Some of the best speakers in the world are ceramic based..ie Marten,Kharma,Tidal,Lawrence, just off the top of my head...no idea where your brain set is to be honest.......
The strong opinions around ceramic speakers
OK, so this is a recurring theme for me, and if you’ve seen me post on this before, sorry. Your subscription doesn’t guarantee unique content here. I was reading the Munich High-End coverage over at DIYaudio.com and this topic came up again. Many there aren’t fond of ceramics, and neither am I.
I’ve gotten to hear a number of ceramic driver speakers and despite being very positively disposed to them based on the technology in both the cone/dome material as well as the motors themselves I’ve never liked a single speaker based on them. I mean, based on the specs I should love these things, but I don’t. Is this a type of speaker tuning that is applied, or something else?
I’m including diamond speakers here, BTW.
Now, companies like Kharma could care less what I like or don’t like, but I am seriously asking this question a different way, if you have liked ceramic speakers, which one’s and why, what did you pair with them? What is the closest non-ceramic speaker you DID like?
This is an interesting topic for me because it is a dimension where there's a broad divergence between measurements (very good) and experience (meh) and that difference can help tell us something about who an audiophile is.
10 responses Add your response
@missioncoonery lets not immediately resort to ad hominem attacks shall we? You've listed some very expensive speakers I don't like to listen to, so I was hoping we could discuss their signature and sound qualities compared to non-ceramics. As I mentioned, I'm not the only one who has trouble grasping ceramic speakers, so instead of making this a childish brand promoting or bashing discussion I hope other readers can jump in here and discuss the deltas they have come to experience between ceramic and non ceramic speakers. However, if you just want to discuss what's wrong with your head I'm for that too. |
You are not wrong!! What got me thinking of it however was new and gorgeous show coverage: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/munich-high-end-2022.386473/
|
I'm usually not into ceramics at all as they sound brittle to me and not near as smooth as the sealed ribbons I enjoy, or non-metallic cones. They might sparkle for fifteen minutes but for the long haul they seem fatiguing and don't cut it for my ears, usually. Just what my ears hear. Don't like diamond B&W tweeters much either... (Tidal is a real exception though-love their line.) |
Best ceramic drivers I have heard are from Raidho. The base X series is resolving and wonderful sounding. I also quite like Marten speakers. There are many others I am not big fans of. I personally use a ceramic and magnesium tweeter from Eton in my Blackthorn 1 speaker. I find it to be highly resolving with the metallic edge of many beryllium tweeters I have heard. |
Hey @Verdantaudio They certainly are unique. Instead of a single-layer ceramic, they use a 3 layer composite ceramic. Reminds me of the Focal W cones, but in this case all 3 layers are ceramic. Their literature alludes to some of the theories I've read by DIYers about the resonant frequencies of Accuton drivers needing to be tamed to sound good. |