Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site
In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: The Active High Frequency Solution - AHFS
Post Subject: The chicken or the eggPosted by Paul S on: 2/7/2008
From Alex's thoughts it seems like one approach might be related to/interfaced with the program itself, such as RIAA or FFRR, etc., etc., even though I think those "recommended guidelines" have been only loosely observed by recording engineers, who have tended to pretty much do as they pleased, session to session and track to track, all along.
Anyway, my own observation is that this problem can start as low as, perhaps, 7k Hz. I think this is why I "liked" the "good" silk dome tweeter set to run itself out on top, overlaid with an electrostatic array entering slowly from about 7.5k Hz. This never"solved" the problem, but it did +/- temper the aggression from the worst "curves" in the recordings, if at the expense of true HF capability.
It seems like there has always been a problem trying to cross over between the texture and "traction" of a decent dynamic "tweeter" and the only acceptable true HF for me at this point, the naked ribbon. Each ultimately exposes the other's weaknesses to the acute listener, at least relative to what "might" be.
Another annoying thing about the HF ribbons is their extreme sensitivity to... everything. They hate the crossovers that they absolutely must have and they can make good amps sound mediocre. With bad electricity it would be nice to be able to just throttle them back or even shut them down entirely.
Alex is way past smart; so I have to keep reminding myself that he likes to run his ribbons way down there, which I just do not get.
Oh, well...
Ribbons: Can't live with 'em; can't replace 'em.
I think we have already started the idea of the general up-tilting balance of hi-fi, and I think this may also figure in to this discussion.
Best regards,
Paul SRerurn to Romy the Cat's Site