beryllium vs diamond


Hi guys, today's technology has brought us a new type of tweeter made of diamond or beryllium. Do you know what are the strengths and weaknesses of diamond vs beryllium? Which one is the more expensive? Has today's dome tweeter better resolving power than the venerable electrostat? Jim Thiel once said that dynamic designs will be getting better all the time and will probably surpass electrostatic designs.
dazzdax

Showing 8 responses by smodtactical

I think this discussion comes down to implementation obviously. Also diamond has the advantage of greater stiffness but beryllium typically lighter mass. So perhaps there could be similar ratios.
The diamond tweeter in the Tonda D and Contriva g2 both sound beautiful. But the design of the speaker makes them sound very different. The former being smooth, relaxed and detailed... the latter giving you every single detail in a captivating soundscape.
I love the Be drivers in the Paradigm sig s8 v2 but I kind of want to move away from it since I worry if it blows 1 day the Be will become a dust in the air.

Anyone like tweeters other than Be or ribbons ?
@elizabeth I really want to hear magnepans. Any recommendation for a specific model? This is for small to moderate size rooms.
@ctsooner  those carbon tweeters on the Vandys look extremely appealing. You make it sound like they have the detail of a magico but the ease of a Wilson ?
Stereophile has an interesting paragraph on the  Magico Be-Diamond tweeter:

"A beryllium dome is both light enough and stiff enough to behave pistonically, and was used in the Magico Q5, which Michael Fremer reviewed in November 2012. Applying a layer of diamond to the metal, Tammam explained, results in a dome with a more homogeneous surface, which both reduces intermodulation distortion and results in a more benign harmonic-distortion signature that is less like that of a metal dome. I asked why they hadn't gone all the way and used an all-diamond diaphragm. It turned out that, yes, diamond would produce a very stiff diaphragm, but the required suspension would raise the tweeter's low-frequency resonance from the desired 500Hz or so to about 1.3kHz. This, in turn, would mean that the tweeter would have to be crossed over to the midrange drive-unit at too high a frequency. Beryllium's lower mass ensures that the resonance frequency is close to 500Hz, but the diamond layer raises the dome's stiffness to extend the high frequencies."

Getting a bit back on track. Anyone notice differences between diamond tweeters such as those on tidal speakers and those on b and w 800 series ?
The 7F and especially 9H sounded super crystal clear and transparent to me. Both with moon gear. They were only out done in detail, imaging and clarity by the Magico M2 and Tidal Contriva G2. These speakers costs far more.
@wildfoxinn what about the diamond tweeters in tidal speakers like Akira? From what I have heard from Doug White, its an actual layer of diamond not simply a coating.