One of the best tweeters ever, whatever happened?

Love Dick Olsher. I still have a pair of the LX5 he mentions in his article. They're great for rear channel surround sound use!

I agree TBG....the Ionivac tweeters were great....but they were bad for the environment, and may have a health issue.   

Dick olsher's comments and mod suggestions are here: https://www.blackdahlia.com/tipindex/Tip__3/tip__3.html

i owned a pair of the optimus pro (5x?) with the linauem tweeter--they really did sound refined, but they wouldn't play loud--did anyone else have that experience?

Linaeum sold a compromised version to RS. It was a big deal for a small company. Their own tweeters — on their own speakers, and never used by RS — were far better.

Yeah Davey, I use them just for surround sound special effects. They were dirt cheap, better than anything else for their price at the time.

I have both the Fi magazine article/ magazine and the speakers.
IMO,the speakers are nothing great. The box that Radio shack put them in is a piece of junk. The tweeter is easily bested by numerous other designs, including silk domes and any number of ribbons.
i do remember how they were praised to the heavens, which is why I acquired two pairs...they were not expensive, but as usual, you got what you paid for, imho.

Dear Readers,

I have a pair of floor standing real Linaeum speakers each with a 8” woofer and a 6” x 6" dipolar Linaeum tweeter, and a pair of book shelf Linaeum speakers with the same model Linaeum tweeters and a the same model 8” woofer that I’ve never even hooked up.  They could make great surround sound for the use as rear or side speakers or great speakers on their own.  If you have any interest in buying any of them, please let me know.

Best regards,

George S. Louis, Phone:  619-401-9876, email:  [email protected]

Sean, I was surprised you didn't chime in about the Optimus speakers the Linaeums were used in. As you are well aware, people used to stuff the ports with some VERY interesting things!

No Dweller,

They don't use the Linaeum tweeter. The Linaeum is a dipole radiator, and the Gallo tweeter is cylindrical (330 degree dispersion) You couldn't put a Gallo CDT in a box, like you could with the Linaeums.

I've never heard a linaeum, but I do know the Gallo has the sweetest, most articulate highs I've ever heard in a speaker (coming from a former owner of Magnepan 3.6's)

Drrdiamond, I tried the Ionovacs with various horns, dynamic drivers, ribbons, and even double Quads. In every instance, like in my opinion of the Acapellas, the tweeter always stood out as truly great and unlike the rest ot the speaker.

I once had the Jenzen tweeter arrangement with my Fulton Premiers. I think that, however, was a 16 panel arrangement. In this case, however, it was the tweeter, but I don't recall what the crossover point was.

I once owned the Ionovac tweeter in a custom made speaker that used it, the Jenzen electrostatic curved 4 panel midrange, and 4 10" woofers. Each of these were in their own separate cabinets.

The sound was good but not great.

Richard

Sean;

It is in an early (1996) issue of FI magazine, volume 1, issue 4, May.

I will scan the parts list/instructions & send to you.

There were 3 versions of these ribbons. The original design utilized a pure silk ribbon and are significantly better than both the later mylar ribbons and the polypropelene version [last version]The earliest ratshack speakers used a mylar ribbon,the rca examples employed the poly ribbons. With a little mod work they can sound very good but should be crossed where they would operate as a super tweeter only. One of the best tweeters ever? Not even close to the purity of the Ionovac or Dukane plasma [never heard the present Acapellas].

I really don't think this was the best tweeter. The Ionovac plasmas were the best I hear. Ultimately Hill Plasmatronics tried to get plasma down into the midrange and Pass had a full range plasma that nearly killed him. The present plasma tweeter of Acapella is the outgrowth of this technology. I still hear only the excellence of this tweeter when I hear their speakers using it. It is too bad no one has ever overcome the inefficencies and ozone associated with this design and gotten it into a full range design.

Also, correction... The model is an Optimus PRO LX4. Dimunitive little speaker with real wood side panals, yellow Kevlar mid./woof with the Lineaum tweet.

denf

Hi Sean --

I can't remember which publication it was in. Olsher has written and reviewed in several different magazines over the years.

I will dig through my extensive audio magazine archives and try to locate.

funny you should ask. at our audio club meeting last week, we auditioned some home built speakers that had the lineaum tweeters. everyone loved them, good stuff. in the discussion that followed, it was mentioned that lineaum had been sold to radio shack, and then radio shack stopped production. it was also mentioned that radio shack has a limited quantity left for sale.

aloha keith

The founder of Lineaum, Paul Paddock, was later involved with Impact Technologies, maker of the Airfoil 5.2, which I own. They also went belly up a year or two ago. Awesome design!!

I don't know if Linnaeum is still in business or not. I've still got several of these tweeters in the boxes but have never really messed with them.

As to the article that you mention as written by Dick Olsher, i would be curious as to where this can be found? Was it in a magazine, on the web somewhere, etc ??? Sean
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