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In Reply to: Sean: The width and depth of the felt ring makes... posted by DeKay on July 29, 2002 at 11:00:49:
Thanks for the responses. The tweeter in the Paradox 1 speakers I have uses the Focal Tc90Tdx. Now, with this tweeter, the dome is flush mounted on the baffle but actually has an inverted diaphragm. Is this technically a recessed tweeter or could it still be considered a flush mount?Dekay- I saw your post the other day talking about using some felt around a tweeter and being a former Reynaud Twin owner I started thinking about the effects of felt around a tweeter. That prompted me to experiment a little with the acoustic foam. I liked the results. It's no secret the Focal tweeter in the Paradox speakers is very transparent, open and dynamic with very wide dispersion. Given it's very large and possibly reflective mounting plate, which actually does have a number (8) protruding mounting screws, I'd like to see what can be done with a little dampening. Interesting your experiement with the Twins, I wish I would have tried that. It might have been interesting because my gear was a bit too smooth at times and my room is pretty dead like yours which could sometimes make the Twins sound a bit too round.
This experimentation is only that, the way Danny at GR Research implemented the Focal tweeter in the Paradox is WELL done. This speaker never sounds bright or forward in my system. I just happen to like a little more of a sweeter sounding treble. I'll heed your advice and try different amounts. I'm glad you said that, my initial plan was to cover the entire Focal mounting plate, but that maye be WAY too much. I'm only looking to tweak. Maybe a decent sized ring at first, plus little dots to cover the outside screws? How about type of felt, would garden variety from a local fabric store work? You mentioned depth of the ring, are you talking stacked rings versus single layer? Thanks!
Follow Ups:
little Radio Shack speakers is flush with the front baffle (I consider this recessed). Idealy it should probably come out more, but I am too lazy to spend much time reworking a pair of $5 speakers. These are the speakers that I posted about and the felt made them sound a lot better (not as beamy).I have only used wool felt as I have read that wool is better (something about the fibers and their configuration that I do not quite understand). Our local fabric store sells precut 12" squares of wool felt for under $1 (probably cut from remnants/end of rolls that would otherwise be unsellable.
I would start with the little dots to see if any of the exposed screw heads are creating something wrong. I often see little self stick felt dots in drug/dime stores, but don't know what the felt is made of. I am certain, that as I, you will be amazed by what a difference just a single dot can make when it is placed close to the driver. With the Castle speakers the the tweeter screws were recessed (the way they should be), but the four screws holding the woofer were not. It took me a while to figure out that the two woofer screws, closest to the tweeter, were the culprits (causing a hard sound in the HF's @ higher volumes).
I have some very thick 1/8" wool felt but never tried this as the thin stuff made such a drastic change in the sound (it does however make a decent TT mat).
The best thing is that you don't have to mess anything up in order to experiment with this (it's completely reversable).
I have also noticed that natural fibre felts (wool or cotton) work best. They absorb sound better and don't reflect sound as much (or as badly) as synthetics. Ordinary polyester felt (made of tiny plastic fibers) does not sound as good. By extension, carpets made of natural fibers sound much better than acrylic carpets (which have a tendency not only to absorb and dry out the mid-range but also reflect a confused treble pattern).
Ironically, after felting, I have often found that I wanted to increase the level of the tweeter output by adjusting the crossover. Designers often voice the tweeter using the baffle. Felting will remove the wave-guide aspect of the baffle.Your Focal tweeter is flush mounted into its faceplace as the dome surround is contiguous with the surface of the mounting plate (even though the dome is concave). I do not recommend using really thick or raised material around the dome as these might prove REFLECTIVE and create the kind of problems that you are trying to solve.
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