L-Pads. Speakers Awful Without Them, New Ones Ordered


I removed the L-Pads, the tweeters are way too bright, screechy above mids. Disturbing. Played my best source: R2R, Sgt. Peppers. Normally magnificent. Unlistenable!

Using my Chase Remote Control to cut Treble temporarily, until new L-Pads arrive.

I ordered these 16 ohm pads:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/153892668925

mine don’t have the issues he discusses, my insulation is modern, crossovers are tar filled metal cans, not much heat in 6.3 cu ft; these and originals were large ceramic body.

Will put the tweeter ’Brilliance’ ones in first, listen. Then add ’Presence’, listen, decide: leave in, or out. IN more than likely. They (orig and 1 set of replacements) have been IN for 62 years.

My original bronze ones came from original Fisher console, they were a custom version, still labeled ’Brilliance’ and ’Presence’.
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Many of these old Electro-Voice designs had L-Pads (16 ohm used AT37 Attenuators; 8 ohm used AT38). 2 way have one. 3 way designs have two: ’Brilliance’ and ’Presence’.

You can balance the drivers to each other, and to each space, and as you age, ability to hear highs diminishes, you can creep the tweeters up speck by speck. Imbalance due to irregular spacing: adjust each individually

I’m not going to measure and install a fixed resistor, I want future adjustability.

’L-Pads: Terrible Idea’. Bullshite, everyone who ever heard them loves them!

And, let’s not forget, the originals, with L-Pads, first one mono speaker, later two for stereo, are the designs that made these companies successful.






elliottbnewcombjr
OK, but I was more responding to Elliot saying that the sound was too tipped up in the treble, when he tried removing the L-pad entirely. Yes, the mechanism is different, but I thought he might ameliorate the problem with his treble control.  Anyway, the L-pad has apparently become an upgrade in the eyes of some, and I will exit the discussion as gracefully as possible.
Post removed 
I don't feel put upon.  Elliot was actually quite patient with me despite my unwanted advice. Thanks.
Ralph and I go way back.  He is one of the best guys in the audio business.
lewm

I value and learn from your knowledge and advice, (even if I don’t take it). Sometimes I can anticipate your reaction, which is why I specifically said no to resistors in original post which you caught the second time.

Another thing you missed, I AM currently using the treble control, of the Chase RLC-1. It is last in the chain, gives me remote control of everything. It goes directly to the Cayin amp.. As always, I can tweak any track, now using it’s treble. 1st time I ever used it’s tone controls. For fun I will mess with it’s bass control today, Not 1812, but some Ray Brown with Stan Getz I was listening to yesterday after I tamed the shrill beasts.

Chase treble is doing a very good job, surprising to me, I thought it would take too wide a band and the sound would go dull. Happily it has returned the sound to pretty darn good.

Did you read the seller’s description of vintage, currently common, and his pot design? It is interesting, he does seem to know what he is doing.

Before buying I clicked on the right ’see other items’, it’s extensive.



atmasphere

You mentioned this before, L-Pads are for the amp, not the drivers.

I don’t understand.

Right or Wrong?

L-Pads, like any pot in a receiver, volume, balance, bass, treble determine how much juice, more or less, i.e. each one a signal strength control, modifying the amount of the signal it will pass to the amps (L/R).

To boost or cut bass or treble, they must be designed with a center amount of juice as normal, then pass more or less.

L-Pads like these are after the amp, in fact after the crossover. Aren’t they also just controlling how much juice, more or less, (after amplification, after basic crossover band filtering) i.e. modifying the output of individual drivers, thus how their volume blends with other drivers volumes.

Like pots in receivers, The original Electrovoice AT37’s were attenuators: 0 being no attenuation (just a solder joint), 1-9 progressive cut of signal strength. IOW, no boost, no center position, simply cut the signal. Unless you design the system with 5 as normal. My original Fisher’s AT37’s, the system seems to be based on a center position of the attenuator, say 5, then it’s + or - was toward zero or toward 9 (more attenuation/less signal; less attenuation/more signal.

After the crossover, not altering the response of the driver in any way, just it’s volume, which is why they are not as bad as purists make them out to be.

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