# De-flanging Vifa xt25



## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

While these are already smaller than their big flanged brothers, I felt like the flange was taking up too much precious space and there is no need for it for some of us like myself. Once receiving these tweeters I started to look for way to make them a bit smaller. The solution was straight forward.

Here is what I was looking at:










To take the flange off you would need a heat gun. I use this cheapo for heat shrink and whatnot, if has 2 levels of heat and it only costs $20 at HomeCrepot. Empty cardboard from toilet paper roll would help too 










Do you see what I see?










Place your tweeter upside down in the toilet paper roll and start applying heat to areas with black glue, about ~10 seconds on each spot (2 of them in my case). I alternated heat and heated each side 2 or 3 times. 










Once you see the glue bubbling up a bit, it is time to put the heat gun down










BE CAREFUL: tweeter will get hot, especially metal terminals on the side. Grab the tweeter by its flange and rotate tweeter's body counter clockwise until the tabs are no longer in the channel. Start separating the flange from the tweeter.



















Your end product should look like so



















We are down from ~ 65mm to ~ 42mm across.


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## cam2Xrunner (Apr 30, 2005)

Only the first pic is working...


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## s4turn (Jun 17, 2009)

hmm yes.. very interested in this


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## Lars Ulriched (Oct 31, 2009)

any upgrade in SQ?


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## snaimpally (Mar 5, 2008)

Thanks for sharing. The XT25 is very directional and I suspect the flange may help focus the sound because it is slightly curved. I suggest yuou try listening tests with and without the flange. Of course, it depends on how you mount the tweeter - if you mount it using some sort of baffle, it may sound fine.


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## SpecV (Mar 26, 2009)

Thanks for this, I may try this with my large format SB acoustics RR tweets.


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## rexroadj (Oct 31, 2008)

well done buddy! I have to admit, I share the same concerns as snaimpally. Keep us posted as to the listening results. cheers


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Hey, the beauty of that is that 5 seconds, few drops of hot glue the flange is back on. No parts have been damaged. I'm mounting these on axis... someday


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## goodstuff (Jan 9, 2008)

Mless5 said:


> Hey, the beauty of that is that 5 seconds, few drops of hot glue the flange is back on. No parts have been damaged. I'm mounting these on axis... someday


I just got a set of these. But confused about the polarity, it's not marked. I'm guessing the larger terminal is positive? Confused though as it has a black line like a negative sign on it.


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## aV8ter (Sep 4, 2009)

Very cool. i think I might order these, do this DIY, and hot glue them up to some wave-guides to experiment with.


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## goodstuff (Jan 9, 2008)

goodstuff said:


> I just got a set of these. But confused about the polarity, it's not marked. I'm guessing the larger terminal is positive? Confused though as it has a black line like a negative sign on it.


Ugg. So I called madisound. He said I could check the polarity using a double a battery. Why can't they just mark the ****ing terminals so I don't have to take a battery to my new tweeters.

Edit: So I took a battery to my new tweeters. It seems the larger terminal is positive, even though it has a big black line through it like it's marked negative. Sorry for the hijack igor//


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## Lars Ulriched (Oct 31, 2009)

goodstuff said:


> Ugg. So I called madisound. He said I could check the polarity using a double a battery. Why can't they just mark the ****ing terminals so I don't have to take a battery to my new tweeters.
> 
> Edit: So I took a battery to my new tweeters. It seems the larger terminal is positive, even though it has a big black line through it like it's marked negative. Sorry for the hijack igor//


the big one is the positive....if i remember well it got red dot under it....


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## ernperkins (Mar 24, 2009)

Vifa also has an OEM version (XT25SC60-04) of the same tweeter w/o the flange, but don't know if anyone sells them in small quantities.


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

What is the OD of the housing? I have an application idea...


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

"We are down from ~ 65mm to ~ 42mm across. "


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

Just did this with a pair of Vifa NE25's. Thought they'd fit in the stock housing with a little finagling.... but NO.

The process was the same, but the tabs are hidden under glue and the grill (if you can call it that) on front. Didn't have a heat gun handy, so I cut the glue w/ an Exacto, then muscles . I would also be a bit concerned about a heat gun's affect on the other adhesives in the tweeter.


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## Avaric3 (Dec 2, 2012)

Knobby Digital said:


> I would also be a bit concerned about a heat gun's affect on the other adhesives in the tweeter.


ive done this to a pair myself w/ seemingly no damage and I play them at ~20 degrees off-axis in my car and I think they sound pretty good, especially for their price point

the terminals are very flimsy tho so I recommend dropping a dab of hot glue at the base of them for a little support and also being careful when attaching or removing your wire


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i did the same thing with my XT25's but i used a razor blade to cut the glue apart rather than heat it up.


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## pocket5s (Jan 6, 2012)

i have a pair of these that will be mounted soon and may just try this.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

there is a small heatsink on the back with a single screw that holds it in place IIRC, since the flange is gone - you could use a little piece of strap material.

this makes them MUCH smaller.


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