There has been a lot of interest in the $1,000 Speaker Evaluation follow-up review of the HTD Level THREE Towers (LTTs). We would not normally do this for speakers we are reviewing, but there is enough interest with the LTTs that I am starting this "leak" thread to update readers on the progress and perhaps flash some key findings along the way. Of course we want the final review to be an interesting read, so I will be holding a lot back for its publication.
The first bit of news: THEY HAVE ARRIVED. They were dropped off here just a few minutes ago.
Next step: The weather is going to be pretty nice here tomorrow, so I am hoping to pull them outside for a few minutes to get some clean, relatively-early-reflection-free frequency response plots. Of course all eyes are on the tweeters. I will let you know their status ASAP.
Nice that your going to the trouble to get "out of room" frequency responces. That's the only way I know to get the true measurements. I was amazed at how good my Klipsch KSF 8.5's sounded the first time I took them outside. It's not "real world," but it will let you know how much your room is interacting with the sound.
Mom Nature gave eastern Nebraska some much-needed rain today - well, yesterday now - so some preliminary in-room measurements got done. The outside measurements will come in the next few days, Friday and Saturday are supposed to be sunny and 70s, probably then.
Got on- and off-axis response done for both speakers. All drivers are behaving nicely. The fun surprise is the off-axis response curves for the soft-dome mid-range drivers. Impressive.
Running music through them right now, wishing it was later in the day so they could be cranked up. Will do some burn-in and listening until the weekend, then get them outside for detailed measurements.
The tweeters and mids are wonderful and really need some time to loosen up. Glad to read that you are having fun with them. The Motion 12's for 2 channel and HTD Level Three's for Home Theater are on my list of must haves. I just have to convince the wife that she wants them as well. LOL.
My progress is temporarily on hold, had to divert to some other priorities. Got the Towers burning in for a few days. Will try to get some decent lighting and upload a couple of pictures of the finish.
Noticed the HTD website is putting a hold on selling the Level 3 due to issues with the tweeters. I wonder if this is a response to the shootout or if they've found a problem with the recent batch. Time will tell.
The Level THREE Towers finally got a trip outside for measurements and photos. The broad areas of bright mottled effect are from the sun through leaves, the finish itself is very consistent with some subtle natural variation along the grain in the veneer. The photos were left full resolution so you can see all the detail. The upper part of the side of the cabinet in the first pictures is the best representation of the color under natural lighting.
Without giving away ALL the review goodies, here is a view of the tweeter matching we are working with now. For each plot, six measurements were taken at 1 m:
on-axis
1" left
2" left
1" right
2" right
on axis again
These were averaged together with no previous smoothing, then 1/12th octave smoothing was applied.
We have been working closely with Home Theater Direct since the $1K event in August where there was a tweeter issue. As you can see, they made the choice to stop sales of the Level THREE products that use those tweeters, and to be forthright with customers about what is going on. We think that is a responsible move and one that shows they have customer trust and satisfaction as their top priority.
We received a nicely-matched pair of tweeters from HTD recently for our Level THREE Tower review, and that review is progressing. Be assured that our approach to this and subsequent HTD product reviews will be such that we can ensure readers that those reviews reflect day-to-day product quality. We will discuss this in more detail when the Level THREE Tower review is published.
hello all, this is my first post here and wanted to comment on the HTD L3's.
I bought 4 bookshelves and center in January of this year. 1 of the speakers in the first set had an extremely "hot" tweeter. I contacted them and was sent another set..... of course when i got them i tested them with a RS spl meter and the results were that the tweeters were 6db different from the highest to lowest output. I contacted them again several times back and forth and was told that he (dont remember name) would personally look into it, I never received a follow up. I know I should have followed up myself but was really busy at the time and i just kinda let it go. over time tho i noticed shifting imaging and dont listen to music with them anymore, just movies.
Let me say that out of boredom i went to the HTD site tonight and saw the that the L3's are not shipping, so i did a search and found this thread.
I am not here to bash HTD and their customer service is top notch and i should have followed up on the issue. however it seems that this tweeter issue has been ongoing for some time as i bought mine in January and this article was written in September.
I have emailed them tonight and will see what their response is of maybe fixing my speakers as i now know that this is has been documented.
just an update, HTD has offered me a full refund and to pay shipping back or to send me new tweeters when they arrive, he said the tweeters would likely be in within a week.
I want to say that Chris Ashmore and the rest of HTD are top notch and have always provided me with great service thru all this.
I am pretty sure they will replace them with two new ones that match. The ones that Wayne has now look good. Our best guess is that they got a bad batch in and just failed to test them sufficiently. It has certainly caught their attention.
Off topic: With the frequency response issues that we have experienced between more than one set of speakers, it begs me to wonder if some owners may not realize just what they are listening to. I never response matched my speakers until we started the evaluation events. We need to start a thread with members showing us their Left vs Right speaker plots. It might surprise some.
I am pretty sure they will replace them with two new ones that match. The ones that Wayne has now look good. Our best guess is that they got a bad batch in and just failed to test them sufficiently. It has certainly caught their attention.
Off topic: With the frequency response issues that we have experienced between more than one set of speakers, it begs me to wonder if some owners may not realize just what they are listening to. I never response matched my speakers until we started the evaluation events. We need to start a thread with members showing us their Left vs Right speaker plots. It might surprise some.
Interesting point Sonnie. It's always nice to have measurements to support subjective impressions. I'd be curious to see how well my 10+ year old speakers match now.
I think I will just get the new tweeters... hopefully they will be fixed tho... on 2nd thought the ARX look great, but i have no complaints with the L3's except for the tweeter and even then they are not horrible.
they do seem to have a upper midrange bump making some music sound a little thin.
edit-- well the tweeters are soldered to the connections and i am not good at soldering so they are going to pick up the speakers free of charge to and from them..... and replace the tweeters....
I just received an email from Brian Wines of HTD in an airport in China and it sounds like they are leaving no stone unturned in getting their tweeter issues resolved.
The HTD Level Three Tower review will be back on the front burner in a few days. I can say this much, it has been fun spending time with them.
The L3's are now back in stock and available for order on the HTD site....
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