As promised, we got it done.
With my wife's help yesterday evening we settled down and got into our frame of mind to evaluate the application of the wool felt around the tweeters. Wasn't the easiest thing to do because of the square shape of the ribbon tweeters and that they are part of the ribbon mids (as seen below).
So we started out with some light listening of Steve Miller Band, Fly Like An Eagle. At first just sitting back enjoying it, then increasing our focus on critical listening of the various instruments until we were satisfied we had a good "feel" for the sound and our listening attention.
To see what difference we could detect, we had to give attention mostly to one speaker, the one over near the fireplace. We tried it first with
no felt around the tweeter of the other speaker, then did the same testing with no felt around the other speaker - just in case it might matter.
I sat in my chair with remote in hand, eyes closed while my wife stood behind the speaker. Without being a ported speaker and large enough for her to actually stand behind without affecting the upper frequencies enough, I had her put the felt around the tweeter section while I listened a moment.
When I thought I was really focused on the sound I'd motion to her I was ready. She
would wouldn't just remove the felt when I motioned, she'd pull it some time after she knew I was "into it". With my eyes closed, she'd remove the felt and watch for my reaction to see if I could detect any change in sound. Through numerous tests, I never reacted.
We agreed that without indication, notice, or noise, from her behind the speaker the felt would be removed and only the listener would give any indication of a change by initiating a response,
if anything was noticed.
We tried doing it at different volumes too. My system opens up and comes alive just a little more once it hits a certain power level.
She has a pretty decent ear and honest too. So we went through all the same testing for her and she never could detect any change whatsoever.
What I found difficult was trying to listen critically to instruments but then having to change focus and listen to the music. I listened to instruments to see if something in the highs could be detected, but believing I'd miss the forest for the trees, I had to adjust to listening to the entirety of the music. In the end, it's the entirety of the music that I wanted anyway and would endure lasting enjoyment.
We detected no benefit, detraction, nor change from the felt - zip, nothing, nada. Is it the awesome tweeter design, is our room just not conducive to that tweak, or is are our ears just too unrefined as many here? Beats poo out of us!
Was this a failed test? Not even close! While I'm no trained ear or method tester, we did what we could, with what I figure is the best possible product for this that had been so generously donated to us. Does this mean felt tricks around tweeters is hoopla? Oh, I seriously doubt it. These are our speakers, in our room, with our ears - not your speakers, your room, and your ears. If someone find successful improvement doing this with theirs, then that is cool. Good for you/them for finding improvement by something so simple to implement.
My conclusion: Not only was this not a failed test but a total success!! Knowing there's no improvement to be found in tweaking them (room treatment where possible is another story) has only been further solidified. We could find changes in source equipment or possible room treatment, but the speakers themselves are there to stay knowing there's nothing to do with them. Now we can go back to just sitting there enjoying our music and try not to pee in our seats as relaxation and big grins overtake us
Andy
