Raal "Original 140-15D" Ribbon Tweeter

[VMPS-TIII]

Has anyone here customized a speaker with the Raal "Original 140-15D" Ribbon Tweeter? I have an old pair of Paradigm monitors that have banana plugs for highs, mids and lows on the back. I was thinking of replacing the tweeter with the Raal "Original 140-15D" Ribbon Tweeter and run a separate amp channel to each RAAL tweeter using the "high" connectors. If the sound is as good as the reviews for the RAAL tweeter this hack might be fun.

 

[D Murphy]

Has anyone here customized a speaker with the Raal "Original 140-15D" Ribbon Tweeter? I have an old pair of Paradigm monitors that have banana plugs for highs, mids and lows on the back. I was thinking of replacing the tweeter with the Raal "Original 140-15D" Ribbon Tweeter and run a separate amp channel to each RAAL tweeter using the "high" connectors. If the sound is as good as the reviews for the RAAL tweeter this hack might be fun.

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You couldn't just swap in the RAAL's (assuming you could find a way to mount them in the existing cabinets) At the very least you would need a new crossover for the tweeter and a new midrange low pass filter. And if you somehow could get the filters optimized, vertical dispersion would take a hit with such a tall ribbon element. And then there's the little matter of cost--over $1200/pr. Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer.

 

[VMPS-TIII]

You couldn't just swap in the RAAL's (assuming you could find a way to mount them in the existing cabinets) At the very least you would need a new crossover for the tweeter and a new midrange low pass filter. And if you somehow could get the filters optimized, vertical dispersion would take a hit with such a tall ribbon element. And then there's the little matter of cost--over $1200/pr. Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer.

Sounds like a fun challenge.
The crossover on the tweeter is already there. Might want to update the capacitors or use an external active crossover where I can try different crossover points. I have the tools to modify the cabinet and mount the RAAL. The other option would be to place the RAAL in its own enclosure. When speakers are a hobby it's fun to try new things and learn along the way. Perfection comes with time.

 

[D Murphy]

Sounds like a fun challenge.
The crossover on the tweeter is already there. Might want to update the capacitors or use an external active crossover where I can try different crossover points. I have the tools to modify the cabinet and mount the RAAL. The other option would be to place the RAAL in its own enclosure. When speakers are a hobby it's fun to try new things and learn along the way. Perfection comes with time.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "the crossover is already there"? Are you saying the 140-15 comes with its own crossover? If you're talking about the stock dome's crossover, that's designed for an entirely different tweeter with a different response, sensitivity, impedance, and radiation pattern.

 

[Pogre]

Sounds like a fun challenge.
The crossover on the tweeter is already there. Might want to update the capacitors or use an external active crossover where I can try different crossover points. I have the tools to modify the cabinet and mount the RAAL. The other option would be to place the RAAL in its own enclosure. When speakers are a hobby it's fun to try new things and learn along the way. Perfection comes with time.

This sounds like it could be a heartbreaking outcome with a nice tweeter.

Dennis is very talented when it comes to crossover work. If he were offering me any advice, especially with a RAAL tweeter, I would listen very closely. You can't just use an existing crossover for another tweeter with that one. You have to start all over and build a new one, and I don't know if that's even possible with those drivers...

 

[Verdinut]

This sounds like it could be a heartbreaking outcome with a nice tweeter.

Dennis is very talented when it comes to crossover work. If he were offering me any advice, especially with a RAAL tweeter, I would listen very closely. You can't just use an existing crossover for another tweeter with that one. You have to start all over and build a new one, and I don't know if that's even possible with those drivers...

A crossover designed for a driver cannot be used for another driver because they don't have the exact same Thiele/Small parameters and frequency response.

There are some formulas and softwares for building passive crossovers. Personally, I use Crossover 3 from Harristech. When you build a speaker, the crossover software is an excellent base but you sometimes have to modify some values when you do the testing and voicing to get the smoothest frequency response.

 

[VMPS-TIII]

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "the crossover is already there"? Are you saying the 140-15 comes with its own crossover? If you're talking about the stock dome's crossover, that's designed for an entirely different tweeter with a different response, sensitivity, impedance, and radiation pattern.

Thanks for the input. The existing tweeter is listed as 8 ohm and so is the RAAL 140-15d. It says it has a freq response ob 500Hz-100,000kHz. Would it hurt anything to replace the old tweeter with the RAAL and just see how it sounds? I understand it's not ideal but simply for testing.

The other option would be to hook up the RAAL 140-15d with it's own amp and use a hi pass crossover at 1kHz.

Have you used the RAAL 140-15d before? Thanks!

 

[NINaudio]

Dennis is a speaker designer who has made some very highly regarded speakers using Raal tweeters:

http://philharmonicaudio.com/pa_archive/

http://philharmonicaudio.com/pa_archive/phil3.html