What are the differences in Tweeter materials?


I am curious,

Is there someone that could tell me about the differences between the various materials out there that are used to make tweeters? Both soft and metal type.

What are the materials used in each and what are the sound differences both positive and negative?

Soft Dome Tweeters:
Soft dome, Silk dome, Cloth dome, Polymer dome, Polyamide dome and Textile domes.

(I am very confused in particular between Soft, Cloth, Silk, and Textile?)

Metal Dome Tweeters:
Aluminum, Titanium, Beryllium, Diamond coated, domes and inverted.

Thanks!
mezzanine
"Very interesting post. I understand what you are saying but can you give some examples?"

Offhand, I'd say that Harbeth and Totem both use metal tweeters that, to my ears, have none of the harsh, shrill metallic sound many people seem to associate with metal tweeters. As for soft domes, I've had some Spendor 3/1Ps and Vienna Haydns that, while not really exhibiting the shrillness people often associate with metal domes, had a certain hard, cold quality people don't usually associate with soft domes. (By the way, when I said I'd heard "plenty" of examples of both, I may have fallen victim to my own rhetorical devices; I should have just said that I've heard examples of both.)
A well designed tweeter of any material should never sound shrill or harsh. Again, whether you like the term "in general" or not, proper damping controls the rise and dips in any material and tweeter material in itself is not the deciding factor, but every material has a resonance and a ringing frequency, it is how well those peaks and dips are controlled and at what frequency that tell the whole story.
hi everyone I have an a/d/s L 880.the large dome midrange 206-0201. I have removed a piece of sticky-paper that fell on the top of the dome and by doing so some of the silky-smooth-finish on the top of the dome came off in few spots. I cannot hear any difference in the sound and there are no holes, you can just see that it is not as shiny and smooth as the rest of the dome, anyone's suggestions or I should leave it alone. thanks