Dr 280

[Brian Steele]

Re: Dr 280

Well FWIW - You are not alone; I know numerous in professional sound who have tried modern configurations and weren't satisfied.

I've tried them out in one of my builds. Among other things, the problems with piezos you can get now is that they have a non-flat response (decidedly so in some cases), may not extend low enough (see the measured response of the GW 2"x5" for example), can suffer from distortion at frequencies where the ear is most sensitive, and they are not sensitive enough for pro audio use, requiring the use of multiples of them, which can then lead to lobbing problems.

[Sydney]

Re: Dr 280

...Among other things, the problems with piezos you can get now is that they have a non-flat response (decidedly so in some cases), ...

There was a fairly recent article in AudioXpress about piezo tweeters in which was stated:
"Motorola was granted several patents in the early 70's, but they began to expire in the 1990's. Endless counterfeit products from China, began flooding the market. Anyone who actually tested those counterfeit products found the sensitivity, response range, and power handling were dismal, but the price was right and they looked like the real thing - sometimes the products were marked with a counterfeit Motorola insignia!"
I believe this explains why there is a high rejection rate - and users have to test each one, with noted variation in performance and toss out up to 10% in a batch

[billfitzmaurice]

Re: Dr 280

I've tried them out in one of my builds. Among other things, the problems with piezos you can get now is that they have a non-flat response (decidedly so in some cases), may not extend low enough (see the measured response of the GW 2"x5" for example), can suffer from distortion at frequencies where the ear is most sensitive, and they are not sensitive enough for pro audio use, requiring the use of multiples of them, which can then lead to lobbing problems.

None of those issues are insurmountable, or for that matter even difficult to fix. But commercial products where they are used tend to be at the very low end of the price range, where the likelihood that the product is well engineered, if even engineered at all, is slim. The system used here has DR280s loaded with piezos, and it's gained a reputation among top flight national and international DJs as one of the best systems anywhere:

http://www.clubtherapyri.com/