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Thread: Smith Selsted Tweeters

  1. #16
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    Steve , Wow! What a great posting ! Thank-you so very much for this !

    - The insights into the actual construction of the driver ( and diaphragm ) are just priceless & of course the pics .

    - I do hope you get your tweeters going sometime / though I understand given these units rarity, if it's a one time happening .

    - Don't field coils benefit from smoother DC than what can be provided by 1/2 wave rectification ( or have I missed mention of other smoothing components ? )

    Cheers ( I love the formulas for the derived mechanical constants )

    ps : I wonder if Tool & Die workers these days still offer the better "one-off" approach by being able to use "spun" product soft-pressed into a die / as compared to hydro-forming or heat-pressing . Of course , I would have liked to know the gauge of the wire used for the voice coils and the total length of the windings as well as the gap width ( but I'm just a junky for that sort of info ).

  2. #17
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    I'm confused...

    How did they end up at your house? I've been looking everywhere for my lil' smith tweets. "Here smithy smithy"
    ...not in the basement...or the garage...and wouldn't you know it: Right here on the forum! Ok, Steve- can I have 'em back now.....Steve..(?)....(crickets chirping)....

    Seriously- those are insanely cool. I can't wait for more updates! Thanks so much for sharing!

  3. #18
    Senior Member Steve Schell's Avatar
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    Earl, in theory the DC fed to a field coil should be as smooth as possible, as any AC components can modulate the audio signal as the field strength varies. In practical terms, I have found that it takes very gnarly DC to make an audible difference. Perhaps this is because the field coil itself is a large inductor and accomplishes much smoothing on its own. Most field supplies from the old days were simple affairs with power transformer, rectifier, choke and a couple of filter cap sections.

    I used to run the field coils in my system from marine batteries, with much hassle involved in hooking the batteries up and keeping them recharged. I switched to a Radio Shack 13.8VDC, 15A switching power supply about a year ago, and noticed no change in sound quality. The supply is small, runs cool and quiet, and energizes the coils with the flip of a switch.

    Hapy, I bought the Smith Selsted tweeters on ebay. I was amazed to see them show up there, and they were won for about $800.

  4. #19
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    Hi Steve Thanks I Really enjoyed the article. As well I am glad you found them and they did not end up taking a flight to Japan.

    We need to preserve some of this stuff in the U.S.A. where it was designed.

    And where one day I might see and hear them.

  5. #20
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    Wonderful find! Could those be redesigned to go on 2405's ???

  6. #21
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Thank you for sharing the article and the speaker images, Steve!
    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  7. #22
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hjames View Post
    Thank you for sharing the article and the speaker images, Steve!
    And thank you, Heather, for reviving this interesting thread. I'd not seen it before. Very cool.

    Interesting cast of participants in the thread as well!

    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  8. #23
    Senior Member Steve Schell's Avatar
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    Yes, thank you Heather for reviving this oldie but goodie thread. I did a quick search and was sad to find that Walter Selsted died in 2011. He was so nice to me on the phone years ago, explaining the history of these tweeters and expressing surprise that any were still any around. I never did get those tweeters going, but sold them to my speaker guru friend Robert. Not sure if he has yet fixed them up. Robert knew Harold Lindsay (another Ampex alum and the "L" in Emilar) in the 1980s at Emilar in Anaheim, CA. Lindsay had a permanent magnet example of the Smith Selsted tweeter which lived on the shelf at Emilar for a while. Thanks to this thread and this site, a bit of this strange history is preserved.

  9. #24
    Senior Member 1audiohack's Avatar
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    Hi Steve;

    Funny that we were talking about these just the other week!

    Off subject, I have on my desk something long overdue to send you. I blame a terrible memory!

    Call you tomorrow.

    All thr best,
    Barry.
    If we knew what the hell we were doing, we wouldn't call it research would we.

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