After years of admirable service (manufactured early 90s, bought ~2010), the left tweeter did not produce sound anymore. Thankfully, the rest of the drivers were fine. Crossover seemed ok also - tested via swapping the tweeter with the right speaker.
These usually played audio from a Logitech Squeezebox (a surprisingly vibrant open-source community now) or Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi, both to a Sony STR-DA7100ES (i-link firewire with H.A.T.S, PQLS). No bi- or tri-amping.
Access to the tweeter is through the front, behind the dust screen. The rear does not seem user serviceable.
A multimeter test showed intermittent open circuit or ~ 100s of Ohms. Nominally 6 Ohms.
Original markings were: D26TG-56, 6 Ohms, 902 . Some digging revealed these as Vifa 1-inch silk dome tweeters.
I was going to call Paradigm. At this time, e-mail is the only option. Their response took about a week. They have these tweeters. They were $175 a piece, plus shipping; crossovers were $125 plus shipping.
I elected to use these: Peerless D27TG35-06 . Seemed to be a good fit visually. There were a few options for replacement silk/fabric dome diaphrams, but their value was not compelling.
In the pictures below, the left is the original; the right is the replacement. Though they looked very close, there was a slight out of round difference between the original and new frame. I swapped the frames, and installation went ok. Though the mounting screws had different heads, the length and the type of screws were compatible.
The height difference did not seem to make a difference in this application.
The innards look similar also.
People usually scoff at break-in for electronics. But in this case, it made a difference in my setup, to my ears. After installation, the new tweeter sounded like it had low gain, compared to the stock one. After a couple of days, it recovered gain and sounded much better - almost on par with the original. I still think the original sounds a tad better, but I am happy with the value proposition.
References:
- Stereophile review 1992. Lists a metal dome tweeter. My example had a silk dome tweeter.
- Not very helpful literature from Paradigm
