Piezo tweeter and Compression Driver Differences

[soundmusiclover]

thanks

[thejizzle21]

compression drivers are cleaner and more efficient...having to use a crossover is that much of an issue if you're looking for better sound quality.A compression driver with a good horn with decent dispersion and you're good to go.

[TimpBizkit]

compression drivers will need a crossover

[Gtrtech]

@TimpBizkit

Running them straight to an amp channel is kinda stupid.....

[TimpBizkit]

I don't know about differences in compression driver and piezo sensitivity. Probably the compression drivers are more voltage sensitive and higher max output. I don't know which is more power sensitive as piezo ~200 ohms instead of ~8 - 16 ohm. I ran my stereo at full volume and the piezos didn't run hot. I've tried it with the treble boost at +14dB and they were ear splitting but I didn't try it for very long, as I'm not sure what the limit to them is. (supposedly 35v rms so I should be ok)

[TimpBizkit]

I've heard some good piezo tweeters and some awful compression horns. The one gripe I have about the piezos I've owned is that the sound characteristics tend to differ from manufacturer. The Discontinued RS Components were brighter and more 'PA' sounding and okay for home stereo but not as good as the Maplins ones. The Amazon ones were under sensitive.

[gnativerson]

due to the piezo having a very high impedance (much like a 0.13uF capacitor in the case of a 1005 CTS), voltage sensitivity can be increased to over 100dB/@2.83v rms/1M by using a 25 volt ceiling speaker transformer "backwards" as a stepup transformer. An 8R and 100uH Zobel network is used at the primary and a 56ohm resistor off the 5 watt tap as a secondary. The 56R resistor is to keep Z from going to near a dead short at ultrasonic frequencies. Piezo once ~5K bump is removed sound great

[gnativerson]

and a network is used. If running with direct radiator, a piezo will usually keep up. A parallel resistor and coil can be used to tame that ~5K 6dB bump which imparts a "harsh" tone. One should use a speaker measurement program and adjust things until the desired result. I'm not sure if the Goldwood product is as good as the old CTS. Some knockoffs have measured horrible.

[bbbearing]

Nice demonstration. This shows lower sensitivity and low frequency rejection of the piezo, not power consumption. The piezo tweeter has such high impedance that it's not using much power at all even though you turned the volume way up. The compression driver is sucking more current and thus power from the amp - and making more sound as a result.

[wildnites558]

Excellent presentation. Thanks.

[stevo0625]

Good video. I repair PA speakers on a regular basis and this is a good generalized take on Piezo vs diaphram drivers. Peizos are cheap and viciously underpowered. The compression driver has alot more clarity where the peizos typically just sizzle and squeal and make noise lol. The compression driver faithfully recreates the hf sounds. You picked a good driver to demo too. That RX 22 is a sweet driver. Much better than its little brother the 14xt. That rx22 is loaded w/ ferrofluid to keep it cool

[TimpBizkit]

@stevo0625 it depends on the driver and horn shape. I use piezos on my home stereo and they have some of the most defined highs I've heard. My favourite are the ones with the six ridges in the horn and the pinocchio nose bit at the centre. Crap piezos will just sound undefined and lacking in highs.

Good compression horns will be like the good crisp piezos, but can go louder, making acoustic guitars sparkle. Again, crap compression horns will ring and honk like cheap piezos but at lower frequency

[isethaitchison]

There is a lot more to piezo tweeters, piezo tweeters are used in PA systems where they can handle a lot of power yet still sound efficient, being they have no voice coils, they can run on high power without producing any heat, where as compression drivers will. compression drivers sound a bit better than piezos but draw less power like you said. my point is if u wanna run ur speakers on high power for long periods of time, piezos are better to use.

[stevo0625]

@isethaitchison

well... Peizo drivers are only used on extremely cheap PA speakers. The peizo tweeter cannot take much power at all. In fact, I recently did repairs on a bottem line Behringer and even the cheapest of all PA speakers had to use two peizos together just to keep up. Even then it sounded like crap. minimal range and minimal clarity. That Peavey RX 22 will freakin rock the socks off any peizo! And the impedance of the compression driver is 8 ohms where the peizo is like 100 ohms.

[MightySaturn5]

@isethaitchison "a bit better"? -thats absurd, a high efficiency compression driver such as a Radian 850 PB sounds vastly better and is typically 13 to 18 db louder then any bi-morph piezo product made. If used with any modern active 24db/octave crossover and crossed over at a typical 2.5 khz the afore mentioned will be more then a match for ANY high efficiency 15" extended range speaker -1024 watts driving a 100 db 15"(1w/1m) is equal to 60 watts driving the afore mentioned compression driver

[BassPounderX]

LOL at 2:58 he said PEDO LOL but great info i want a compression driver but i dont know how they work or how to set up and u have to buy u diff things to use them n like normal speakers

[adidasgear]

I am well aware of this as I am a DJ as well as a live sound tech. this vid was to show the differences between Piezo and compression driver, and how one was more effiecient than one another. plus in this vid I made sure the bass on the Ipod was under the Bass reducer setting and the bass on the receiver was turned off.

[Gridrummer]

oh dont do this to long to the compression driver the basses can blown the diaphragm

[8320884]

@Gridrummer basses???