Thanks to all for the great comments.
The Gallo CDT was mentioned by several people. I have not heard this speaker or tweeter, but will make a point to do so.
Ribbons -- love the ultra-low moving mass compared to domes, but don't love the distortion, the fragility, the limited vertical dispersion (especially for the taller ribbons) or the high crossover requirements. To go lower with a ribbon, you need a taller, heavier ribbon, so vertical dispersion gets even worse, and you sacrifice the moving mass advantage.
Fostex horns (T500mkII and others) -- these are supertweeters, and can't be crossed low enough to be used as regular tweeters.
Plasma (ion) tweeter -- I listened to this tweeter on the Acapella High Violin 2 years ago. It was certainly a very sweet, smooth, pleasing treble, but there were occasional crackling noises as particles of airborne dust got zapped in the plasma discharge. There was also a faint baseline hiss from the plasma discharge, amplified by the horn, audible within 12 inches of the tweeter. Overall, I am not certain this tweeter would consistently win a blinded A-B comparison against a top quality dome or ribbon. Due to the very high cost and electronic complexity of this tweeter, I cannot justify it, especially when there are so many less-expensive, simpler and more reliable, great-sounding designs out there.
But now I return to my original question: if you were designing a speaker at the $5K or $10K price point, would you go with a dome or a non-dome tweeter? Since domes are the dominant tweeter technology in that price range, is it better, businesswise, to stick with a known, familiar technology, or is it better to set oneself apart from the competition by using a non-dome?
The Gallo CDT was mentioned by several people. I have not heard this speaker or tweeter, but will make a point to do so.
Ribbons -- love the ultra-low moving mass compared to domes, but don't love the distortion, the fragility, the limited vertical dispersion (especially for the taller ribbons) or the high crossover requirements. To go lower with a ribbon, you need a taller, heavier ribbon, so vertical dispersion gets even worse, and you sacrifice the moving mass advantage.
Fostex horns (T500mkII and others) -- these are supertweeters, and can't be crossed low enough to be used as regular tweeters.
Plasma (ion) tweeter -- I listened to this tweeter on the Acapella High Violin 2 years ago. It was certainly a very sweet, smooth, pleasing treble, but there were occasional crackling noises as particles of airborne dust got zapped in the plasma discharge. There was also a faint baseline hiss from the plasma discharge, amplified by the horn, audible within 12 inches of the tweeter. Overall, I am not certain this tweeter would consistently win a blinded A-B comparison against a top quality dome or ribbon. Due to the very high cost and electronic complexity of this tweeter, I cannot justify it, especially when there are so many less-expensive, simpler and more reliable, great-sounding designs out there.
But now I return to my original question: if you were designing a speaker at the $5K or $10K price point, would you go with a dome or a non-dome tweeter? Since domes are the dominant tweeter technology in that price range, is it better, businesswise, to stick with a known, familiar technology, or is it better to set oneself apart from the competition by using a non-dome?