Hello, I am new to this forum and could use some guidance.

I built my HDT's late last year and have been very impressed with them. They have restored my pleasure and interest in listening to both recorded and broadcast music. The drivers supplied with my plans appears to be a hybrid between the older FE206E-M and the newer DFR-8.

My question is should I upgrade to the new DFR-8’s (plus alternative tuning) or should I make a really big effort and go for a Lowther DX3/ AER M1.  The price difference is considerable. Is this the best course?

My listening room is neutral or maybe a little bright and relatively small (about 30 square meters). My musical interests range from jazz, blues, pop to classical with an accent on smaller (in number of members) bands/groups.

Has anyone tried either a Lowther or AER in the HDT?

I will appreciate your thoughts.

thanks

Randall

Thanks gnatleader, I will change to the alternative tuning and look into the room treatment issues. I don't think that I can make too many changes to my listening room (family room) due to spousal inertia but I will give it a go.  In the meantime I will go a drool over the new Decware Zen  :)

regards

Thanks franksmith, I can only know these expensive drivers (Lowther/AER) by reputation and your comments are very useful.  My HDT’s drivers are, I expect, nearly fully worn in (I have used them for ~ 2 hours/day for 7 months now). As recommended I will look into the room acoustic issues and the alternative tunning mods.  Perhaps I might at some later stage buy a pair of DFR-8's and install my current FE206EM’s in a back loaded horn design (eg frugel-horn).
regards

In a bright room I would not choose any Lowther model.  If I were to use an AER, instead of M1 I would try Model 2B.  It gives up a little efficiency, but with lower resonance and a higher Qts it plays lower bass.  And with it's stronger magnetic field it ought to be sweeter sounding.  
http://www.fullrange-speakers.com/5version/eng/aertr-e.htm

The fostex will take a lot of power without complaning.

I suprise myself from time to time to raise to volume very high (over 110db of peak) and get a excurtion of 5-6 mm (compared to the annonced xmax of 1.5mm) without any problem or sound degredation . It's just impressive the tight controled bass (lot of  eyes closing impacts) they can get in theses pretty small hdt compared to a lowther driver or most of the 8 inches I tried.

I got back to my 100 watts mcintosh amp instead of the 2a3 for this reason, 3 watts is not enough to keep up with the dynamic and vividness i like. Add to this that I'm pretty tired of sweet SET coloration. I'm looking for a 2a3 pp project right now.

IMO, you need a very neutral and open sounding amplifier with a minimum of 10-20 watts to get the best out of theses speakers even of normal listening level.

BTW, if you like more complete reproduction of cymbals, you can add a efficient supertweeter like the lcy100k or the aurum ... crossed arount 16 khz. For me it has been a very good upgrade.

Wow, that is one seriously interesting tweeter you have there franksmith  :). I have never heard of Oskar Heil until now.  How did you come by them?  I have not considered augmenting the higher frequencies on my HDT’s but I have noted your enthusiasm/encouragment and that Decware has produced a new HDT MK2 which has a tweeter on top.  It is reported to make a significant improvement but I will hold off and see how things develop.

Have you put a granite plate on top of the HDT instead of the normal MDF?  Was it difficult to get it cut to the exact size?  Does the absence of the half circle cut make a difference?

I agree that the HDT’s may benefit from a little more power – my Tripath 2020 produces about 8-10 watts of useable power and my other system (Luxman LV 105 valve/mosfet hybrid, 60 watts a side) drives the HDT’s well (although cones moving +/- 4 mm is courageous).

Back to the Moody Blues.

regards

My top plate are only black painted cheap pieces of wood. They where temporary ... many months ago ...

I really need to build my solid Honduran Mahogany top plates to match the speakers

Yes they are the last fe206em which is basicly a dfr-8 without the surround.

Seing the graph from the dfr-8 seem to help in the highs but still, after 16k it roll-off.

Honestly it's not necessary to add a tweeter to enjoy the hdt but I was not totaly happy with the cymbals reproduction until I add something over that 16khz.

By the way, my measurements show a similar curve that :



But dephased from about a Khz to the left. The last peak at 16khz is arround 15khz.

Decware usually supplies glue with their surround kits, and there are step by step online directions under the speaker repair button of the main menu at decware.com.  Same process, but I'm guessing your not shimming the cone or removing the existing cloth surround.