Tweeter quest

Hi,

I am not unhappy as such - the supplied tweeter is quite good. However a ribbon might be much better given what I have heard recently. I wouldnt modify the front baffle - so I could just swap the old tweeter back in. I dont really think there is anything to trade up to - the pmc bass and midrange are peerless.

Nick.

Had a friend convert the soft domes in his Dunlavy's. He found some that were a direct fit but required lots of playing with caps and resistors to pad them in. Fried one or two in the process. Even replaced the ribbon elements with aluminum foil.

http://www.kellsieavdesign.com/ribbon.htm
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/hifi/index_en.htm?/hifi/baendchen_en.htm
http://www.aurumcantus.com/g2g3/g.htm

Nick, forget it -- unless pmc themselves help you out with indispensable info on their speaker "voicing", the crossover schematics and the characteristics of the tweet you're now using.
In order to replace the tweet with a ribbon you need to mate it seamlessly with the other drivers.
This is difficult to do in yr present application anyway as ribbons are best cut higher than their cone, dome, etc counterparts.
You don;t seem to have been designing & building speakers as a hobby or otherwise. Ergo, let things be as they now stand UNLESS you wish to take on a new hobby and use your present speakers for experimenting. IMO you'll need lots of help in the beginning -- and do some reading of your own.

The "best" ribbon driver doesn't exist. "Best" is matter of applications. Some ribbons look better on paper than others; Alian ribbons are amongst the latter

Hi,

The speaker is active so I can do it all in the electronic crossovers. I have room measurement equipment and software and a couple of guys on hand that design there own speakers and can help me out with the upgrade. I beleive info on the existing tweeter is in the public domain as well according to my contacts. I would crossover at 4khz.

What do you think? Any recommendations for reading?

Regards,

Nick.

Sounds risky to me...you are messing with a very high quality and well respected speaker which may be worthless after all your modifications....

Since you are a beginner at this, my suggestion would be to get a speaker kit from someone like Wilmslow audio...I remember they used to offer ATC 100 kits...not sure if they do PMC clones...

Alternatively, try canvassing PMC to offer an upgrade path to their Vifa tweeter.