Taking This Tiny Dancer To The Top! Usher Be-718 Upgrade

[@sriramm.c7564]

I live in India, and I bought these beauties from Singapore back in 2009. They are my daily drivers, teamed up with a couple of REL subs, in my dedicated Audio only setup I use a Denafrips Pontus Dac, and Audio Research Valve amps to drive them Although i have a complete Perlisten audio home theater rig, with 4 Perlisten subs, in another room, when I want an intimate Hi Fi only audio listening session these little Ushers are IT They used to be called the Be 718 Tiny Dancers So happy to see Danny offering offering an upgrade kit for what is a relatively "ancient" speaker now in 2025! I want that kit and I'm going to order one right away Thanks Danny!!!

[@ClassifiedBrief]

Danny - please do a "Ted talk" like with you live shooting and adjusting a crossover for a speaker you have in as you describe you do. I, and many others, would love to see that!

[@lotus72e]

That will make Danny reveal his knowledge and knowhow from many years of designing crossovers. I have designed crossovers since the early nineties and I have learned a lot from my humble beginnings and by making about 13 different loudspeakers. Every speaker and design is different, making each a challenge of its own. But who am I to answer for Danny, he can surely answer for himself.

[@toddholen2762]

Guys check out Tech Talks, Myth Busting. Are all parts in the signal path. In his Tech Talks Playlist.

[@attilav.8749]

I have the Mini X Diamond version. After I saw this video will open up and check the parts. I am sure there a few could be changed for a better one. The only downside these speakers are the low sensitivity. It requires powerful amplification. Soundwise even a factory stock pair sound magical. It can smoothen a harsh sounded amp and can sound lively with laid back sounded amps too. The diamond tweeter is so sophisticated, will never ever will cause fatigue. Enjoyable with every kind of amps and any level of volume.

[@sean_heisler]

I’ve got a pair as well! Fantastic speakers. I’ve rebuilt the crossovers in mine with high quality parts (vcap ODAM and Miflex, mills resistors, GR research wiring, copper rhodium binding posts). Let me know if you have any questions!

[@teknolojigundemi]

Nice hope someone send more Usher models to you. Great looking speakers.

[@1mctous]

Getting 2 dB more efficiency with a HF roll-off above 10 kHz is a fair trade. Snare drums and cymbals have substantial energy in the highest octave but few other instruments do.

[@maniacaudiophile]

A long long time ago, when i was in Taiwan and had an argument with a local hi-fi magazine editor. Where they praise and bullshited a "good value for money" integrated amplifier as the literal best amp ever, and attempted to manufacture FOMO to push it. Saying that their colleagues in office are all buying more when one, and had a huge pile delivered to their office, etc, etc... (remember the Stanley tumbler cup craze?) I called them out publicly on a few forums, saying it is a good amp, but it is not the end all and be all they mentioned. As the amp is a bit thin sounding, it needs careful pairing to sound great. They were pissed at me to say the least, and in the HiFi show that year, they got a room at a hotel(yeah, we hold hi-fi shows in Hotels in Taiwan) and they want to debunk my "bullshit" with a demonstration. Guess what they choose to demonstrate an think sounding amp with? Yup, Usher's beryllium tweeter bookshelf speaker, I think it is this model or a very similar one. It sounded so sharp and shrill, the highschool/college freshman looking kid next to me visibly jolted when he heard the almost visible daggers and arrows flying from the tweeters to assault his eardrums. The magazine is called 高傳真 in Chinese, or "High Fidelity", we started calling them 高失真 or "High Distortion" over the absurd push of a product. (I'll not name the name of the amp, since it is a good amp for its price, just not as insane as the magazine claimed) Usher products seems to be well liked in the Western countries, but in Taiwan, it is a mixed bag. Some model and some variation of it sometimes it's well liked, like some variation of S520 speakers. Their DAC and amps are pretty good, but their speakers... Are complicated, and i guess Danny showed us why today.

[@clickbeetle2720]

🖤beneficial talk.. makes it easier to see why some speaker models can't be produced on the cheap.. 🌏✌& ♥

[@fredrickanderson17]

These speakers have serious chops playing at realistic volumes in a big room. I have these driven by 7BST mono's and they rival my current rigs Revel Performa F30's. Get them.

[@sveneisenhauer1]

I have yet to take mine out of the box (after a move) to see if they have your x/overs or not, Danny. All I know is they became much more alive after I swapped my old 16AWG speaker cables for 12AWG ones. Nothing fancy, but made a very noticeable difference. They do need quite a bit of power, though.

[@dannyrichie9743]

Pull a woofer and see what you have. If you have my network and want to take them up another level, I can help you do that too.

[@johankamarudin5155]

I owned this before. But the tweeter is supposed to be Berillium not DMD.

[@bryede]

This makes me wonder if the woofer change might have affected some of the North American units, leaving them unbalanced. Is there any sort of a date code on that one?

[@dannyrichie9743]

I don't know.

[@SteveMowry-g2u]

The tweeter is Titanium foil painted to look like Beryllium!

[@schlomos_lemegeton]

Since someone brought up full range drivers in the comments, has there been a take on transmission line speakers, or to be more precise about it ¼-wave designs, any of them, whatever the taper or terminus might be?

[@dannyrichie9743]

A transmission line can be used to push the -3db to a lower point than is possible with a ported design. The problem that is common with doing that with wide band drivers is the use of large unbraced panels that bring a lot of resonance issues along with it. A better solution is to keep the wide band driver in a sealed box and use larger woofers to handle the lower end.

[@schlomos_lemegeton]

@@dannyrichie9743 Not only that but the output of a TL is in phase with the driver, or at least supposed to be, no? Also, if you restrict the dimensions of the box by folding the line, doesn't that contribute to bracing? What about the backwave of the driver, its pressurisation of the air inside a sealed box etc. and how all of that affects the driver performance if not otherwise utilised? Sorry for being off-topic to the video, just concerns I've had on what design to settle on for a relative cost-efficient diy project, assuming I could even simulate a TL.

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@schlomos_lemegeton I have designed several transmission line models throughout the years. Our A/V-3 and N-3 models were based on a transmission line design. We used the same box design for the Carnegie Acoustics T1's as well. We are finally bringing it back again in the NX Series line. We just completed the center channel version and the floor standing model using a transmission line is next.

[@chelillingworth9466]

Can you ever change the output of one speaker or like a tweeter just using a fixed l pad after the crossover

[@dannyrichie9743]

You can in some cases.

[@johnstuchlik5828]

Another way of reducing the sensitivity of a woofer or full range without using a pad that attenuate all freq.is if the speaker is to be used away from the wall is to compensate for diffraction loss . for a woofer the value of the inductor in series is increased so that response depending on front baffle width is decreased from say 800 hz to say a 2500 hz crossover.on full range a inductor of say 1mh placed in series with driver and say a 8ohm resistor across the inductor.the values will vary and as Danny brought out test change and remeasure changes .a 3to6 db loss in these circuits is common.this explanation is a oversimplified explanation but I hope it points you in direction of another option to consider when working with speaker sensitivity.interesting that Danny was involved with this speaker.i remember the ads and Joe's picture.

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@johnstuchlik5828 Joe D was a paid consultant for the company and they stuffed his name on everything.

[@johnstuchlik5828]

You could write a book like joe and Vance.i would buy a copy.and then hey you never know where your picture may appear 😊

[@southernfriedawesomeness9464]

Danny, full range drivers. Do they have internal crossovers ? Does that mean you can hook the speaker cable right up to the speaker and through the cabinet?

[@dannyrichie9743]

I have yet to find a full range driver that can be used without a corrective filter.

[@nathanevans6277]

I use full-range drivers. The only filter I use is a single capacitor to roll off the bottom end. This is placed on the input to the power amplifier. The amplifier is connected directly to the drive unit. As I use a subwoofer the rolled off bottom end of my main speakers is not an issue. The human ear is more sensitive in the time domain than the amplitude domain. It is true that full range drivers tend to have a less accurate frequency response. Multiway speakers rotate the phase at the crossover frequency and are therefore worse in the time domain. I find the poorer phase coherence of a multi driver speaker more objectionable than the more bumpy frequency response of a single driver speaker. Your milage, and personal taste, may differ.

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@nathanevans6277 I agree, but it is still pretty easy to notch out ringing or peaked areas or even compensate for baffle step loss and not give up any of that you are liking from a wide band driver. Just have a look at what I did with our LGK series models.

[@nathanevans6277]

@@dannyrichie9743 I am tempted to dig further into a filter for my speakers but would like to keep it active. Making changes with active is much cheaper than passive but the supporting circuitry and power supplies pushes the price right up again if done to a standard where the negatives don't outweigh the positives. Component quality is just as important as with passive. My original budget was best spent on the best drivers and cabinets. Fine tuning can come later. I do have access to a Clio which will be indispensable. Have you much experience with active crossovers? I have recently built an active crossover for my friends Pure Audio Project Trio 15s and this is WAY better than the stock crossover. Thanks for teaching us so much.

[@veroman007]

@@nathanevans6277 man i am telling you unless you own a unicorn baffle step loss filtering is needed. i like a transmission line design with a 4 inch driver crossed over to a horn, seen a lot of those lately and they seem like a smart way to go. roll of the full range w a first order and hand offf to the horn. cheers.

[@matthiasmartin1975]

These look so pretty because they copied the styling of the Electa Amator II from Sonus Faber so faithfully (except for the black goat skin, that must have been too expensive). Thanks Danny for another entertaining video.

[@biglegokidreviews9170]

What are your thoughts on ribbon tweeters?

[@dannyrichie9743]

They have some good qualities and limitations. I have done design work with some of the best of them and produced some models that used some Aurum Cantus ribbons. What I don't like about them is the limited lower range, how fragile they are, and a more limited vertical dispersion compared to the horizontal dispersion.

[@phetmoz]

@@dannyrichie9743 Would you say you prefer planar tweeters overall? How do they compare?

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@phetmoz Oh yeah, I like our planer magnetics much more. They have better attack and dynamics while still being super smooth. They also play down MUCH lower, and are not fragile at all.

[@johnstuchlik5828]

Danny how does the thd of the planer compare to domes you use? I ask because some of the ribbon ( don't remember what brand) someone reported measuring higher thd than a good dome tweet.

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@johnstuchlik5828 I'll just say, that I currently do not use any ribbons for good reasons.

[@tlpplacement9355]

This is the equivalent of Ferdinand Porsche coming back from the grave and modifies a current 911 model to his satisfaction. Can't imagine Danny spending all this time on any other speakers unless he designs it in the first place. US$2,700 in 2007 is equivalent to about US$3,900 in 2024, and the only way you can get an equivalent or better speaker for less than US$4k is to get a NX-Studio from Danny. Can't find an Usher Be-718 any more? Get a NX-Studio for about US$3k! ' Classic' hi-fi gear is often a let down, because electronics have generally improved over the years. But speakers seem to be an exception, provided they were done right in the first place.

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

Thats a bit messed up, using a inferior crossover in different markets, wtf...

[@fredfungalspore]

All this frequency tailoring tinkering with crossovers is all well and good.But every person living has different levels of hearing and the environment in which you hear sound differs depending on surroundings....So I fail to see what Danny you are trying to achieve

[@jasontimothywells9895]

Watch the video again .

[@BullWinkle-x5y]

What he's trying to achieve is to make the speaker more accurate as in high fidelity as in true to the original sound instead of letting the speaker remain nothing more than a poorly executed frequency equalizing tone & detail & amplitude modifier. The goal is to make the content played through it sound more like what it did when the artist(s) performed it to begin with. Why is that so hard for some people to grasp as being beneficial for everyone no matter what their own hearing curve might be? After that there remains the FACT that this speaker, just like every single one he's done an upgrade video for was sent to him by a person who bought it & wanted him to attempt to make it more accurate. WHAT I fail to see over & over & over again is WHY do so many others merely watching these videos generated by this process feel the need to challenge or critisize Danny's work when it's neither their property nor their hard earned money that is on the line. Could it be a simple matter of perceptual schizm in which everything they see on their phone or tablet or pc is believed to be subject to their purview? I believe everyone would be better off being a control freak with their own stuff, not someone elses.

[@user-ys4og2vv8k]

Are you even LISTENING to all these speakers? I highly doubt it...

[@jasontimothywells9895]

Are you happy now , that you got to rant?😭 🤪

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

😂

[@dannyrichie9743]

I'd be willing to bet that I do just as much or more comparative listening than you'll find at any other company in the industry.