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How to dampen down an edgy speaker?

S

Sovereign

pfm Member
I have a lovely pair of speakers but the high frequency is a bit edgy, is there a way to tone this down?
I have tried an assortment of cables to no real effect, I love these speakers strengths but the thorn in the side is their edgy top end.
I have tried felt rings around the tweeter but no good.
Thanks
 
No Choice mate. Different speakers.

Unless you want, and are able to, mess about with soldering in resistors and whatnot.

It's hard to see how they are so good though if they are in fact edgy? :confused:
 
Depends if the edginess is caused by distortion or is related to tweeter levels.
If the former you need different loudspeakers, if the latter then some decent tone controls or EQ should fix the problem.

Another option would be to look at the room. If the loudspeakers are in a room with lots of hard reflective surfaces nearby, that can give an edgy sound.
 
Are you sure its the speakers and not what feeds them. If you want sensible answers tell us what speakers they are and what the rest of your system is. Naim
 
arthur said:
No Choice mate. Different speakers.

Unless you want, and are able to, mess about with soldering in resistors and whatnot.

It's hard to see how they are so good though if they are in fact edgy? :confused:
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I'm not sure what brand the speakers are - but it’s quite common, especially with larger dome tweeters and VERY common with metal domes...

You could say that some MA speakers can be edgy, but otherwise they are excellent... I use MA speakers during the development of my designs as a “typical” box speaker, when not using the ESL’s as they are so “edgy” – with the MA, if you get the design wrong in the HF department they will let you know…

Putting a Zobel network across the tweeter can help, but that gets involved and experience is required…

What amplifiers are you using? Some transistor amplifiers will make matters worst...

John
 
Thick woollen blanket?

Sorry, without knowing more about the situation, it's hard to give a precise answer. Are you able to measure its FR with an SPL meter?
 
JohnW said:
You could say that some MA speakers can be edgy, but otherwise they are excellent... I use MA speakers during the development of my designs as a “typical” box speaker, when not using the ESL’s as they are so “edgy” – with the MA, if you get the design wrong in the HF department they will let you know…
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This is why I could not live with the MA speakers I tried. In fact, it put me off metal tweeters in general.

Tim
 
Most modern speakers are bright in the treble, manufacturers believe that helps them seem more 'detailed'. Stuff like Audionote is better, but expensive. A well-damped room helps quite a lot. But this is one of the things that puts 'normal' folk off hi fi....the over explicit, over detailed sound. It may be impressive but it isn't exactly music!
 
Try taping something like a piece of thick cloth over the tweeters. If this improves the sound you might try adding some resistance to the tweeters. But this involves messing about with soldering in the crossover circuit.
However, as James Lord of the Ergos has taught me, sometimes the feeling of excessive brightness can also come from the woofer distorting at the higher frequencies that it is called on to reproduce.
What you can do really depends on if you are willing to start messing about with the crossover or would rather sell them and look for something else.
 
If they are biwirable you could insert a series resistor or coil in the tweeter leg of the crossover, entirely without pain.

Please tell us which speakers and I am sure someone here can talk you through the process.
 
James Hi, try placing the speakers so the tweeters are firing straight at you, have them just pointing straight ahead, off axis response is usually a few db down it might help, or as Rob suggested try knocking a couple of db off the rf at 8000khz.
KR Keith.
 
for what is worth I once had a pr of early rogers ( ls7s I think) single wired , I loved them but the tweeters were edgy , as I had bought them fairly cheaply I decided to remove the tweeters and have a look at them ,( I am not an electrician or have that much sound knowledge in electronics ). any way basically the tweeters appeared to be actually glued to their other bits and of course the glue came off . naturally I thought I had really messed the tweeters up and put the tweeters back together and refitted them into the cabinet. The edginess disappeared to be replaced by a really clean treble so I guess it was the 'glue ' that was causing the edginess.
No , I am not giving a blanket recommendation that this is what to do as this was more luck than judement , just passing on my own experience with this particular pair of speakers.
 
Try using one of the mellow sounding speakers cable - you know like the ones by Transparent Audio - MIT - Cardas Audio - Monster Cable - Tara Labs and so on. If you like the overall sound of said speakers and aren't looking to replace them?, then the logic is knowing that much of this stuff actually comes in three flavors to begin with - Dark - Neutral and Bright. It's the same with components - tubes - cabling looms and cartridges, it merely comes down to finding through home demo's what fits your ears as well as your system. In which case a more refined, smoother cable should be your first option. Just food for thought. Regards,Oscar
 
If you have the correct tools, (eg screwdriver or hex key etc), then try checking that all the drivers (including the bass/mid etc) are securely bolted to the cabinet. You'll be surprised how often the odd screw/hex bolt is slightly loose on even new speakers. On tweeters tightening up the bolts can sometimes have an audible affect on the way the top end sounds.

Do it at your own risk and BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO OVER TIGHTEN !!
 
Sovereign said:
Sorry chaps, they are ATC scm 35's fed by NVA A80 and A40 bi amped system
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Studio monitors...

Hmmm... did you not notice this when you demmed them?

You did have them for a lengthy home dem?

ATC's are well known for being extremely revealing speakers, and not at all forgiving of poor recordings.
 
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