Can Tweeters die suddenly?

[rlim]

Hi Guys,
I'm new here, and have read posts that ask how low can a tweeter be crossed over. And the response is it depends on how loud you're driving it. My question is if I were to cross over say a 27TDFC at 1.4KHz LR4, and play really loud music(not ear-bleeding though, in an average-size room), will the tweeter
(1)degrade over time because of the excursion,
(2)blow and quit,
(3)generate nasty distortions at the time loud music is played but has no detrimental effect after the fact?

Thanks in advance.

[digital desire]

Any speaker can die suddenly. If the voice coil gets hot, melts. Or the leads can break.
Can you bust out a volt ohm meter and see if there is continuity?

[joecarrow]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

If you were to cross that tweeter as you said, at 1.4khz LR4, it would sound really distorted if you took it too loud. If you played quietly, it actually might sound alright. Believe it or not, it's a really good tweeter for the price, and not many can cross low like that.

To address your questions-

1- Degrading over time due to over excursion? Probably not, since enough excursion to damage it would probably sound nasty enough that you wouldn't really want to listen to it.

2-Blow out and quit? This is more likely, especially if you cross it over actively and make a mistake, or listen to it at low volume for a while and say, "Wow, this crossover did alright!" and then with a false sense of security you let it handle some gunshots. Another thing that can blow out tweeters (especially in an active setup) is a clipping amp.

3- Sound nasty, but no lasting effect? Well, it depends on "how loud", and what sounds are played.

Sorry it's not a little more predictable than that, but tweeters aren't fuses and the signal from your amp can vary widely based on the sonic content.

I would say that a 1.4 khz 4th order crossover would be sufficient to protect that tweeter from total destruction at moderate volumes, so it would be alright to give it a shot and see how it sounds to you. What are you crossing it to?

[rlim]

Well, I was hoping to use the 27tdfc instead of the millennium tweeter in the Orions, sort of a poor man's concoction, and retaining the baffle dimensions as outlined in the manual. But it sounds like the 27tdfc may not have enough excursion capability to do that. Maybe the RS28a can handle the excursion @1.4KHz LR4, but then there's the QC issue. Hmm, it's beginning to sound like my quest for a 'value' Orion may not exist after all without deviating away from the base design.

[fjhuerta]

I was under the impression the Seas 27's could be crossed lower than the RS28's... am I wrong?

[JonMarsh]

The 27TDFC has just as much grunt down low as the Millenium Excel, and that's not my opinion, that's the result of distortion testing we did over at MarkK's with my 27TDFC's and my Millenium Excel's.

It does not have as flat a frequency response, and requires some compensation in the crossover design.

Using the search and checking out the reference threads is a good idea.

~Jon

[rlim]

According to the recommended specs, the rs28's recommended low frequency is 1.6KHz, the 27tdfc - 1.5KHz, and the millennium - 2KHz. What I don't understand is why the millennium can perform without excursion problems at 1.4KHz, whereas the 27tdfc, though with the recommended range being lower than the millennium will have excursion problems.

Do you guys think that I should just go ahead and try the 27tdfc? With a price 1/5 of the millennium, it's very tempting, unless you guys can see immediately an excursion problem from the specs. The power handling properties of both tweeters are identical, though the 27tdfc has only half the linear coil travel than the millennium.

[Paul W]

According to Seas literature, the TDFC has only half the linear excursion of the Millennium. (Of course there is that Marketing term "product differentiation".)

The TDFC is a great budget tweeter and can always be reused for something if you decide to upgrade later.