What are Your Favorite Tweeters?


Hi All.  I would like to extend the survey that occurred back in 2008-2012 about favorite tweeter types.  During that survey, folks mentioned: Gallo CDT, various ribbon tweeters (RAAL, Kapton, Legacy), Fostex, Dynaudio Esotar, Heil, Seas Millenium, and various exotics (electrostatic, plasma, compression driver).  I am wondering about ring tweeters, such as the Satori TW29R or the Scanspeak Revelator. I am (personally) looking for something that can fit into a 104mm diameter lip.  But for the big picture, I'd like to know what tweeters you have loved!  I've got Accuton diamond tweeters in my Avalon Eidelons, and I think they are quite delicate and natural sounding.
peter_s
The cone-shaped Walsh tweeter atop the Infinity Monitor speaker from the mid-70's. An omni that had the best room-filling dispersion! I owned a pair way back then. Now I have another pair to use! 
Fuzztone: I will second that! The Janszen D-130 is a remarkable add-on electrostatic tweeter. Popularly used back in the day with AR and KLH box speakers. I own a pair!
The Dynaudio ESOTAR and ESOTEC cloth dome tweeters are used by many high end speaker manufactures and is one of the sweetest and delicate sounding tweeters I have ever heard. Also, The tweeter used in the EPOS ES22's or ES11's is a very very good tweeter, 25mm aluminum dome that never sounds harsh or metallic.

Matt M



Borresen’s tweeter is amazing in terms of speed and resolution.  Natural timbre, very smooth yet crisp.  I have yet to hear anything like it.
the new carbon tweeters from Vandersteen, the Apogee ribbons, DECCA, etc..

fun
The tweeter that impressed me the most was one that seemed to not be there at all--it was so smooth and unobtrusive and high frequencies were present without calling attention to their presence.  The tweeter is a G.I.P Laboratories reproduction of the Western Electric 597 tweeter (field coil compression tweeter with a horn).  It sounded at least as good as the original 597 tweeters that I've heard.  The big downside is that both original and G.I.P. reproductions are quite expensive.  I briefly heard the G.I.P. 9501 tweeter (original design, not a reproduction) that is based on the 597, but, it was in a custom built system that had not yet been properly tuned, so I cannot say if this tweeter is even better; it is certainly much more expensive at $60,000 for the pair.
The Boressen tweeter I have heard is from the small 2-way and is a ribbon tweeter. And yes it sounds amazing. Is there a way to buy
one for under $33K?
Does anyone have experience with ring tweeters?  Can you offer some impressions?
I quite liked the vifa ring tweeters on the polk lsi9...

Im a fan of ribbons, beryllium and soft domes.

monitor Audio Ribbon tweeters are nice!
I've used Morel and still do on QSO 808 and as a HF driver along with a UHF ribbon on a pair of RSIIbs. 

1. I've never blown one.

2. They (Morel) are one of the best Ring and Softdomes around... Good to over 22khz. 2500 to 22,000, NO sibilance like some planars/ribbons. Expensive though..

Regards
Perhaps the plasma (?) used in the Lansche speakers. I tend to like soft domes in a more conventional design.
I never heard the Boressen; now I am interested in hearing something with that tweeter.

Another tweeter that I've heard in a terrific sounding system is the Murata supertweeter. 
The 48" ribbon used in the Carver Amazing Platinum and Silver hybrid panel speakers! The Platinum was particularly impressive with its vertical array of four 12" woofers that could go down flat to 20hz!
My favorite tweeter? It’s so hard to choose. I do have 30 you know. 😁
"...The cone-shaped Walsh tweeter atop the Infinity Monitor..."

That was a good tweeter. Also the Magnepan true ribbon. 
The AMT tweeter and silk dome tweeters.   Everything else doesn’t sound real to me.  
Dear @stereo5  @peter_s  : ""  The AMT tweeter and silk dome tweeters. "

I was exposed maybe 3 times to the AMT ones but other that in my speakers I listened several times silk dome tweeters and are just what you said:

"  Everything else doesn’t sound real..""

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
Agree with above about the esotar - it’s the reason I keep lugging my old Merlin vsm around for so long - despite their awkward BAM module. To me this tweeter hits that perfect balance between attack and decay - the decay is like that of 20 year old whiskey - soooo long in the finish.
You know the Peerless XT25TG30 and related Scanspeak low end ring radiators are outstanding as well, with narrow dispersion.  I also like the high end SS ring radiators a great deal and Mundorf AMT's are world class performers.
The Carver Amazing tweeter was actually a knock off.  If you look around you can find the originals at very reasonable prices.
You know the Peerless XT25TG30 and related Scanspeak low end ring radiators are outstanding as well, with narrow dispersion.


I should have pointed out that this tweeter or the very closely related Scanspeak Discovery R2604 have shown up in a number of high end speakers including designs from Magico, Sonus Faber and YG.

It's super smooth response flat to nearly 30kHz and low distortion help this tweeter punch far far above it's price point.

The great Beyma tweeter in Spatial audio labs X3, X5 speakers 
is not only a great AMT tweeter but excellent mid band driver 
from 1khz to  past 35 khz , in the vast majority of Loudspeakers 
the crossover is around 2400 khz right in the heart of the midrange 
not good  at all . With the Beyma  with waveguide -0 parts in the critical midband that is why it is so detailed and pure ,and only 2 capacitors in the Xover and -0 resistors.order with the outstanding VH audio Odam capacitors one
A fantastic transducer.
Revels beryllium tweeter are up there for some of the best domes. For me Magnepans full ribbons take it. 
@stereo5
"The AMT tweeter and silk dome tweeters. Everything else doesn’t sound real to me."

Yep. It’s always a kick to see the look on someone’s face the very first time they hear a speaker design with a really good AMT implementation.
Magnepan true ribbon tweeter.

5ft long by 1/4 inch.

flat to 40 kHZ.

smooth and clear, HP said it was the best and I agree!


I don't know if it counts in this discussion, but I recently added Townshend supertweeters to my speakers, and they are very fine too. Smooth and grain free, unlike some flat EMT type supertweeters that I had tried previously.
My favorite are the electrovoice t 35 series tweeters from the 50s they are truly amazing low distortion tweeters but they must be the 16 ohm model.
The horn loaded titaniums in my Heresy IIIs...previously the aluminum-magnesiums in my Silverline Preludes.
 
I was impressed by the Zylon material used on the Yamaha NS5000 tweeter. However, my impression could be a product of the complete speaker package because the mid-range and the 12 inch woofer are also made from Zylon.

I am also a big fan of the driver in the RAAL SR1a "earspeakers". I do not consider them headphones because they do not sound like headphones but 2 channel speakers. The detail out of that driver is incredible.
Speakermaster,

The t 35 is a nice tweeter. A local builder finds those and uses them in current project.  Another vintage tweeter that he uses is the Jensen RP302.  I particularly liked an open baffle system he built with a Jensen M10 fieldcoil fullrange driver and an RP 302 tweeter.  But, I am sure the field coil Western Electric 597 tweeter would be a substantial, albeit very expensive, upgrade.  This is sort of a dream system for me, although I do not like the inconvenience of having to turn on and adjust power supplies to speakers.  
The AirBlade from Arya Audio Labs are truely amazing in terms of speed, music and bandwidth
Focal (JM Lab) - Their inverted dome tweeter.  

I have a pair of JM Lab Mezzo Utopia speakers, which uses a single front firing inverted dome tweeter, and the extension, detail, and smooth sound is very catching.  I also have a pair of Von Schweikert VR-6 speakers, and these use a pair of these Focal inverted dome tweeters, one firing forward, and another in a dipole configuration that fires to the rear to create an ambient affect.  My VR-6 speakers are heavenly.  Their airyness, extension, smooth non-fatiguing sound, and large soundstage is simply fantastic.  

Beside my Mezzo's are a set of VR-4 SR Mk III using the Dynaudio silk dome tweeter, I think.  Oh Lordy!  These silk domes, while not as detailed and fine sounding as the Focal inverted domes, they are also very smooth, non-fatiguing, and have such a great airy and expansive soundstage - love these a great deal.  
I love Eton's HD tweeters that are a ceramic and magnesium composite.  They are surprisingly natural sounding given the hard material.  My feeling is they give me the detail of beryllium but without a metallic edge that needs to be dealt with. I use them in my Blackthorn speaker.  

Mundorfs AMTs are brilliant. I have been experimenting with these and detail an imaging is wonderful.  

For lower priced, high mass, you have to love Peerless corundum tweeters.   
The ribbon tweeters in the Magnepan 20.7's are very hard to beat, but I can't argue with the high end of the Sound Labs speaker. It is as natural and detailed as I have heard. IMHO point source tweeters make cymbals sound like castanets. 
The persona be tweeter is revealing without being bright or sibilant, same with the salon 2, the usher dmd, the be in the dsp 7200/8000se meridians is very good and Vienna Acoustics puts a beautiful sounding soft dome in the beethovens. For some reason the ribbon tweeters seem to distort before my hearing rolls off, maybe an off axis thing?


Magnat MP-02 Plasma tweeters cannot be matched, not even by esl’s, the plasma gas is the diaphragm so there’s no mass, their FR is out to 1/2megahertz.!!! Ones with horns aren't quite as good, but still better than anything else.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Magnat-Plasma-MP-02-ion-tweeter-massless-air-plasma-speaker-Plasmahochto...

Cheers George
Wonder who makes the plasma on the Lansche speakers I mentioned earlier? Right you are about plasmas!