Anyone use the tweeter attenuation on Maggies?


Ok, I am in the process of demoing a pair of Magnepan 12QRs from local dealer and they are doing exactly what I hoped in the three-dimensional soundstage area but come across as too bright for my taste. My room is well damped so that shouldn't be the problem. The dealer said the speakers were broken is so not the problem either.
My question is, has anyone tried using a 1 ohm resistor in the tweeter path to soften it a bit. The manual mentions this method so it must have been brought to their attention many times. Any other suggestions?
My room is 11X13, maybe a bit small for the speakers but as I said, it is well treated so the only problem is visual.
Basic system is Resolution Audio CD-50 (very smooth), Bel Canto Pre3 and PS Audio A-100. Speakers that work best for me have been the Meadowlark Audio Kestrels. Thanks.
timrhu

Showing 2 responses by drew_eckhardt

>They are 34 inches from the back wall. If they were too close to the wall I would expect excessive bass.

Dipoles don't work like that.

Conventional speakers have more bass when located near walls because the reflections coming off the back side add in-phase with the direct sound.

With dipoles the sounds coming off the back side start out at 180 degrees out of phase with the direct sound so close placement to the front wall results in too little low bass which is the same thing as too much treble.
Wgallupe writes
>Toe in will increase treble response at the listening position. Parallel to front wall will calm the treble a little. Also, try swapping speakers left to right so you can compare sound with tweeters "outside" vs "inside".

Toeing the speakers in past the listener will reduce both on-axis treble and higher frequency energy going into the side-wall reflections. "dipoles" with low enough frequencies they act as acoustic dipoles see reduced side and front-wall first reflections in that part of the spectrum too.

FWIW, an acoustic dipole has response -3dB compared to the direct sound at 45 degrees off-axis, -6dB at 60 degrees, and -12dB at 75 degrees. Additional toe-in moves the side-wall first reflection farther into the null on the outside of the speaker and front-wall first reflection farther into the inside null.