Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Renamed: Changing DSP Speaker tweeters

Rodney,

Curious what model tweeters you used to replace the stock ones in DSP5500?

The orginal is a SEAS H539.

Thanks

Note: I carefully said "changing" in the subject not upgrading .

I don't want to intrude in your tread,so excuse me if i did.

I have used these with great result Seas

I have two more waiting to be install in my 5500.

george - why do you want to swap? did you blow them or do you believe it'll sound better?

curious.....

doody.

I blew one and as far as I can tell the orginal is out of production. I would not mind a more robust unit if it sounded the same as well which is why I asked which model Rodney used. I assume Meridian has spares but I thought I'd check into it before I contacted them first.

I used the SEAS EXCELL Millennium tweeter (the one in the link in the previous post) it is far more robust than the original which has 2 faults 1) it blows easily and 2) the plastic horn surround of the original can start reseonating or buzzing at higher volumes.
The replacement is a silk dome and not a metal dome and has a slightly different sonic signature in that its less "spitty". The upgrade is a significant improvement imho and is reversible anyway. PS just removing the meshes on the original tweeters also improves sound.
There is a problem with the replacement tweeter in terms of the fact that their 6mm thick steel flanges are 5mm too big in diameter to fit the Meridian rebate.
You need to get the tweeters in a lathe and take the flange down by 5mm and then the tweeters drop in , any 1/4 decent machine shop can do this.

Any possibility of simply replacing the Meridian tweeter voice coil with the voice coil for the T25CF-002?

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=7475427.25417&pid=1034

The magnet of the Seas Excell is very different so i don't think it would be possible to swap just the diaphragm.It may be possible with an other model of replacement diaphragm.

I think I may give one a go and see how it goes, I have a machine shop right at work that can trim them down.

Actually , my main problems was that the tweeters never initially blew "completely" in both my DSP 5000's and 5500's , they got easily damaged with partial seperation of the metal dome and the coil as a start of problems. This still gave treble but either reduced or slightly noticeable distortion at certain freqs and levels. Always gave me a "something is not quite right" feeling.
Since going to Seas Excells , I have never had that feeling or any hint of upper range problems.
I measured my OEM tweeters in both my DSP speakers and found output dropped significantly at 16 k , with the replacements it carries on strong to 20k ??

I certainly respect those brave enough to make this move but now after reading up on tweeters I'm on the fence.

It really comes down to taste. What some might call harsh grit while others will call it airy and good imaging. I think the B&W 803's I had were much brighter than my DSP5500's. At first I thought this was a loss but after a while I realized it was warmer and I could listen longer without fatigue (the bass improvement was a no brainer though). I think moving to these silk dome tweeters may go even a little warmer. I'm not sure I want to go warmer. I may like it, I may not.

In general silk tweeters tend to roll off sooner than metal dome. So the argument that the metal rolls off sooner than silk (for the SEAS) doesn't make much sense. Perhaps the Metal dome SEAS tested were tired.

I also would like to keep the sound match with my DSP-33 rears which use SEAS metal dome as well.

But the silk SEAS is rated to 20Khz (well above my hearing) but the metal dome is as well. Even and old one at 16Khz is probably above my hearing and most others.

This is the first Meridian Tweeter I have blown so I have not had a reliability problem. But that may happen down the line.

Google searches basically said VERY good speakers use both metal or silk and a Metal tweeter may be found in a warm speaker or a silk tweeter in a bright speaker. But the tendancy was metal is brighter.

What are folks thoughts on this?

Looks like two folks have tried it and they both like the results. Anyone else tried, anyone else thinking about it?

George,if you are interested i would not mind sending you a pair that i have modified and ready to install,for you to try(no charge other than your opinion on the result).
Pierre

I agree with SNS' comments.

best regards,
Jerry