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Post by palace on Feb 26, 2024 17:27:09 GMT
After my machinations to prevent ingress of RFI/EMI & 50hz hum into my system with copper foil & clip on ferrites with regard to my comments elsewhere about super tweeters originally introduced to me by reading articles in I think the 1980's by Jimmy Hughes, I have written that because my One Thing Audio Quad 57's like all Quad 57's reverse polarity/phase, I had at the time connected them + to - rather than + to + in phase is how I connected the Batpure super tweeters in the horns left from the Jimmy Hughes horn piezo super tweeters.
Today I moved the 25kg + 8kg support/stand of my Rogue Atlas Magnum to get to the rear of the amp to fit 4mm 2 screw cable retainer banana plugs rather than 2 screw cable retainer forked connectors which held the stiff speaker leads at an awkward/acute angle, I connected the leads at the rear of the amp red leads + to + & black leads - to -. I had a listen no obvious or to me no subtle difference either.
Later making sure the speaker cables were dressed properly, I noticed that at some time in the past I had inadvertently connected the OTA Quad 57'S + to + & - to - into the OTA Widgets on each speaker which connect red leads + to + & black leads - to - at the rear of the speakers, I also had to swap over the reversed polarity/phase super tweeters plugged in to the the speaker cable stackable banana plugs. I swapped to the originally audibly preferred - to + on both Quad speakers then in phase + to + - to - super tweeters. This was to see if there was still a difference as I had found years ago when I made the TNT UBYTE 2 cross connected coaxial speaker cables.
I was quite surprised to hear that there was a very positive difference I'm not going to wax lyrical because I'm still evaluating my thought of "oh that's good" as a response to the improvement. I can only surmise? that it is again fully phase coherent.
It seems that simply reversing the speaker leads equally to out of phase on both the Quad 57's from the amplifier somehow is the way to fly then having the super tweeters in phase. I remembered that recently I cleaning & treated all the phono plugs & speaker terminals with DeoxIT Gold, so probably not just improving the contact's. why the difference should be so obvious is beyond me!
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Post by bencat on Mar 15, 2024 11:19:47 GMT
Okay this is just a heads up of something I am going to give a try . I do not have too much disposable income now I am retired so major spending on LPSU or other equipment is limited . But I still love to try new things and see what they do in my system . I have read on other forums that using super tweeters added to existing speakers can have very beneficial effects . Now some of these super tweeters can be very costly but a fellow Quad user alerted me to these Japanese BatPure super tweeters . Tiny little things but I am told they do work . About £50 direct from Japan including shipping but they take a fair amount of time to arrive .
Mine have just been delivered about four weeks after ordering and I am just putting things in place to get them set up . I need a set of stacking banana plugs which I have sourced to add a flying lead to the Batpure they do not require a cross over and they have built in filters to only work with the high frequency signal they are designed for . So a set of flying leads from the speaker cables . Now Quad ESL 57 are phase inverted so I always connect them in reverse at the speaker end so red to black and black to red . This makes imaging much stronger and also firms up the bass . The Batpure are not inverting so I will wire these in phase so as to then match up .
Not sure what to expect form this advice is to point the super tweeters towards the ceiling to get the most diffuse effect . Others who have tried these have said they were surprised at how much they added to the sound at all levels including bass when all they are pushing out is a miniscule signal at above anything my old ears can hear . Once in place and after a little time to both listen and burn in the Batpure will record my views .
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Post by palace on Mar 15, 2024 12:54:13 GMT
Okay this is just a heads up of something I am going to give a try . I do not have too much disposable income now I am retired so major spending on LPSU or other equipment is limited . But I still love to try new things and see what they do in my system . I have read on other forums that using super tweeters added to existing speakers can have very beneficial effects . Now some of these super tweeters can be very costly but a fellow Quad user alerted me to these Japanese BatPure super tweeters . Tiny little things but I am told they do work . About £50 direct from Japan including shipping but they take a fair amount of time to arrive . Mine have just been delivered about four weeks after ordering and I am just putting things in place to get them set up . I need a set of stacking banana plugs which I have sourced to add a flying lead to the Batpure they do not require a cross over and they have built in filters to only work with the high frequency signal they are designed for . So a set of flying leads from the speaker cables . Now Quad ESL 57 are phase inverted so I always connect them in reverse at the speaker end so red to black and black to red . This makes imaging much stronger and also firms up the bass . The Batpure are not inverting so I will wire these in phase so as to then match up . Not sure what to expect form this advice is to point the super tweeters towards the ceiling to get the most diffuse effect . Others who have tried these have said they were surprised at how much they added to the sound at all levels including bass when all they are pushing out is a miniscule signal at above anything my old ears can hear . Once in place and after a little time to both listen and burn in the Batpure will record my views . Try all conceivable positions including counter intuitive ones before deciding as all rooms are different. In my case after trying upward pointing I reverted to forward facing in the old piezo horns 5"-6" above the middle treble panel & like you stated in the reverse phase, or in phase with the Amplifiers + to + the OTA Quad 57's being - to + please keep us up to date.
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Post by palace on Mar 23, 2024 13:24:13 GMT
I believe the subject of this post touching on my last post is relevant to all Quad 57's but may apply to all electrostatic speakers indeed may I suggest may be relevant to any conventional coned active speaker or powered subwoofer.
By plagiarising my own entries from the thread "small problem cured bigger result" on this forum relating to my experiments with removal of EFI/EMI 50hz noise from my system. On this occasion plastering with clip on ferrites the 2 switching power supplies for my PC & PC monitor that share the same ring main as the OTA Quad's & system.
The thought having occurred to me that the vast increase in clarity & particularly the depth of the bass I have accrued over the preceding weeks must in some measure must be attributed to the Quad 57's & since they contain transformers & circuitry they are likely to be affected by the same problems that the rest of the system.
The OTA Quad 57's I use, like all Quad 57's for safety are encased in perforated metal panels front, rear & sides connected to the internal safety earth & via 3 pin female bulgin plug, shielded lead & 13 amp mains plug with 2 amp fuse to the ring main , a "near" perfect Faraday cage, the Trojan Horse being the mains lead, my leads are protected from radiated interference having spirally wrapped them in copper foil creating an effective faraday cage, that leaves as I stated previously, noise ingress via the 240v mains. I postulate that removing some more of the noise by quietening the 2 switching PSU's on my PC & PC monitor from the same ring main suppling the OTA Quad 57's & system has allowed the OTA Q 57's to function as designed in the 1950's. when there was much less interference on the 250v mains so are probably not wired to reject as much mains noise as would be possible to day
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Quad ESL
Apr 23, 2024 14:12:02 GMT
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Post by bencat on Apr 23, 2024 14:12:02 GMT
Been having a very frustrating time with things Quad . Tried a pair of Aurex amps in bridges more and they sound very good indeed . Sadly they fitted with very sensitive speaker protection circuit so they cut out when you turn the volume up or when the next track is recorded at a higher level . Hoped that using some one thing audio widgets would help but sadly no difference . Real shame as within their volume envelope they sound amazing . So back to my NVA S300 which also sounds too class . This has meant I have still to get round to trying the super tweeters but no doubt that will happen soon . Just can not find any small horn cases to put them in . May have to just use blutac as temporary fixing till I find the right thing .
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Post by palace on Apr 23, 2024 14:59:39 GMT
Been having a very frustrating time with things Quad . Tried a pair of Aurex amps in bridges more and they sound very good indeed . Sadly they fitted with very sensitive speaker protection circuit so they cut out when you turn the volume up or when the next track is recorded at a higher level . Hoped that using some one thing audio widgets would help but sadly no difference . Real shame as within their volume envelope they sound amazing . So back to my NVA S300 which also sounds too class . This has meant I have still to get round to trying the super tweeters but no doubt that will happen soon . Just can not find any small horn cases to put them in . May have to just use blutac as temporary fixing till I find the right thing . I had a similar amp problem in the late 1970's when I bought a Meridian 101 Mk1 103,104 set up the 103 had trouble with my recently bought new 57's it blew its' fuse regularly , I spoke to them, Meridian made & fitted hand wound chokes... At that time I had no knowledge of Widgets if indeed they existed then. Any chance of a wizard desensitising the Aurex amps? I have looked for enclosures for you with a negative result, as for the horns mine are just 7" x 3" piezo tweeters with a bent metal brace made from a single leaf from several leaves used to hang a car horn, held in place with velcro the Bat Pure sit on them. they are attached to a piece of wood screwed to the wood hand grip on the 57's with a ball jointed small speaker holder. A lot of people just use blue tack or velcro I made use of my Jimmy Hughes inspired super piezo supertweeters that were already fitted.
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Quad ESL
Apr 28, 2024 14:25:11 GMT
via mobile
Post by bencat on Apr 28, 2024 14:25:11 GMT
What can I say I am both lazy and tired . Have had a chest infection for about two weeks now and with age it seems to be more of an uphill battle to recover . Still not started anything yet with these super tweeters I going to make a real concentrated search for some form of horn throat to put them in and if I find something will feel inspired to start this journey .
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Quad ESL
Apr 28, 2024 14:35:24 GMT
via mobile
Post by bencat on Apr 28, 2024 14:35:24 GMT
Well had a bit more not today and have found quite a few plastic housings that would do the job . As this not anything like an area of knowledge for me could I ask for advice . My simplistic view as this is a very small unit is to buy the smallest throat I can . There are larger units up to 180 mm but is there any advantage being wider ? I was looking at the 120 mm as best . Whatever I choose there is going to need some getting to fit and find a way to securely my Quads .
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