do yet.
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Thank you for posting, very interesting read! Right now I feel I know just enough to be dangerous, definitely have a lot of learning to do yet.

LOL! Me too! FWIW: thanks for the reply - it is nice to see people who share - so many people take what they can from these forums without putting anything back.
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