Need HF DB Adjustment Control - Better Than Stock

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mickster
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Mickster

Mickster

Well-known member
I have a pair of Tannoy 501A monitors. I really like them and they give me what I need to mix. They're just a little too bright however. I'm sort of used to them that way.......but I could get used to them if they were a little less that way too. So......I'd like to change their stock 3 position -1.5db HF trim switch to get just a little more reduction. I've searched for specs on the current switch but can't find any. I would like to use another switch........or would consider modifying the back plate to accommodate a small rotary control. I really don't want to do the old "drape a napkin over the tweeter" thing either. Anyone have any ideas?
 
I have a pair of crappy speakers that I picked when I wanted a housing for a Deacy amp project.
After the hi-freq output from the crossover, each had a pot that would reduce the level of the tweeter.
Nothing fancy at all, but I don't know if that's how your Tannoys do it; I doubt it.

Can't help but wonder though, couldn't you just put a hardware eq before them, or save an eq plugin preset that sits on the master of every mix you do?
That would save you having to physically modify them.
 
Thanks Steen..........and yup you're correct.....certainly could put an EQ in line before the Tannoys. I guess a ten band would work. I don't have any EQ's like that and you never really know the quality you're getting in one of those unless you spend some decent $$$. However........I thought the pots or switch modification would be cheaper and more accurate because it would only affect the internal amp output to the tweeter and there would be no possibility of coloration in any other frequency. And......I'm an old techie so doing the mod would be easy for me. Just wondering what specs I might need for the pots. But......short of that........I'll take you're suggestion. Thanks!
 
Fair enough man, that's cool.
Can you open one up and find out what's going on?
See if that existing pot actually boosts/cuts something in the circuit, or if it's just an attenuator before the tweeter?
I suppose it doesn't really matter; You could just fit your own independent attenuator anyway.

I can't help with the value but the one I picked up on ebay for volume control on the deacy was just listed as something like
"2 watt master volume pot 6ohm."
 
Thanks Steen. I've decided to keep the 3 position switch (+1.5db....0....-1.5db adjustment) in place and just add a small pot at the final lead to the tweeters. There's plenty of room to do that. I guess I could measure the output for resistance changes made by the 3 way and decide from there what the pot specs should be. By the way........my reason for doing this is that the brightness really gets a bit grinding in long sessions. The Tannoy's are really a nice monitor for mid clarity, stereo spacing and overall depth perception. They're spot on. But the HF......though accurate......is a killer on my ears.
 
Cool man. Hope it works out.
My instinct was to ask about your room etc but I googled those Tannoys first and a lot of people describe them as bright.

Let us know how you get on, yeh?
 
Will do sir. Just ordered a couple 25 watt 5 ohm pots. May not do the work for a while but I'll let you know. If you see smoke coming from my place......you can assume my top end problem is gone..........really gone.
 
Send us a smoke signal. We will grab a bucket of water buddy and come running.:)
what about a differant low pass filter on the tweeters.
you could always use something like the SD online tone stack calculator to determine the best set up.
 
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