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Energy 22 Reference

Chilljazz

Chilljazz

New Member
Hi all,
since last Tuesday I have been on a journey to find more information about these Energy 22's reference speakers.
I have been looking to replace my Samson Media One 4a speakers, so one day I went to a pawn shop to take a look what they have.
I noticed a pair of fine looking cabinets with "Energy 22" written on them. Heavy, bulky and good looking.
When checking the tweeters, they looked different than any other I have seen up until now.

The speakers were 50€, the sparse info I found on the internet told me they were damn fine ones.
So I bought the pair and brought them home. Had to call a cab since I came by bus and they were too heavy.

After plugging them in, I instantly fell in love with them. So much so, that I have been researching on the web daily to find more information about them.
I have red much about the tweeter issue, the possibility to repair them in Canada and the CBC using them back in the 80's. Most of the info is on this forum.

One tweeter has a small dent. Also the same tweeter has issues around 400 - 1600 Hz when playing back a sine wave. By the sound of it, it gets a bit distorted and does not sound clean in comparison to the other tweeter.

Do you think this distortion is coming from this dent? When playing back music, I don't notice anything.
I tried to suck it out but I must admit I really don't want to touch the tweeter too much.

It seems I am out of luck trying to replace the tweeter, since only replacement I have red about is this person in Halifax, Canada repairing them.
I live in Germany.

I am not certain what to do. I just think of leaving the tweeter as it is, since it's not perceivable if I don't blast sine waves through.

Any tips and information about these speakers is appreciated.
 

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Chilljazz said:
I am not certain what to do. I just think of leaving the tweeter as it is, since it's not perceivable if I don't blast sine waves through.
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i luv energy speakers, have had many including all flavours of 22, and connoisseur.currently using veritas.
you know what they say
if it aint broke.......................










.
 
orsen said:
i luv energy speakers, have had many including all flavours of 22, and connoisseur.currently using veritas.
you know what they say
if it aint broke.......................










.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. It seems my time is limited with these. I hope they will last me a long time before the tweeter blows.
Would love to know how they ended up in a random pawn shop in Germany.
 
From what I know, the 22' were the speakers that the NRC used as reference for all their benchmarks, and others speakers followed this. I mean, afaik, those speakers are a legend.

Anyway, I don't know much on how to repair tweeters, but not sure if you have check the ferrofluid in it if it still in good condition?
 
Anyway, I don't know much on how to repair tweeters, but not sure if you have check the ferrofluid in it if it still in good condition
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I never done that. Will I be able to find a guide how to do that on these particular speakers?

1tumbleweed said:
t's now owned by Klipsch, so the availability of replacement parts may be questionable.
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I think I just keep using them and hope for the best :)
 
Chilljazz said:
I never done that. Will I be able to find a guide how to do that on these particular speakers?


I think I just keep using them and hope for the best :)
Click to expand...
I followed this video:
Kef tweeter ferrofluid replacement

It's for the KEF tweeters speakers but it's very similar procedure for the Canadian speakers as well. Actually the Canadians ones are way easier to deal with because they are not glued like those ones in the video. You just remove 3 screws and thats it.
I actually have KEF and a few canadian speakers like energy, and on all of the canadian ones, were easier to take them apart in comparison to the the KEF.

What you'd want to check is if the ferrofluid is Tacky or dried, which would be affecting the performance.

That's my understanding in theory and on every pair of speakers I get, I replace their ferrofluid.
 
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I mean, that is worth checking. Maybe that's the issue and they may only need new ferrofluid. It would be cheaper and way better than replacing the actual tweeter/s.
 
orsen said:
those tweeters have not been available for decades
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That's the information I got from the forums. Many asking and searching, but non available. It seems my best bet is try to replace the ferrofluid and remove the dent while at it.
 
Chilljazz said:
Thanks for the link. Not sure if I should try this by myself, my soldering isn't the best, but I contacted my local speaker builder and asked him if it could be done.
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No problem. There's no need to do any soldering on them though, but your local speaker builder should be able to do this for you easily.
 
The tweeters pictured do not look like the hyper dome tweeter used in the original energy 22. pics look like a 1” dome.
 
krimney said:
The tweeters pictured do not look like the hyper dome tweeter used in the original energy 22. pics look like a 1” dome.
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Do you think they have been replaced? Other pictures of the 22's on these forums have same looking tweeters in them.
 
The crossover is 2.2k, hence the name. IIRC, it's a second order crossover. 1100Hz is a full octave down. Not likely the tweeter, and the dent isn't really big enough to be a problem.

Ian Paisley told me the story on that one. The original iteration/test mule measured phenomenally, but sounded iffy. They lowered the crossover frequency, it got better. They lowered it again, it got even better. They lowered it again and the tweeter fried. They spent a ton of money developing that tweeter, with a goal of 2k. Didn't quite Make it, but eventually got there. I think they called it the "million dollar tweeter."
 
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hopeless said:
The crossover is 2.2k, hence the name
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Think you for your information and the origin story. I thought the crossover was around 1.5K? Their data sheet I found online says so at least.

I may start searching for a replacement tweeter in the near future. I am aware that the tweeter is responsible for the great sound of these speakers.
Still I would love to keep the cabinets, so I will start researching for some good ones, which would fit the circuitry. Do y'all have advice on doing that?
I suppose I would need to find a tweeter which would match the crossover frequency?
 

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I would have the ferrofluid in each tweeter refreshed to know maintenance has been done. I would monitor eBay to find a spare for the future.
 
So I have been working on my studio wiring today and during the process I noticed that the distortion which was coming from the right speaker (as mentioned above) actually originates in the amp!
I switched the outputs to test the theory - the distortion appeared on the left speaker.
So by the sound of it, the speakers are fine and dandy, which made me very happy! I will still check and replace the ferrofluid as you guys mentioned it to me.
Just wanted to give you a heads up, just in case you were interested how my journey turns out.

By the way, I managed to remove the dent for the tweeter aswell, they look great now :)

Cheers
 
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