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ribbons vs domes and sibilance

I came upon a thread from the DiyAudio site titled "Can you have sparkling treble but without sibilance?" from 2011. The discussion is very technical and as such, completely over my head but one participant asserted that ribbons are far less prone to sibilance than domes. 

Here's an excerpt for the technically minded: :

... the middle of the dome basically flops about doing it's own thing at high frequencies as it's only very loosely coupled to the edge because of it's own less than infinite stiffness. Thus any distortion or resonances that occur due to the middle of the dome bending and moving in non-piston ways are not reflected back to the amplifier via back EMF... when the ribbon is only 8mm wide compared to a 25mm dome, there is far less narrowing of dispersion with increasing frequency than a dome. The directivity control is achieved with a wave-guide instead. This is why a wave-guide loaded ribbon can achieve an almost constant 90 degree horizontal dispersion from 2Khz right up to 20Khz - the ribbon element itself is far less directional horizontally at high frequencies than a dome, with the wave-guide then adding in a constant directivity control.

I'm wondering whether any forum members have compared speakers with domes and ribbons in regard to sibilance and arrived at any conclusions. 

stuartk
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
3,863 posts
 

I listen to many quality speakers through many audio get togethers I think 

the latest Borresen X or Z series speakers have a Exceptional ribbon extremely light and fast ,and being in a wave guide it is far faster,better sound staging 

and exceptional detail. And it sounds more smooth then razor sharp like many Beryllium or diamond types .I think their X series is a excellent value 

and their Danish Audio group is on to something in electronics with reducing noise

ine being their multiples of Tesla coils . My brother has some of their products .

 

wturkey's avatar
wturkey
727 posts
 

Well said @knotscott 

bigkidz
3,319 posts
 

While each driver has characteristics, so to does the equipment.  Poor power supply transformers can cause a variety of issues.

 

 

arnold_h
93 posts
 

I think a lot of it also has to do with the room tuning and associated equipment. I have both Magnepan speakers and JM Lab/Focal which use a dome tweeter and don’t find either of them sibilant in my room.

deep_333
829 posts
 

I hear sibilance in pretty much any ribbon design I’ve heard, PS Audio, Quad, etc being the more recent offenders. You will get fooled at shows because it is a careful choice of safe cherry picked recordings.

You can play with positioning and reduce some perception of sibilance, but, will start negating other benefits of the tweeter. You can tactfully tame it if you have front end electronics that give you some PEQ, however (i.e., when you're a straight wire w/gain purist kinda guy, sibilance can stroke you ssssweetly, lol)

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