Type of Tweeter?

[ozzie]

What kind of tweeter suits your musical taste ?

soft dome
ribbon
aluminum
metal
titanium
others?

My preference is soft dome. Second, ribbon.

[Octaver]

Combination of Dome (Silk) & Ribbon like the Genesis!
Type of Tweeters of any speakers depends on the crossover design. Ribbon Tweeters user claiming of achieving high frequency with an ease or Soft Dome user as warm & natural.
For me I like Ribbon Type, high frequency is balanced even on low volume. (Might be the same characteristics with Horn loaded tweeters using Titanium dome)

[avphile]

Metal dome tweeters, in general, especially neodymium and titanium, are the most accurate and detailed of all tweeter types, except leaf ribbons They are so accurate they can cause ear bleed if not used in conjunction with sophisticated crossover circuits. They have some characteristic flaws like ringing but can be overcome with careful crossover design to put the ringing outside of audibility or notch it out. Or the design of the tweeter itself can bring the ringing totally out of audibility (but that can cost more.) Their uniform rigidity provides true pistonic motion extending beyond 20khz that create the much wanted "airy presence" in high notes that soft domes can barely produce.

OTH, soft or silk domes flex a lot, resulting in higher distortion. Many use soft silk dome tweeters because they are most forgiving of transient abberations or suboptimal crossover designs. In addiition, soft domes, while having a lower frequency range , often gives a smoother linear response. Hence, you get that sweet euphonic sound of silk domes. But if accuracy and extended highs are required, metal domes do the job better but are picky with crossover traits.

Ribbons are the best (finest) tweeters that never fail to impress serious audiophiles. However, they have limited vertical dispersion trait so that they are often installed on a vertical array. Some of the finest speakers use more than 20 ribbon tweeters vertically arrayed on a tall floorstander. Excellent ribbon tweeters can be had for about $100 to replace dome tweeters but you have to install at least 3-4 in a vertical array to correct for the limited dispersion trait.

There's also piezo-electric tweeters that require no crossover networks. They work on the principle of exciting a piezo crystal and they're the most efficient of all tweeters, often requiring voltage dividing resistive networks to put its sensitivity at par with the other drivers. Smoothness and accuracy, however, are not their strong points.

The above are general descriptions based on theoretical limits. I'm sure exceptions do exists so that some silk dome tweeters can be more accurate than a similarly priced titanium tweeter. Or that aluminum tweeters can sound as sweet as soft domes. Depends really on the manufacturer and how much you are willing to pay. Suffice it to say that there are great and lousy tweeters of each type.

In my case the aluminum tweeter on my MS914 provides the detail and attack I am looking for in high notes. I had a Wharfedale diamond 8 using silk domes and they sound sweet and smooth, but not as detailed and revealing as those of the Mordaunt-Shorts. Between sweetness and detailing, I prefer the latter.

[wanderlust]

its ribbon for me. ;D