oh im sure, they aren't damped or braced at all. but that's not going to fix the harsh tweeters. i guess i can just play around and see what happens, i'm sure it would certainly improve the sound as it's already harsh. they really arent terrible speakers and i think i can improve them with some work as i would not want to sell them, they have great low end and great dynamics.
Of course they are terrible speakers!
You can't just change tweeters. I would bet the problem is a lousy crude crossover design than a bad tweeter alone.
A change in driver pretty much always involves a change in crossover.
A different tweeter must have the same impedance curve and acoustic response. The acoustic response of different tweeters is pretty much unique.
Also you have to make sure the tweeter is not driven down to its free air resonance.
I have found that by far the commonest reason for a harsh sounding tweeter is that the crossover is sending far too much power to the tweeter in the region of its Fs. In my designs I make sure the tweeter is 24 db down by its Fs.
I would bet big money that the crossovers in those speakers are just awful in every design parameter, and not worth any trouble, but a decent burial.
A good passive crossover is expensive, and they do require good inductors with a good wire gauge. In most applications iron core inductors should be avoided. Electrolytic caps in passive crossovers are not to be recommended.
Unfortunately these criteria exclude most speakers under the 1.5 K per pair bracket.
That is why I'm certain that much more could be achieved at cheaper cost with active speakers now.
There are now research papers showing active digital crossovers can precisely time the drivers, with the result that moving coil loudspeakers with crossovers can now reproduce a respectable square wave. That is a huge advance. Until now that benchmark has only been achieved by the Quad ESL.
