Ribbon tweeters...out of favor these days?


Hi,

Just a quick question about ribbon tweeters on tower speakers. Has the technology with metal dome and fabric dome tweeters produced results that obviate the need for or advantage of ribbon tweeters. I know that some manufactures such as VMPS and Legacy still seem to favor ribbons, at least as a super tweeter.

But I have been researching speakers, and it seems most of the mid to upper line brands such as B&W, Thiel, Vandersteen, Eggleston, and others employ some type of dome tweeter.

What are the relative advantages/disavantages of each type for a 50/50 mix of music and home theater?
mtrot

Showing 4 responses by audioman58

Thee debate of Ribbons and Domes they both have their +&-
The new Raal Amorphous core is the best ribbon out there they have the actual specs avaialble on their page which have been verified .Very clean fast and dynamic .
I have compared these to a great tweeter such as the hand made Hiquphon tweeters which are only 3/4 " BTW Salk , Devore and a few others use them .In the past fried used them they are super balanced with superior dispersion.THe dome especaily these are great even 60 degrees off axis ,were a ribbon is much more directional .The smaller tweeter does not have the range down to 2k but with a good mid driver to Xover at around 2.5 k that is not a problem great dispersion and under .5 distortion per matched pair.
The Ribbon is more airy and open and inner detail is a little better .For rock and roll the dome is clearly better
mainly because of it's more flexibility off axis and imaging can be slightly better on the leading edge with a dome , it all comes down to preference and implementation of the Xover and drivers used in the application.
The Raal I think is slightly better than the best dome for my taste ,BUT that is my preference .
one tweeter that is becoming a fast favorite is the Mundofr
AMT - Air motion transformer tweeters These are byfar the best the 2310 I may be using soon it is solid from 1khz to over 25khz .Don"t get to hung up in th numbers the raal will go out past 60k Bug deal it is ambiance possibly 1-2%
on the best of days .The amt tweeter is very fast and airy but also far more dynamic than a ribbon and very musical
more real sounding .retail about $1k a pair the raal is around $600+ if I am building or buyng from a company such as salk or Selah that builds cutom this is what i am using also to complement this Mundorfs excellent capacitors the Silver metal oil caps with their resistors it is a fantastic match for the highs and mids .
These are just starting to be noticed here in the states. Tony Gee of the Netherlands who builds many $$ custom speakers and well known for his webpage humblehomemade hifi uses them and in Europe several use them I have not exactly went on a search I am going by what I have heard personally .My uncle makes
speakers for the Professional studio market and have I have heard all types of combinations .The Mundorf was his favorite and I also agree it has the dynamics of a cone with the speed and openness of a ribbon.
it is all about taste my new speaker has a special hi spec version of Raals best Amprphous Ribbon tweeter which is the Best bar none Ribbon on the Market .The amt tweeter I found has a little more snap on dynamic swings ,but the Ribbon is more open with more ambiance around the instruments it is also better at micro details it is a faster transducer you can't change the laws of physics.
Also the Raal has a huge magnetic structure which is rock stable and if is very well thought out in it's design.
If you ever did manage to break the ribbon a Pencel or a Vaccum cleaner where it don't belong less than a minute to replace,
a frame with the ribbon suspended between it snaps right in and your are back to the music .