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Hard Audio - Ceramic Speakers

Hi Gang,
One thing I think about both as a listener and speaker builder is ceramic drivers, such as the famous Accutons. I'm talking true ceramics, not sandwiches here. I'll include here hard diamond drivers as well, not vapor deposited diamond dust.

Some of what I've seen is super impressive in terms of specifications, and design far beyond merely the dome materials.

I've never ever been moved though. For whatever reason, every ceramic speaker I've heard sounded cold, clinical, pure without power.

What are your experiences? Have you heard ceramic speakers that made you really feel you had experienced something great?
erik_squires
jhills
615 posts
 
A while back, I had a chance to audition a host of some very nice, current model, speakers among them was the little Raidho, C-1.2s. At first listen, I was very impressed with their quick, dynamic and micro detailed presentation, but after a half hour of listening to various tracks of jazz, pop and band, at somewhat moderate volume levels, I began to get a bad case of listening fatigue. Hands down, for long, enjoyable sessions of listening (at a fraction of the cost) I would choose the Vandies, Maggies or even my little Gershmans, JMO.....Jim
missioncoonery
1,221 posts
 

I've never ever been moved though. For whatever reason, every ceramic speaker I've heard sounded cold, clinical, pure without power.

 Boy there are quite a few makers that use ceramics that sound utterly fantastic IMO.Personally most of them I love and would own.

exfoliate
20 posts
 
@shadorne Aren’t planar and electrostatic drivers also technically "ringing" due to the fact that the driver’s have to absorb all of the transient energy without a voice coil? Planar/electrostatic drivers all tend to have much worse impulse response than a good dynamic driver as it keeps moving for a while after the initial transient. Would you say the ringing/excessive decay in those types of driver’s are just much more benign than the internal ringing of a hard ceramic/metal driver?
johnsonwu
469 posts
 
The old accuton midrange C90-6-079 used in a lot of commercial offerings sure conveys a cold and dry sound especially when playing violins.  The newer C90-6-724 delivers a marked improvement right out of the box.  Requires a slight attenuation if you are swapping out a 079. 
Also the 10khz peak (at least they admit it) needs a notch filter to mitigate. But overall musicality and transparency without the old “splashy” sounds as some have opined makes it a worthwhile investment. 
nood1234
1 posts
 
I bought  XTZ Devine Delta speakers. They have MTM configuration. All 3 drivers are accuton ceramic drivers. They sound as clean and real as electrostatic speakers without all the drawbacks. In comparison, I demoed 5000$ Dynaudio , 8000$ B & W And 8000$ Sonus Fabers. Only Sonus Fabre came close in sound quality. I am not an audiophile or a musician. The way I judge a speaker is I like to close my eyes and be able to fool myself that the singer or musician is there with me.
If anybody wants to listen to them in person, I can arrange a demo for you. I live in Las Vegas.
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