Help! Dented Beryllium Dome Tweeter

[SuperD]

I understand where Dan is coming from but kids learn by touching and exploring. I can't at this point sit down with my two year old and tell him about respecting my property or anyone else and expect him to fully comprehend. When he gets close to our speakers he looks at me and shakes his finger and says no no David as he smiles. If other kids are around, I always put the speaker grills on...out of sight out of mind.

[Pampero]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

I understand where Dan is coming from but kids learn by touching and exploring. I can't at this point sit down with my two year old and tell him about respecting my property or anyone else and expect him to fully comprehend. When he gets close to our speakers he looks at me and shakes his finger and says no no David as he smiles. If other kids are around, I always put the speaker grills on...out of sight out of mind.

That's the spirit. I fully agree. Little kids are kittens with hands. They're going to explore and inevitably push the wrong button from time to time.

I worked in a (locally famous) electronics store (Daly City, Ca) in the early 70s and any speaker without a grille cloth on it had a stove-in tweeter, not to mention the dust caps on the woofers and midrange drivers. That was malicious stuff. Little kids? Adorable and annoying goes hand in hand.

[Pampero]

In addition to the difficulty of working a thin beryllium foil, as has been mentioned, the substance is very toxic so working with it requires precautions.

I don't know the answer (or anything about their source) but can Paradigm re-diaphragm this driver? At retail $760 you'd hope they could. I hope this isn't a stupid question but I presume you asked about repair as well as replacement?

[New guy]

Originally Posted by Pampero

That's the spirit. I fully agree. Little kids are kittens with hands. They're going to explore and inevitably push the wrong button from time to time.

I worked in a (locally famous) electronics store (Daly City, Ca) in the early 70s and any speaker without a grille cloth on it had a stove-in tweeter, not to mention the dust caps on the woofers and midrange drivers. That was malicious stuff. Little kids? Adorable and annoying goes hand in hand.

Would that store be Matthew's on top of the hill? My dad used to take me there.

[Cohibaman]

Originally Posted by Pampero

In addition to the difficulty of working a thin beryllium foil, as has been mentioned, the substance is very toxic so working with it requires precautions.

Beryllium is toxic only if you regularly work with the metal or inhale the salts. Touching the speaker attempting to fix the dent will not be an issue.

[Pampero]

Originally Posted by New guy

Would that store be Matthew's on top of the hill? My dad used to take me there.

Kewpie Doll and a free chicken dinner! BTW, if any store actually deserved dented domes, it was Matthew's Top of the Hill! It was a circus.

Added: we did always have a Paragon in stock though, and almost always had L200s and L300s and L100s by the truckload. To be fair though, if you walked away with a pair of Large Advents (or L100s) and a decent Marantz or Pioneer receiver and a Dual turntable, you'd have done about as well for the money as you could have anyplace else. And if you listened to most of the sales guys there, that's exactly what you'd have gotten. We were all crazy about audio and a lot of good people graduated from the place and went on to real success in the biz.

However, 'management' was another story entirely! May I offer you some "champagne?"

[Pampero]

Originally Posted by Cohibaman

Beryllium is toxic only if you regularly work with the metal or inhale the salts. Touching the speaker attempting to fix the dent will not be an issue.

That's certainly true, it does require exposure beyond what you'd get just fooling around with one tweeter unless you ate it. But, it is nonetheless a recognized carcinogen and routine exposure under uncontrolled conditions is not good. But fair enough point.

[musichal]

Yep, another reason to leave grills on.

No matter how often a parent tries to teach a toddler, they remain toddlers.

I think I'd keep an eye out for used tweeters - yes, the correct ones. You could get lucky.