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Re: Planar vs. Heil Air Transformer, Precide's Heil Kithara tweter.

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I remember the AMT 1b as the traditional hybrid sound: Some outstanding qualities in the highs, very discontinuous character, plummy and mighty bass (on our continent this goes under 'american' character...).
One thing not to forget about 'bright' speakers of the (spec. early) 80's is that the amps of then were simply not good enough for linear and transparent tweeters. Today it's different: SE amps, tube amps, and real improvements on solidstate and spec. digital amps have changed the picture completely IMO.
I can't say if there's a problem in the original Heil tweeter, because i did not hear it in a loooong time. There might be a problem of too thick alu, and because it couples so efficiently to the air, every fault in the suspension design, every resonance of the membrane will get amplified more efficiently too. there might be a 'crinkling' sound of torsional movements in the alu.
What i can say, is that the evolved Heil tweeter on the Heil Kithara speakers (designed in Switzerland by Mr. Dürrenmatt of Precide) is an outstanding tweeter one of the best i ever heard, which absolutely does not err on the bright side: It is rather very sweet, airy and extended, and for me even a tad too polite dynamically. But that might be a function of implementation or amplification.
This 'new' tweeter relies (as far as i remeber) on a composite (alu / plastic) membrane which helps to tame these 'crinkling' sounds. Also the magnet construction is much less protruding and compact, so there's less diffractional effects here. Diffraction add's in my experience a hi-fi-ish sheen and artificial brightness.
So what you could do withn AMT 1 is: Look at the crossover design, upgrade the crossover, put felt around the outer edge of the magnet construction and listen again. It might be quite good, partially excellent though still not really coherent.


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  • Re: Planar vs. Heil Air Transformer, Precide's Heil Kithara tweter. - Arbelos 06:07:10 03/19/01 (0)


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