Which Tweeter preferred- dome natural material, Beryllium/Metal or Planar Ribbon? Why?


This is bugging me. Just as I think I have the

right answer it slips through my fingers. 

 

Let's not consider cost in this opinion poll.

 

For example-

Pick one of the types of tweeters

Choice- Planar Ribbon

Reason-Low moving mass and larger surface area vs domes.

 

Everyone should have an opinion here unless they are relatively new to the game.

Lets see if we all learn something new!

chorus

[please excuse my poor English]

@toddalin

The ESS AMT will shine when played using a high current solid state amp, but they don’t do nearly as well on tubes.

In these videos, I went to extremes to match the volumes...

Thanks !! The difference is obvious: significantly more defined when powered by solid state.

But is this difference of "behaviour" (with SS vs tubes) specific to the ESS AMT tweeter? It seems the possible answer is YES: ESS 689-1108, for instance, has a 4 Ohm impedance. A 4 Ohms load will always require a lot more current to sing.

But, for instance, this Mundorf AMT tweeter (8 Ohms, 1,8Kg, and...$1145/piece!!) will need much less current, has a sensitivity of 100 dB => I guess any tube could deal with that. And then here, tube could be better through this transducer.

And, again, that speaker uses an AMT (unknown origin), and is a 8 Ohms load, min. 6,8 Ohms. Again, I am not affiliated to JMR in any way, but it is outstanding for the price.

My humble CONCLUSIONS

  • the videos brilliantly demonstrate that high current SS are specifically preferable with the aforementioned ESS AMT tweeter, indeed.
  • But to make a general assessment that SS are a better match, on the base of only one model, is maybe misleading, as the Mundorf’s specification suggest (maybe others would, too).
  • It is possible that some other (high end? Expensive?) AMT tweeters easily accept tubes as well as SS, and does not favor the latter. So that their respective merits can more objectively shine through AMT’s. This could be the explanation of @danager ’s preference for tubes-with-AMT (cf. his very good experience with 12w SET tubes), who probably did his findings that with another AMT tweeter in use.

 

But, for instance, this Mundorf AMT tweeter (8 Ohms, 1,8Kg, and...$1145/piece!!) will need much less current, has a sensitivity of 100 dB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm sure its a fine tweeter, BUt really my 92db sens tweeters, will perform as good as this AMT. again you do not need to spend a lot of cash to get super high fidelity. I run both tweeters witha single Mundorf EVO SG 8uf cap , which allows both tweeters to go down to 5khz. PERFECT match for my dual Full Range, Seamless intergration, just incredible. again repeating what I said above, now that I have dual tweeters in my system, I could never ever go back to a single tweeter design. Philips AD163 cerca 1978 at about 91 db. and a DavidLouis clone($100 pair) of a Seas T35($300+ EACH!!), at 92 db. Looking at a 6 ohm tweeter, again davidLouis clone of a veryyyyy expensive tweeter.

100db sens in a  tweeter is wayyyyy too high for my preferences. 

91-93 is my ideal. 94 ok perhaps. But not 95db. 

I can not work in dual tweeters with a  sens higher than 94db,,so actually , back to my 93 db as limit sens. 

Below 91 db is too low.

91,92,93

The price is totally pointless here.

I just wished to suggest that there are various specifications, that could explain the contradictory feedbacks.

@orfeo_monteverdi 

The price is totally pointless here.

I just wished to suggest that there are various specifications, that could explain the contradictory feedbacks.

 

 

You're not the only one.

Unfortunately it seems to be true that although it's often nice to simplify things as far as possible, when it comes to tweeters the application is all important.

 

Perhaps building loudspeakers can be likened to cooking.

Even the finest ingredients in the world may lead to disatisfaction if placed on the wrong hands, whilst others can seemingly concoct worldly delights with very modest means.