s m o o t h

I had purchased 1/2" wide velvet ribbon last week to build a record cleaning machine.  Applied some double stick tape to two lengths for the plugs, & viola... tamed that piano...

The ribbon may be a cleaner install since it is finished on the edges.  DS tape may not be a permanant means of fixing it to the plugs, but it works for now.  

Matt

Ziggy or Steve,
 When are you guys going to publish the HDT tweaks?
Steve told me that the "stuffing" changes could be applied first, without applying the other changes, which I understand require some manufactured parts.  Well, not really stuffing but inserting foam (I think it was) in specific amounts and locations.

I'd like to apply the first two tweaks to improve things while waiting for the others. Namely:

1) Felting the phase plug
2) Applying foam to inside of cabinets

I applied the felt tweak to a set of the drivers.  I also applied a tweak learned from John Wyckoff (Hammer Dynamics).  That of painting a thin coat of silicon calk to the front edge of the whizzer cone. Don't glop in on (thick) or you may add some significant mass to the cone, negatively affecting it's sound...



The white ring in the above pic is white silicon glue applied to the whizzer cone.  The pair I used to have some years ago looked like this. On the FE206 drivers I used black silicon (Home Depot) so it's not as visible.

Both tweaks have smoothed out the treble, though it may be more due to the felt than the siliconing the whizzer.

Still, I wish the bass had more meat. Hopefully, the other tweaks will help in this regards WHEN they come out .... Ziggy?  ;)

For sure, I'm waiting for final judgement until after my TABOO arrives and is fully broken in.  But right now I'm using a Panasonic home theater reciever - which actually sounds better than one might think. It uses the Tripath digital amp chips and  is nice value considering it's low cost, sound, and features.
The Panny has around 60 watts per channel, so while I was expecting it to sound bright and not image as well as a low powered tube amp, I was expecting the bass to be higher in volume (not necessarily speed and quality).

Also, since I have two sets of FE206E-M drivers, I can play with the tweaks on one driver and make comparisons (which I haven't done yet), and also don't have the fear of ruining my speakers.

FYI, although I used double sided tape and regular felt, Michaels arts n crafts store has thin adhesive backed felt. It's much easier!...

http://direct.where2getit.com/cwc/apps/w2gi.php?template=search&client=micha...

btw, I have been told the other tweaks won't be released until the newly designed passive radiators come out - hopefully soon.
Apparently the new cabinet tweaks/mods utilized a lengthening of the inside ports along with new passive radiators. You can add the port lengtheners (just PVC coupler and extra pipe) by reaching into the cabinet through the PR holes, so not a major deal.  The cost of the new PR's will reportedly be very low, so for those thinking of buying an HDT/kit, there's no point in delaying the purchase while waiting for this tweak to come out.  Also, Steve said he's not sure yet if this mod will actually go into production - perhaps just left to the DIY'ers.

There was also some mention of a highly modified version of the FE206E driver which has some elaborate/difficult-to-apply cone coating.  I'm not sure when or if this mod will make it to production.

This is all I know about the tweaks - and that they are supposed to make the HDT sound better.  Looking forward to more of Steve's never-ending pursuits of perfection  ;D

Steve said the "tweaks" will not require any cabinet mods. So obviously the PR's will fit in the same holes. The port mods can be easily made by reaching into the cab's through the PR holes and adding a length of pipe via a PVC coupler and glue. The port mods and new PR's work only together, so it doesn't make sense to  use the new port length without the new PR's. Doing this would probably degrade the sound - perhaps creating some response hump.

I don't recommend calling Steve about this, since this will waist his time explaining to multiple people about this "pre-realease information" that he already explained to me.  The final details will come out eventually.  Now, if you want to ask questions here on the forum to him and/or Ziggy, and express you interest in these mods, it might help push Steve into getting the new PR's done sooner rather than later  :D

Brad,
I sent an e-mail to Steve. I agree that calling would not be a good idea. Hopefully he will post the tweaks soon. If I knew that the new passives would not be expensive I could move forward with confidence and not worry about having to punch out and replace them. I certainly do not want to pay $60 to make a tweak if I can hold off for say another week. Maybe if I knew when he was going to release the tweaks I could better decide. ???

john