Diamond drivers


Out of curiosity I was wondering why diamond speaker units seem to be on the rise. Brands like Marten Design and B&W and many more are selling speakers with diamon tweeters. So what does make a diamond tweeter so good? Or is it just marketing hype. Although I doubt Janzen en Accuton are just making diamond tweeters for marketing reasons.

Yesterday evening I spend two and a half hours listening to the new Raidho D-1 speakers, they use a ribbon tweeter and a diamond mid/bass unit. I have to say this is the best monitor speaker I have ever heard. It is also a 17.000euro monitor speaker so for that price it better be very good.
mordante

Showing 1 response by melbguy1

Mordante, I only have experience with Accuton ceramic and diamond tweeters, so i'll comment from that experience. Firstly, the Accuton Diamond tweeter in its various versions is a significant improvement in clarity over the Ceramic tweeter. Likely the biggest distinction will be that the diamond diaphragm will not be subject to over heating as the diamond lens will dissipate heat very efficiently. Granted this is not a big issue but listener fatigue is less with the diamond tweeter, and this 'fatigue', perhaps too strong a word, will be only apparent over very long listening sessions.

The great part about the diamond tweeter is that you cannot hear it. Obviously one hears the music, but without any driver signature at all. These nuances are easier to hear if you have a lot of experience listening to different tweeters. There is a speed and ease which is hard to quantify but easy to hear as the music only. I mentioned the concept of fatigue before. With conventional drivers, this is a phenomenon which manifests itself with tweeter information becoming hard or glaring as the driver heats up with long continued use. The diamond tweeter will never have this issue as it has a very efficient dissipation of heat inherent in the material.