NHT C3 Speaker Review (Sample #2)

[BDE]

Yes same procedure with those potentiometers, here you see how they calibrate a speaker:

 

[infinitesymphony]

Yes same procedure with those potentiometers, here you see how they calibrate a speaker:

Wow. That's not cheap labor. Great to see.

 

[PuX]

the influence of tweeter dents on sound is a very interesting topic, hope there will be other comparative measurements like this. maybe if someone has 2 speakers, 1 damaged, 1 normal and sends both for review.

 

[amirm]

Most accurate test would be to measure a healthy speaker, then put a dent in the tweeter and without changing a thing, measuring again. I could do this on a cheap speaker I have. Question is whether the results can be generalized or will be blamed to be an outlier.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Most accurate test would be to measure a healthy speaker, then put a dent in the tweeter and without changing a thing, measuring again. I could do this on a cheap speaker I have. Question is whether the results can be generalized or will be blamed to be an outlier.

And it could depend on where the dent is located, size and quality of dent, the material of the tweeter, etc. If you put a bunch of dents in the tweeter, measuring after each dent, and it still measured more or less the same, that could be an interesting result.

 

[amirm]

I hear you. The problem is that time on Klippel NFS is not free. Every scan would replace testing a new speaker. Thinking out loud, a gated measurements should be enough for tweeter response. So I wonder if we can recruit someone else to do the testing.

 

[debunker]

So it looks like the damage to the tweeter did not change its frequency response and tonality. In the interest of time and resources, I did not run a distortion test so maybe there was some impact there.

Thanks for performing the do-over, it's reassuring that the dent has minimal effect on frequency response.

Is it possible to generate the distortion profile without doing further Klippel measurements? The poor performance of the original at 96dB is striking (and seemingly at odds with the NRC measurements) and it would be interesting to see whether an undamaged specimen has similar characteristics.

 

[Rick Sykora]

I hear you. The problem is that time on Klippel NFS is not free. Every scan would replace testing a new speaker. Thinking out loud, a gated measurements should be enough for tweeter response. So I wonder if we can recruit someone else to do the testing.

I could do this test, but would need a metal dome tweeter to trash. The only metal domes I own have protective screens. After denting a few early on, I only buy ones with screens anymore. Do you have something I might use?

 

[Xyrium]

It's reviews like this that give me solace in regards to all of the smashed tweeters on pro audio monitors (rarely have grilles) my kid has caused.

Thanks for giving this another opportunity Amir!

 

[sam_adams]

@amirm, do you have the spinorama data for this retest?

 

[YSC]

Yes same procedure with those potentiometers, here you see how they calibrate a speaker:

That looks impressive, can’t see clearly though, is there some tiny potentiometers inside the dip switch panel to manually adjust the FR?

 

[amirm]

Is it possible to generate the distortion profile without doing further Klippel measurements?

No, those are separate tests from normal Klippel measurements which I did not perform on this sample.

 

[amirm]

@amirm, do you have the spinorama data for this retest?

I have not exported them but could. Do we need it though? It is so close to the original.

 

[Rottmannash]

And it could depend on where the dent is located, size and quality of dent, the material of the tweeter, etc. If you put a bunch of dents in the tweeter, measuring after each dent, and it still measured more or less the same, that could be an interesting result.

I have a rather expensive (for Polk) older Polk center channel that had a small tear in the tweeter when I bought it as a store demo about 20 years ago. Last year found an undamaged tweeter on eBay to replace. Replaced it and couldn't tell a difference.

 

[YSC]

I have a rather expensive (for Polk) older Polk center channel that had a small tear in the tweeter when I bought it as a store demo about 20 years ago. Last year found an undamaged tweeter on eBay to replace. Replaced it and couldn't tell a difference.

I have a friend have a pair of Vivid G1 speakers with one of the mid dome having the lower right 1/4 area dented and the tape method can't save it. but then we perform some L/R channel careful listening with mono sources and at annoying level of sound pressure, nothing can be detected by any of the 4 ppl there, so conclusion was it doesn't matter that much and the owner don't bother send it back to USA to repair and wait for months before the beloved speaker comes back.

 

[thewas]

It's reviews like this that give me solace in regards to all of the smashed tweeters on pro audio monitors (rarely have grilles) my kid has caused.
Thanks for giving this another opportunity Amir!

Sorry to destroy your solace, but a tiny dent on mid dome cannot compared at all at a dented tweeter, all the ones I had measured in the past had a new break up frequency significantly before 20 kHz even if the dent was pulled out as the metal looses there its stiffness. Only silk domes don't seem to suffer when you don't see visible signs after pulling the dent out, even old 70s polyprop tweeters suffer.

 

[Thunder22]

I could do this test, but would need a metal dome tweeter to trash. The only metal domes I own have protective screens. After denting a few early on, I only buy ones with screens anymore. Do you have something I might use?

 

[Thunder22]

The picture doesn't do justice to the dents. Add a few more than what you see and you'll get the idea. Subjectively i have never heard a difference.

 

[MDINNO]

Ok, I'll play along. How does this speaker compare to the Ascend Sierra?