Accidentally poked brand new ATC25 mid-dome

M

Mr Claywell

Audiophyte
Hello everyone. To my utter dismay and horror, while walking into my project studio I managed to trip and fall into my one of my brand new ATC25 monitors.
Fortunately, I did not knock it over, however, I watched my finger poke into the mid-dome as I caught myself. It did not permanently indent or leave a crease and there are no apparent changes in audio.
Is there anything I need to worry about? I read somewhere that any bending (even if not severe enough to leave a lasting physical defect) could lessen the structural integrity of the dome and negatively impact it.
Thanks in advance for any input

- Claywell
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
It's probably fine, but you may have degraded the performance a bit. It may not be able to hold its shape as well at higher frequencies. The only way to be sure is to record a frequency response sweep in the near-field of the mids of both speakers, and then compare them. If the damaged mid is showing less control over the response at the top end of its bandwidth, then it can't hold its shape as well at higher frequencies anymore. At that point, you might as well replace it for peace of mind, but that midrange driver replacement is not going to be cheap.
 
M

Mr Claywell

Audiophyte
It's probably fine, but you may have degraded the performance a bit. It may not be able to hold its shape as well at higher frequencies. The only way to be sure is to record a frequency response sweep in the near-field of the mids of both speakers, and then compare them. If the damaged mid is showing less control over the response at the top end of its bandwidth, then it can't hold its shape as well at higher frequencies anymore. At that point, you might as well replace it for peace of mind, but that midrange driver replacement is not going to be cheap.
Thank you ShadyJ. It is still in the 30-day return window, so I could probably find an excuse to exchange them, but there is obviously some dishonesty there. I will run the frequency sweep test you recommended in the meantime.
Thanks again
 
M

Mr Claywell

Audiophyte
It's probably fine, but you may have degraded the performance a bit. It may not be able to hold its shape as well at higher frequencies. The only way to be sure is to record a frequency response sweep in the near-field of the mids of both speakers, and then compare them. If the damaged mid is showing less control over the response at the top end of its bandwidth, then it can't hold its shape as well at higher frequencies anymore. At that point, you might as well replace it for peace of mind, but that midrange driver replacement is not going to be cheap.
I did some tests (using REW) as you recommended, and the SPL comparisons for both monitors are practically identical. Are there other categories other than the SPL that I should be looking at? Or is the SPL results sufficient

Thank you!
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Hello everyone. To my utter dismay and horror, while walking into my project studio I managed to trip and fall into my one of my brand new ATC25 monitors.
Fortunately, I did not knock it over, however, I watched my finger poke into the mid-dome as I caught myself. It did not permanently indent or leave a crease and there are no apparent changes in audio.
Is there anything I need to worry about? I read somewhere that any bending (even if not severe enough to leave a lasting physical defect) could lessen the structural integrity of the dome and negatively impact it.
Thanks in advance for any input

- Claywell
I would not worry about it. I have been to the factory and seen those mid domes made. If the dome looks fine it will sound fine. Leaving grills on does NOT significantly affect sound. It is for reasons like yours that I always advise that drivers not be left unprotected. That is what speaker grills are for.
If the driver has no visible physical damage it is fine. That is certainly the best mid range dome in the world. It is built for the rigors of the professional market and all that entails.
 
M

Mr Claywell

Audiophyte
I would not worry about it. I have been to the factory and seen those mid domes made. If the dome looks fine it will sound fine. Leaving grills on does NOT significantly affect sound. It is for reasons like yours that I always advise that drivers not be left unprotected. That is what speaker grills are for.
If the driver has no visible physical damage it is fine. That is certainly the best mid range dome in the world. It is built for the rigors of the professional market and all that entails.
Thank you TLS Guy! I appreciate the confidence considering I love to worry myself to death. That is so cool that you got to visit their factory.

Thanks again!
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
I did some tests (using REW) as you recommended, and the SPL comparisons for both monitors are practically identical. Are there other categories other than the SPL that I should be looking at? Or is the SPL results sufficient

Thank you!
The way to do those tests is to place the microphone about an inch away from the diaphragm and measure the frequency range of its bandwidth, I would do maybe 200Hz to 6kHz. Compare the test results of both speakers. If the response is identical for both speakers, especially in upper frequencies, it's fine. You will want to conduct the test using the same drive level. I would overlay them using 500Hz as the reference point.
 
M

Mr Claywell

Audiophyte
I believe because it’s the mid-dome it’s the diaphragm. Again, it never creased and the SPL frequency sweep matches both monitors equally. I don’t hear any differences on playback, no degradation of sound. I think all may be ok
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Is this a dust cap or an actual diaphragm in this driver?
This is the driver we are talking about.



It is an ultra low Qts driver that can be driven below Fs. They also have very high power handling. They cover the whole of the speech discrimination band. They are one of the very few midrange drivers that can achieve high spl. with a single driver.

If his dome looks OK then it is OK.

It is similar to the old Dynaudio D76 AF.



They are very similar in performance. Both very expensive. Sadly the D76 AF has not been made for many years. Also Dynaudio have not sold OEM drivers for many years unfortunately. I am currently hoarding three spares.

Billy Woodman did say he would make these mid domes available to me, if I wanted to use them in a design.

Both of those mids are among the very best mid range transducers of all time.

Those speakers sound very good in their new location.

 
F

fmw

Audioholic Ninja
Watch your step! Yesterday I was clearing a tree that fell on my driveway. At one point I fell with a running chain saw and landed on top of the saw. Glad the chain doesn't move when the trigger is released. Your tweeter will be just fine. Enjoy the speakers.
 
M

Mr Claywell

Audiophyte
Watch your step! Yesterday I was clearing a tree that fell on my driveway. At one point I fell with a running chain saw and landed on top of the saw. Glad the chain doesn't move when the trigger is released. Your tweeter will be just fine. Enjoy the speakers.
Holy smokes! Glad you’re ok fmw. That could’ve been a lot worse than my particular incident.

And thanks for the reassurances about my monitor!
 
F

fmw

Audioholic Ninja
Holy smokes! Glad you’re ok fmw. That could’ve been a lot worse than my particular incident.

And thanks for the reassurances about my monitor!
Holy smokes! Glad you’re ok fmw. That could’ve been a lot worse than my particular incident.

And thanks for the reassurances about my monitor!
Thanks. I'll be fine. If your speakers sound right then they are right.
 
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