DA PS-10 Low Tweeter Output

[Sylph]

Hello fellow AKers!

I’ve got an odd one right now and I need help. I managed to get my hands on a pair of DA PS-10s after reading good reviews on them. I love their design, very unconventional. I gotta say, these speakers have been nothing but trouble from the very start (hooray for COVID, I guess they are keeping me busy!)

Mind you, my model is the one with the flat/-3db switch on the back of each unit, not the ones with the pots on the front. The speakers have under gone the general surgery; recapped the crossovers, installed new DPDT switches since the old ones were corroded, refoamed the down firing woofers, installed new binding posts and cleaned all spade connectors.

At this point, I was so excited to hear these units aaaaand deception... The tweeters are just so very underwhelming... So back to the drawing board, time to undergo surgery again. After reading too much about tweeters for a week straight, I settled on the idea of replacing the Ferrofluid in the tweeters.

Now is where it gets interesting. So I take apart the tweeters, prepare my blotter paper to remove what should be left of the old dried up Ferrofluid and would you know it: nothing. Nada. My model’s tweeters came with absolutely 0 Ferrofluid in them to begin with, everything is already perfectly clean. I still filled them up with new Ferrofluid considering I had already paid for it.

Time for a second listen aaaaaan same thing. Tweeters output so little sound. At this point I decided to try out other tweeters I had on hand: Titanium Laminate Tweeters from an old pair of JBLs and wow, they sound phenomenal for their size!

So here I am. I refuse to believe that what I am hearing with the original tweeters, with new ferrofluid and new xover caps is what the PS-10s are supposed to sound like. And yes they are original tweeters since the PN coincides with what I have seen online. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Sylph]

Bump.

Alright, I read some more on tweeters and decided to very carefully clean the surface of the soft domes.
I noticed most of the PS-10 tweeters I have seen online have a shiny appearance to them while mine look matte.

Here is the surface of the tweeters:

Could this be the reason they sound low?

 

[wmgwizard]

Unfortunately, we can't hear what you hear.

I remember my PS-10's didn't seem dull but weren't very "bright" either.

If you're used to the sound of hard dome tweeters, soft dome tweeters can sound a little soft or dull.

If both tweeters perform similarly and you proved the speakers/crossovers are fine by substituting the JBL's, perhaps consider putting the originals back in and give them some time for your ears to "adjust".

 

[Sylph]

Alright I decided to try something drastic with the tweeters after being fed up with them.

I was hesitant about the idea of redoping the tweeters after reading plenty of great threads here on the forum so I decided to try "coating" them with the intention of filling the cracks in the current coating.

My coating of choice was 1K Acrylic Clear Coat since it has a short dry time of 30 minutes for handling. I went with a single medium coat in order to try and avoid changing the physical parameters of the tweeters. The soft domes soaked right up.
And WOW! Everthing sounds much more balanced. I can actually pin point stuff now. These speakers image very well!

Thanks for the input @wmgwizard, I've sat down and had a listen to them after the recoat and you are right, they sound just right.