ribbons vs domes and sibilance

@audphile1

Sent you PM in reply to your first question.

I intend to demo other speakers when my budget allows, starting with Fritz Carbon7SE’s.

RE: amplification:

The SR17 is fairly efficient (nominally 90.5 dB/watt @ 8 ohms), but more importantly it’s easy to drive - my Ayre AX7e, known for being rather limited in the power delivery department, sounded open and effortless. Alan Yun said the Dynaudio drivers love current and will benefit from powerful amplifiers, yet will sing with low-powered tube amps. I can confirm it loved the grunt of the 300wpc Bryston 4B Cubed, yet I never felt lower-power amps like the Ayre or Bryston B60 integrateds were lacking for dynamics. And my favorite pairing by far was with the 55-watt Valvet A4 Mk.II class A monoblocks sporting a single pair of bipolar output devices. (Incidentally, Alan’s favorite amp paring with the SR17 is the 30-watt Pass Labs XA30.5, which @mgd-taww can attest to being a magical combo.

When I first heard the Silverlines with the Hegel, I was astonished. My first thought was "This is the first time I’ve heard what these speakers are capable of".

@erik_squires

It’s always fun to talk tech and possibilities of advanced motors, but audiophiles do sometimes get obsessive over the part of the speaker that produces the least sound. 

My intention in starting this thread was purely practical: to gain some helpful information to use when shopping for my next speakers. 

OP: Nothing at all wrong with that. :)

I just wanted to point out that marketting hype and audiophiles tend to bias us towards worrying more about the tiniest motor in the speaker.

Some of the most sparkly speakers I’ve heard of late, BTW, were Magicos. B&W’s as well, and I attribute most of that to the choice of Mundorf caps. Go take a listen if you can.

Historically, to get some perspective, the Focal Be and Titanium tweeters had a lot of "sparkle" in them as well.  I always attributed this to a mechanical resonance inherent in them. 

@erik_squires 

I made the mistake early on of pairing B&W's with Rotel and Creek on the basis of a showroom demo.

Once I set up this system at home, my ears found it quite painful. Important lesson! 

@stuartk

I love your arts and crafts home, and even though I only heard them once, I think that those Silverlines (I only heard the 17) are classics. I recall when they came out and had good reviews, and next thing there were always a few pairs for sale, but then that ended and they are now rarely available, and I think that it’s because owners are keeping them. I would love to own a pair.

I have heard silk domes, aluminum domes, beryllium domes tgat had sibilance and also others that had no sibilance. It is based on how good the speaker designer is.

That said for me Magico, YG Acoustics, B&W D4 range all have sibilance that annoys my ears and gives me headaches. It is the way they are designed as they all seem to accentuate treble more than others.