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Proac problem: tweeters or crossover?

Recently, something moved me to listen closely to the tweeters, and when I couldn't hear anything I hooked up the speaker cable just to the tweeter binding posts. I can't say there was no sound at all, because there was the faintest of recessed, tinkly sound that didn't seem to vary much with the level of the volume control.

I called up Modern Audio and they told me just to get the Scanspeak D2010s from Madisound. I soldered them in this morning. Now the new tweeters are a bit louder than before, but not nearly as loud and not as strong on the higher frequencies as I would have expected. They still sound subdued, recessed and tinkly/jangly, but not as much as before, and there's a bit more change in level when varying the volume control. This is as always with the cable hooked up only to the tweeter binding posts.

So...is this how they're meant to sound, or is there a problem with some component in the crossovers? If there is, it must be the same in both speakers' crossovers. I wish the result of the change-over had been less ambiguous: either virtually no sound, or a great improvement. Instead, it falls somewhere in between, but the result makes me think that I haven't solved the problem.

BTW, the Response 2.5s must be ~17 years old. Custom yew finish bought new from Accutronics in Ann Arbor in 1998/99. The mid-woofers still sound great.

Does anyone know what a Proac tweeter driven in the way I've described should sound like when it's functioning correctly?
128x128twoleftears
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears OP
5,318 posts
 
P.S. I'll try and describe what I'm hearing from the tweeters.

The basic sound level (volume) is a total mismatch with that of the mid-woofers, if they were running. The tweeters are at a much lower level. It's hard to imagine that when both drivers are running, the tweeters would contribute more than 2% to the total sound.

The quality of the sound coming out of the tweeters is very distant, like it's several rooms away; it's thin, tinny, tinkly, jangly, disembodied. Also, curiously, it doesn't seem to have a lot of upper-octave energy.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
There's a couple of things to consider here. The first is that the new tweeters are going to break in, and will sound different when that happens.

"I'm using Synergistic Research Signature 2/3, and I've hooked both the thick and thin runs of cable up to both the tweeter and the mid-woofer binding posts, individually, to confirm that everything's running as it should."

Those are 2 runs of completely different cables, they're not just thicker. Different materials are used. You need to try the speakers with either 2 runs of the exact same speaker cables, or 1 run and use the binding post jumpers.
Those cables that you have are a band aid type fix for a speaker with a very harsh tweeter like B&W. You don't need that with the 2.5's.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to list your entire system.
dover
2,262 posts
 
I recently had some Proac EBS with no tweeter output. The Solen caps in line with the tweeter had failed - very unusual for a polypropylene cap.
bojack
655 posts
 
Zd542,
"Break in" for tweeters…Really? I am sorry, but please don't provide such advice when clearly you know nothing about how electronics or transducers work.

Twoleftears, this is exactly how normally properly functioning tweeters sound when operating w/o a woofer.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"03-06-15: Bojack
Zd542,
"Break in" for tweeters…Really? I am sorry, but please don't provide such advice when clearly you know nothing about how electronics or transducers work."

Sorry about that. Can you tell me what line of speakers you design? You didn't say.

Twoleftears,

I forgot to ask in my other post if the new tweeters are exactly the same as the ones you took out?
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