Ear pain - is this related to the tweeter?

Hello. I have 2 systems at home. One is a home theatre, with Monitor Audio GS20s and then I also have a 2 channel set-up which has GoldenEar Triton 2s. The speakers are quite different (not sure I would call one "better" than the other and I won't go into all of that now), but in short, I am looking to replace the Triton 2s with something more exiting, dynamic and detailed.

In doing this, I would like to avoid an issue I have with the GS20s. In listening to them at high volumes for say a half hour or more (which I no longer do), I frequently would get ear pain that would last for a day or two. I have never experienced this with the GoldenEars which I listen to at high volumes on a regular basis. I have switched out the speakers between the 2 systems previously and had the same results which seems to indicate that the Monitors hurt my ears at high volume levels.

Is this type of thing typically attributed to the tweeter? Monitor describes the GS20 tweeter as "ceramic-coated aluminum/magnesium alloy, gold anodized" dome tweeter. If it is the tweeter, are there types of dome tweeters that might be gentler on the ears and still get me what I am after?

I haven't listed to anything yet but was contemplating the Dynaudio Cotour 30 and Spendor D7 which are both soft dome tweeters.

 

First off, what do you call ¨high volumes¨ ? Some people can enjoy/tolerate way higher volumes than others. Loud listening volumes with home stereo equipment can't cause earaches unless you have an ear condition, regardless of the tweeter you use. OR, you're really pushing it.

 

Stay away from metal tweeters, they tend to be harsh. I find MA speakers in general to be harsh.

Find something with a soft dome or ring tweeter design.

I have a pair of Polk Audio LSiM707's with ring radiator's and they are detailed, with out being harsh.

I even have a pair of vintage Altec A7's, with added JBL super tweeter's and even they are not harsh.

 

Al compression tweeters in my horns and they don't sound harsh. No experience with other (good) metal tweeters.

Discomfort from harsh sound ? Sure. Earaches ? Not unless the OP is into 130 dbs.

 

I associate the sort of ear-pain that you are taking about with listening to either older digital sources, or a 100% Solid State signal path.

 

Every body's ears are different. I've personally found the MA speakers to be bright, but that's just me.

The Altec's have metal HF horns, but the driver diaphragm's are not metal.

Most ear fatigue will come from the 1kHz. to 5kHz. frequency range.

 

I just checked my sound meter playing something loud (to me anyway). It was ranging between 85 & 95 db. The source is usually an Oppo BDP95 with those speakers but when I hooked them up with the other system, I was getting the same pain from analog playback. I am hoping I just need to steer clear of metal tweeters.

 

My Paradigm Studio 10 can make me wince when playing loud. When I say loud, it means average ~85db, excluding bass kicks from sub, which can add another 10db of peak volume.

My Paradigm Signature S2 on the other hand is fine when played loud.

Both are metal tweeter, but with different materials. So, either beryllium is a better material or the difference is due to tweeter design....

 

If it's A-weighted it's really loud. C-weighted it's not loud at all. I average at 80 dbs and peak at 83 dbs, A-weighted. But it shouldn't give you earaches anyway. See a doctor; it's prolly unrelated.

A-weighted leaves the sounds coming from a sub out of the equation and concentrate on the frequencies that are more likely to damage your hearing, mids, lower and upper treble.

 

I am hoping I just need to steer clear of metal tweeters.

I do.

Don't care for accelerated hearing fatigue.

 

Yeah that's what bad metal tweeters cause.

 

I am very familiar with ear pain associated with harsh treble, and if I turned the bass ( on the amp ) up using my old speakers and their deep boomy bass/low mids, I would get ear pain.

 

A-weighting is the scale that you want to pay attention to. No more than 8-hours each day at 85 dB. Note that this includes other environmental noise that you encounter in a day's time.

When you get to the 75-79 dB range, you can listen all day.

As Pinhead said, the C-scale, just adds in the bass, but bass is almost never a factor, unless it is really off the chain.

When you see the difference between the two, you can gauge how much bass in in the overall mix.

 

I might venture a guess that you have listened to loud music earlier in your life or worked in a noisy environment and now your ears are more sensitive.

Over bassing it will bother my ears also, so I try to get a balanced sound.

 

Yes to both. Now my normal listening level is well below 80dB and I wear ear plugs all day at work and at home while mowing, snow blowing, vacuuming, cleaning records. I just plug my ears with my fingers when the grandkids get wild.

 

Gee; that's the worst. I can hear my neighbor's kids yelling from across the street, LOUDLY !! Their parents just yell back; it's as if they were the Tarzan family.

 

The meter is A weighted. Sounds like I need to get used to a lower listening level. I probably only average about 3 hours a week listening to music loud like that I'm sure it's still not good.

 

I have the Triton Two's thib, and before them it was Paradigm Studio 80 v2's with metal tweeters. I found that the metal tweeters to be quite excessive compared to the
High-Velocity Folded Ribbon in the Golden Ear Triton Two's. The best I can do is 85db , and when I get excited about a tune, maybe the most-95 db's. So, I can push the Two's and get no ear pain/fatigue, whatsoever.
Cheers, Doug

 

It's not necessarily the metal tweeter but a poor application of the metal tweeter and also likely to be harmonic distortion from your speakers in general. monitor audio speakers have a very high level of harmonic distortion compared to other speakers- and it isn't related to volume level. it's distortion in the midrange and treble frequencies that may seem subtle but eventually fatigues over time. it's caused by the crossover network in the speaker not properly filtering out the frequencies where the woofer and tweeter break up.
below is the frequency response plot of a very high quality woofer for example.
the left side of the curve is relatively smooth but the right side has extremely high peaks and a very jagged, ragged response pattern. if all that ragged stuff isn't filtered out by the crossover you are going to hear it and it will cause fatigue. crossover design can make or break the sound of a speaker regardless of the material of the cones or domes.

Scanspeak Illuminator 18WU/4747T-00, 7" Aluminum Cone Woofer 4 ohm

 

Ear pain lasting two days? Don't ask us, ask a doctor.

 

'Danger Will Robinson'. I would get medical advice.

 

I'll add that metal tweeters can get to you pretty easily. I installed a setup in my truck with mid grade Memphis Audio components and find the metal tweeters aimed fruition the pillars to be pretty 'hot'. I've been tweaking settings since the installation and just now have it tamed a bit.

 

Maybe you are listening to too many modern day "ear bleeders"?

 

I appreciate the advice to see the Doc. I probably should. Thing is, until I swapped the speakers between the two systems a few months ago, this was something I hadn't experienced in a couple of years. I don't play the home theater (where the Monitors reside ) loudly anymore. It's just for watching TV these days.

I do play the 2 channel music set-up loud, but the GoldenEars don't give me any ear pain issues whatsoever.

 

haha - I don't think that's it!