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Tweeters to pair with Trusonic 15" speakers?

B

brwells

New Member
Hi all....

I am brand new to these forums. It seems like the right place to ask this question....

I was "gifted" a pair of 15" Trusonic speakers inside some walnut cabinets. My wife's father and grandfather built the cabinets in the late 60's early 70's from some kind of kit. They are really nice cabinets and the Trusonic speakers inside are like brand new. Inside the cabinet(s), there is a place for a rectangular (I assume horn) tweeter. My wife's dad said that her grandfather was suppose to install tweeters at some point in the future but, obviously, never did.

So my current project is to get these speakers/cabinets sounding great. The Trusonics in there, obviously, sound very heavy in the lows and mids..... very little high end. I know they will sound super nice once some high's are introduced.

What kind of tweeters and crossovers would you recommend I get?

Thanks in advance for any help!

-Brian
 
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Big question. I'd think that your Stephens would work well with a compression driver-horn treble and be excellent candidates for the e-wave thing here. Do a search and you'll learn plenty (maybe more than you're prepared for). ;)

A question; are they Stephens Trusonics built in California or Indiana Trusonics? In either case I think they'd be good e-wave candidates.
 
Thanks for the replies so far!

Tom:

They are the Stephens Trusonics from Culver City, CA. My wife's father says he still has the paper work from the original purchase.... somewhere. I didn't know there were some made in Indiana (I'm just learning about these). Is/was that a different company?

I have never heard of the "e-wave" thing. Sounds like I will have to do some reading.

Metal420: Thanks for the link reference!
 
What is the actual model number off of the back of the speaker? I am in the process of ewaving a set of 150W Stephens trusonic 15" woofers. Here is the thread I first started when I got them last fall, and here is a picture of the Ewave testing process. This has created a great (to my ears and a few others) sounding speaker that I am working up a box to hold both.

Bill
 
Hey bill!

I'll double check what the model is tomorrow. If I remember correctly... They are the 150's... Not the 150FR. They look identical to yours. I'll take some pics of the speakers and the cabinets and post them. The cabinets look very similar to yours.... In regards to size.

Tom: Actually Tom and Bill.... I have never heard of this ewave thing, probably cause I'm not a total audiophile... But it seems VERY interesting. For the ewave idea.... Do I really need that big of a waveguide or can I make one fit in the space I have inside the cabinet now? The cabinet is very close to bills size... Like I can picture his old tweeters/horns fitting in my cabinet just fine.

Again, I'm not a total audiophile, but I like a good sounding system. I'm a musician and do some home recording so I have a some sense of what I like and how speakers color the music.... But I don't want to go tooooooo crazy.

Hehe..... I have this old Silvertone stereo console I picked up at an estate sale years ago.... It's a totally cool piece of retro stereo gear. VERY mid century modern. The stereo works great on it ( the record player needs a ton of work). The sound of the stereo from the tubes and whatever speakers are inside of it sound amazing. I'm kinda hoping I can a similar, warm, full sound from these speakers and cabinets.

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm sure I'll ne hitting you up for wiring/crossover help soon. I have never had to "build" speakers like this. Very fun!

-Brian
(typing on an iPhone tonight.... Excuse the sausage fingers)
 
OK.. I opened the back of the cabinets again. I hadn't done so in 6 months... so I forgot the exact model number...

I was wrong, the Trusonics I have are the 150FR model.

You can see in the pic there is a spot for a horn tweeter covered up by wood.

1) Since this is the "FR" model (Full Range), does this change what type of tweeters I should put in there?

2) Can/should I use the e-wave idea inside the cabinet?

3) Any tips on making this cabinet better? I noticed the air tube-thingy (I know there is a proper name for it) butt's right up against the insulation on the back panel.... shouldn't there be a gap to let the air move in and out of that?

Any Thoughts?

-Brian
 

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You know, a few years ago I would'a told you to just buy an EV T-35 tweeter and a generic 3500 hz crossover from Parts Express. But now so much is expected of speaker DIYers that such easy, care free solutions are subject to ridicule.

Now we're expected to come up with a "proper" solution and that can get so complicated that one is loathe to get involved.
 
A T-35(?!)... Tom... talk about Sawzalls!

More on-topic; I still like to find a nice-sounding tweeter with adequate sensitivity and just use a very high first-order crossover (e.g., 10 kHz) and an L-pad... so in that sense I agree whol-heartedly with Tom.

I am not a big fan of solving flawed drivers' problems with complicated crossovers.
 
For something quick and easy I'd use the CTS KSN 1141 piezo tweeter found on this website. Just wire it in parallel without a crossover, it'll work without one. It's a good sounding piezo and just might get you what you want. Try it atop the speaker and see what you think.

Maybe that'll satisfy. If that doesn't sound good you can wire an 8 ohm resistor across the terminals of the piezos and then play with simple 1st order crossovers (just a capacitor) for it trying higher crossover points. And wire in an L-pad for balance like Hardy suggests.

I'm just throwing ideas out here ya understand; ideas that are easy to implement and don't cost much.

http://www.usspeaker.com/homepage.htm
 
piezos with crossovers are capable of adding nice sparkle; crossoverless, they can be spitty (notice that's with a "p"!). The CTS (originally Motorola) drivers Tom mentioned are the way to go; the generic knockoffs don't have a good reputation.

Here's the poop on doing a piezo XO:
http://www.zillaaudio.com/piezo.htm

Even sans XO it might be an interesting experiment.
 
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mhardy6647 said:
piezos with crossovers are capable of adding nice sparkle; crossoverless, they can be spitty
Click to expand...

I agree in general but IME that particular piezo sounds pretty nice when used bare bones and is the best sounding piezo out there IMO.

On the other hand I'm always open to the possibility that I'm deluded and I'm as subject to Berenek's Law as the next guy. ;)
 
Tom Brennan said:
I agree in general but IME that particular piezo sounds pretty nice when used bare bones and is the best sounding piezo out there IMO.

On the other hand I'm always open to the possibility that I'm deluded and I'm as subject to Berenek's Law as the next guy. ;)
Click to expand...

Wow, they've gotten pricey!
 
mhardy6647 said:
Wow, they've gotten pricey!
Click to expand...

Indeed they have. But at least they're original Motorola-CTS and the Chinese clone piezos I bought from Parts Express---Oye; they sounded like a sawzall and a burr grinder running at the same time. They made Steisand sound like Ethel Merman.
 
 
Tom Brennan said:
...They made Steisand sound like Ethel Merman.
Click to expand...

I'm not touchin' that one...\\\
brwells said:
Another question.....

A friend here at work recommends Dynaudio tweeters... like these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dynaudio-D-21-AF-Soft-Dome-Tweeter-Pair_W0QQitemZ190364087839QQcmdZViewItemQQptZSpeakers_Subwoofers?hash=item2c5295761f#ht_500wt_1137

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dynaudio-MD-130-Tweeters-Never-Installed_W0QQitemZ250561970832QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Speakers?hash=item3a56a84290#ht_500wt_1137

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dynaudio-D-28-AF-Soft-Dome-Tweeter-Pair_W0QQitemZ190364090888QQcmdZViewItemQQptZSpeakers_Subwoofers?hash=item2c52958208#ht_500wt_1137

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
I doubt that any are efficient (sensitive) enough to keep up with your Stephens.

Speakin' of Stephens... just a gratuitous photo-op for my small (one member) Stephens Trusonic collection...

DSCN5839.jpg
 
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Here are my options so far....

1:
CTS KSN 1141 piezo tweeter (seem resonable at $35 each?)
(need a specific XO and L Pad recommendation)
+/- $150?

2:
EV T-35 tweeter and a generic 3500 hz crossover from Parts Express.
+/- $300 ?

3:
E-wave solution with compression tweeters and waveguide.
(could one fit in this cabinet?)
+/- $150?

What would you guys vote for? I am looking for an in-cabinet solution, best bang for the buck, and anything below $300 should be reasonable.

Any more options?

Thanks again for all the help!

-Brian
 
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