malinowski wrote:

TAD ET-703 Link MAGNETIC CIRCUIT. A high-energy, rare-earth cobalt magnet is used in the magnetic circuit that, together with powerful soft iron for the pole yoke and plate, provides a high magnetic flux density of 20,000G.

Well, let start with factual data:

http://www.mceproducts.com/knowledge-base/article/article-dtl.asp?id=32

How relevant it is for us, the audio people? Probably very little, and the most important it does not answer why TAD use cobalt in their tweeter.

Guy claims that “not everyone shares the view that Neodymium sounds better in audio”, presuming that someone at TAD actually employed the specific magnets in order to get the well-defined and objectionable sonic consequences.  Here is where I need to let my attitude to run wild. 

I do not believe that anyone at TAD ever conduct any more or less serious listening assessments in order to come to any practical data regarding the sound of those things. Vitavox, JBL, Altec, EV did their Alnico drivers, using different type differently sounding Alnico magnets and they did not even care to acknowledge the differences. I am absolutely convince that TAD engineers, in their vision of magnet saw only dimensions, the maintenance aspects, the flux density in gap and nothing else. No one listen those drivers at least seriously. Sure, they are measured to comply with demanded PA-level specifications but those Pro prodacts have no “sonic specifications” and made sonically “as is”.  The High-End audio is very-very minuscule market for those companies and no one care how this product would sound outside of PA applications. Even the High-End-specific product are made to sound crappy, so what would you expect from a DJ-oriented products?  So, any conversations that someone use cobalt to get some kinky sonic effect on context of 0.15W driving the tweeter, I would disregard as a wishful thinking. Unfortunately…

Also, another interesting subject. TAD, does Neodymium MF drivers and Cobalt Tweeters… Hm…, if “not everyone shares the view that Neodymium sounds better in audio applications” then it should be … different?

Erik the “Be” might be correct and TAD made the driver before Neodymium was used widely and Cobalt was the most powerful. Or perhaps the Pioneer marketing people decided that a new buzz phrase “Samarium Cobalt” would sound very sexy in their marketing catalog? The similar to: “makes the driver especially suitable for monitoring digital sound”.

guy sergeant wrote:

On a secondary point Romy, since when did something have to be designed for serious audio use for it to find an application in a serious audio system?  Did teams of Russians sit around listening to and fine tuning the 6C33 before they started making them? Yet somehow you find a use for them.

There is a difference between using “for sound” some vacuum tubes that were designed to be use for voltage regulation or for TV application vs. to use the  compression drives that sole purpose of existence was actually to produce sound.

I have written many times that Pro audio have VERY much different objective, methods and application then home high fidelity installations. Thos companies of course do not design drivers for home sound or in this matter “for Sound” at all. The quality of Sound, is hardly consider in pro audio as a tradable commodity. Sure, they capitalize on “better sound” but their demands and the references points are way below of what home-audio people could demand.

I am missing something here, because to me this looks like a compression driver with specs that indicate it would best serve >10k Hz, yet it is... a compression driver.  Maybe if it was backed down and run parallel with something more delicate/transparent?

I don't get the point of this thing for home audio, regardless of magnet material.

Best regards,
Paul S

Coops, Merlin

It looks you are familiar with 703 driver’s sound. Any thoughts that you find would be worth to share? I do not think that by listening this driver it would be possible to distinct the sound of Neodymium from sound of cobalt. Still, interesting it you have developed any feeling about the subject.

The Cessaro site it still down (???), so it would be interning to know if Cessaro chose to use this tweeter for Gamma. It looks like Gamma was 110db with 107dB sensitive bullet tweeter, is it so? Also, I would be minority concern about reflections of THAT type of driver, sine in Gamma it sits in time-aliened position.

Merlin wrote:

I find it pointless discussing the "sound" of a drive unit as it will be totally dependent on the implementation within the system.

I disagree. It is pointless discussing the sound of badly implemented drivers but if a driver used in a way how it should be, than I feel it is perfectly reasonable to talk how the driver sounds. When I asked about the driver’s sound I presumed that the person who used the driver within his system had taken out the driver whatever was necessary in context of his system.

coops wrote:

Romy Hi ,yes the Gamma does use the 703 ( slightly modified ) with a milled horn

Hm, they built for Gamma’s tweeter a custom horn? That is very-very good, and it is another indication is that the designers knew what they were doing. The horn of ET-703 is not what impressed me generally, and it is very questionably migh used in context of Gamma. Frankly speaking just looking at the profile of that custom horn if you would be a lot of expressed want Gamma designers had in their mind (I think I know what they did without looking on it). Going in a dangerous territory I would propose then there is no winning way to use Gamma with a tweeter compression driver. But here we enter the area off my abstract disagreements with Gamma…

Merlin wrote:

I'd like to thank Kevin Scott at Living Voice for pointing me in the right direction with this drive unit. He uses it even farther up than me I believe.