Stand alone tweeter?


Dear all,
I think my speaker’s HF sounds too harsh, I have tried all possible acoustics treatment that I can afford and repositioning it, however it still sounds harsh.

I am not good in DIYing, and the dealer said that the tweeter is ok, and for now my budget doesn’t allow me to buy new speakers.

I understand that there are stand alone super tweeter, but is there any stand alone tweeter?

What is considered best to produce smooth HF?

Thanks alot in advance for any advice
gondo101

Showing 5 responses by ghosthouse

@gondo101

Imagine my surprise when I checked your system and saw Totem Forests listed. I have had these same speakers for around 10 years now and am very familiar with their sonics. I am sympathetic to your finding their treble can be harsh. That metal dome tweeter helps with resolution and imaging but - esp. w/certain badly (mastered?) material - can be hard on the ears. I love the Forests and have spent a lot of time working to tame that upper frequency "bite". I am not dismissing treatments for your power that have been suggested. I haven’t really explored this area. Also, I don’t know your electronics and can’t speak to how well or not these match up to the Forests. I don’t have time right now to investigate them.

Here are things I feel contributed to a MUCH more listenable experience with them on a almost ALL the recordings I have (by the way, my system is listed so "a picture is worth a thousand words):
Room treatment
Electronics - Hegel H200 amp (much "warmer" and forgiving than EL34 tube mono blocks!) and Gungnir MB DAC.
More power - wpc adequate to drive the Forests might be way less than needed for best sound and I believe this might extend to treble "sweetness" or lack thereof.
Ripping CDs and playback via Schiit Gungnir MB from Auralic Aries Mini
(don’t underestimate the potential contribution of jitter to that HF pain)
Cabling! I’m well aware of the "don’t use cables as tone controls" orthodoxy. The CD/SACD player I use (TEAC CD3000) was highly resolving but on some CDs, almost unlistenable. Cardas 300B Twinlink SE and Cabledyne Copper Reference XLRs provided a big improvement. Cardas Golden Reference between preamp and amp. Clear Day Double Shotguns and, more recently, Cardas Parsec speaker cables have helped a lot too. Try connecting your speaker cable to the lower speaker binding posts and see if you hear an improvement.

Those are the main points. If anything else comes to mind, I’ll post again later. I’m sure you will be getting advice to sell the Forests though I think they have much to offer with properly managed HF. Good luck!

@gondo101

One additional simple "tweak" is, if you are using Totem’s "claws and balls" supplied with the Forest, take them off the balls. Just have them sitting on the flat surface of the claw. I found the slight lowering of height that results does reduce treble energy from the Forests.


@gondo101 
Taking a cue from dekay, I'm reminded of an old, less elegant solution if you don't have grill covers for your Forests.  Try hanging a piece of toilet paper (or two) over the tweeters.  Supposedly an old recording studio trick.  
@gondo101 

onhwy61 is exactly right about the S'phile findings.  Lowering slightly by removing the balls and perhaps even trying some toe OUT might be of help.  I also found positioning them closer together (under 7 feet apart) was helpful bringing up the bass.  Stronger bass might better balance the treble.  In one review (Audiophilia?) the writer had commented "pay attention to how Vince B. has them positioned at shows".  Photos of Totem Forests from a show allowed the carpet pattern to be used to determine distance between the speakers. They were a lot closer together than I would have guessed.  I do remember the step chang in bass output (and vocal clarity) that resulted moving them to mirror positioning in that photo.  

Belatedly it occurred to me to ask how old your gear is.  Could this harshness be break in pains for the Forests or any of your other gear??  It took a LONG time for the Forests to start producing meaningful bass in my system.  

By the way, you have some VERY nice gear.     
@dekay 
Understood.  Your suggestion reminded me of a post here from several years ago.  I think it was Tvad who mentioned the studio tweak of hanging a sheet of TP in front of the tweeter.  

@gondo101 
It did take a LOT of time and experimentation - several years -  to tame the Forest's highs but it has been accomplished and I'm not suffering ear bleed listening to older CDs from the early days of "perfect sound forever".  So it is possible to overcome this shortcoming with the right combination of wire and gear.  On the other hand, much as I love my Forests and plan on keeping them, I do tend to agree with @jond and wonder if they are not a bit "declasse" compared to the rest of your system.  If simple "non-destructive" tweaks don't work, it would seem silly to recommend changing out any of your electronics to "force fit the Forests".  The better solution, as others have mentioned, might well be to start auditioning speakers to find some that are a better match for your gear...as intimidating as that prospect might be.  Maybe something from the Sonus Faber line would work.  Years ago, I heard a system with SF's Guarneri Homage speakers driven by ARC tube separates.  It made a lasting and very positive impression.  Not sure what the current version of these speakers would be.  Good luck finding a solution that works for you.

https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/487/index.html