The Dayton Reference Vs. The Dayton Silk Dome Tweeter: Which Sounds Better?

Dayton Audio RST28F-4 1-1/8" Reference Series Fabric Dome Tweeter 4 Ohm Part #275-141 Vs Dayton Audio DC28F-8 1-1/8" Silk Dome Tweeter
Part #275-070
Frequency Sweeps and listening to the Dayton Classic and the Dayton Reference in my RCA STS-1230 DIY vintage speaker Resto-Mod speaker project.
Modifying the cutout in the speaker cabinet to fit the Dayton Reference Tweeter where the Classic Tweeter was mounted. Installing a 4 ohm 20 watt Dayton Audio 1% resistor in series with the 4 ohm tweeter, to try and make it work in my 8 ohm nominal Loudspeakers.
Thanks for watching... Enjoy
00:00 Frequency Testing Dayton Reference Tweeter
01:18 Dayton Reference Tweeter Sweep w/out Bass Frequency Test
01:41 Dayton Reference Tweeter Full Sweep Frequency Test
01:58 Frequency Testing Dayton Classic Tweeter
02:32 Dayton Classic Tweeter Sweep w/out Bass Frequency Test
02:54 Dayton Classic Tweeter Full Sweep Frequency Test
03:28 Clean-up, Clean-up
03:41 Replacing Dayton Classic with Dayton Reference Tweeter
05:17 Listening Test of Dayton Reference Tweeters
08:07 Dayton Reference Vs Dayton Classic Frequency Results
08:25 Wrap-up

[@jonfoss3437]

I like the classic silk domes

[@wattspeakers]

Thanks for watching/listening and commenting Jon. The dome tweeter does sound a bit brighter at moderate volumes than the cone tweeter did, however it doesn't handle higher volumes as well and gets funky at some frequencies, (in this application). Currently the Dayton Classic Dome Tweeters are installed on a pair of Nikko LS-100's that I did a RestoMod on with spare parts and they seem to behave better in that application.

[@bigd835]

I just bought a DC28FT-8 to replace a dead tweeter in B&W DM10 speakers. its a terrific replacement. sounds good and very equivilant to the original. I have a question for you, i bought 2 of the dayton tweeters, neither is marked in any way to tell you the polarity of the terminals. no dots, no plus or minus, no anything. how did you determine the positive and negative sides ? I wrote to Dayton Tech assistance via email, but got no reply. thanks.

[@tanyadonald149]

Cool stuff Unc! I love the vibe of the song you had playing while you were working 😎🤘💜

[@wattspeakers]

Thank you Tanya!

[@davidlindholm8034]

How do you like the midrange domes? I have the fabric and looking to build a similar speaker.

[@wattspeakers]

Thanks for watching and the question David! In the latest, final version of the RestoMod RCA STS-1230, they sound wonderful when coupled with the Dayton Reference Tweeter, but it took adding Zobel circuits to all the drivers to achieve that.
Midranges in general can be a challenge in a 3 way system. They often sound a bit hot, or more noticeable than the woofer and tweeter. This phenomenon is especially true and more of a problem with the dome mid-range. I also have the fabric version of the Dayton Reference Midrange.
Without the Zobel networks, the Reference Dome Midranges were very bright and at times harsh in certain regions. With the Dayton Classic Midrange, that was even more of an issue, because they exhibit the same sort of harshness at certain times.
So, combined the Reference Midrange and Classic Tweeter were pretty terrible sounding. Swapping the Classic Tweeter with the Reference Tweeter helped a lot, but as I mentioned the midrange still had some intolerable harshness and a sort of transistor radio effect. Not constantly, only when listening to certain songs or music that triggered whatever it is that caused the behavior.
Finally, I employed a tactic I've tried twice with success, which was to add a Zobel impedance equalization circuit on the tweeter, midrange and woofer. With those in place, all the problems are gone. The sound is silky smooth without being dull, they've got razor sharp imaging which isn't affected by placement, (I can position or place the speakers almost anywhere). I've not had any playback problems with any music, so now they're immune to exhibiting that really irritating harshness or raspiness.
All of that to say, it's possible to make the dome midranges sound good, but it's a challenge and they are not as forgiving as a regular cone style midrange.
The 3 videos I did featuring the Reference Midrange tuning are directly after the video you commented on. Until I finally struck gold with the Zobels, I was really disappointed and thinking I might need to install a full range cone for the Mid-Range and a different tweeter, or scrap the project and chalk it up as an epic fail.
Now however, I'm quite pleased with the results and while I don't like them overall quite as much as the Jensen RestoMod 3 ways I did, there are certain things about them that are better. In particular the imaging, stereo separation and details are better. They are extremely revealing, so poorly recorded music becomes immediately apparent, as does well recorded music. The end result with the RCA STS-1230 is a great speaker system for those who like a clear well defined and revealing sound, with imaging and stereo separation that quite honestly I've not experienced before. I'll go out on a limb here and say they'd be best categorized as an audiophile grade speaker system.
Thanks again for watching and commenting! Let me know how your project turns out and feel free to drop links to photos or videos you may have of them.

[@davidlindholm8034]

Awesome thank you! I will probably go with the reference tweeter as well. Still figuring out what woofer to use. Thanks for all of the information!

[@analogkid4557]

Now it's time to upgrade the woofer to an RSS.

[@wattspeakers]

Interesting... Thanks for watching and the suggestion. I wonder if they sound good and whether the volume of the box is suitable (2 cu ft roughly).
The Dayton Designer is sounding really good though... I can't imagine it better. Just yesterday I hooked up those RCA RestoMod Speakers and have been listening while working. Wow oh wow they sound sweet.

[@SonyFoLife]

Why not use room EQ wizard instead of spectroid

[@wattspeakers]

Thank you for watching and the excellent question! Truth be told, I was too lazy or too busy or both to figure out how to use it, and it only works on PC if I recall. I found Spectroid in the Google play store and it seemed to do exactly what I needed. It probably does more too, but all I really needed was a way to measure SPL across 20-20k for the purpose of tuning.

[@SonyFoLife]

@@wattspeakers is this not a PC computer?

[@jonfoss3437]

I like silk domes the best and my 56year old ears tolerate them better

[@wattspeakers]

I'm really liking the GRS Phenolic Ring Cone Tweeters that I used in my big 15" 3 way project. That's what I've been listening to for the past few days... So smooth and clear. At least they sound like that to me. Or maybe it's the combo I used with that cone tweeter and a Dayton pro full range for the midrange.

[@jonfoss3437]

It depends on what the crossovers are designed for

[@wattspeakers]

Thanks for watching and the comments Jon! I've been utilizing the off the shelf 8 ohm crossovers because the components to build them are stupid expensive nowadays. It's bassackwards, but they work fine when the drivers are matched up zobeled.

[@BostonMike68]

so what do you like

[@wattspeakers]

Thanks for watching and the question! Both tweeters have their pros and cons, and were a challenge to make sound decent. Now that both have found homes in two projects, I would have to say that I think the Reference Tweeter worked better in my RCA STS-1230 project, and the Dayton Classic made it's way into a spare parts project and seems to sound better than ever... Not a clear answer I know. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the Dayton Tweeters after trying them. If I had to choose between the two however, I would say the advantage goes to the Dayton Reference Fabric Tweeter.

[@BostonMike68]

@@wattspeakers I have used the reference tweeter twice and I really like it but I have to use a third order crossover it works really well for me with step roll off I think it's a really good tweeter for the money it's really nice and heavy but I never used the other one but I heard good things about it and enjoy your projects I been building a lot of custom speakers myself and it's a lot of fun. Thanks