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I gre out of Be Tweeters

I was at a bar the other day (well probably yesterday .... hahahah)


In any event, I was discussing how much my taste in beer has changed. I started with lagers, especially Mexican brands. Then I became a Guiness snob, and then I went over to IPAs and Belgian Abbey-style ales. Now while I can tolerate a lager, I can't stand a Belgian white at all. 


What makes me think of this here is tweeters. There was a short period of time when I thought I loved Be tweeters. I've grown completely out of them. I don't particularly like the "affordable" diamond tweeters either. I'm done.


What about you? Is there a technology you liked  earlier in this hobby and now have turned completely against?
erik_squires
andy2
1,619 posts
 
If you could afford it, diamond tweeters are probably the best. The one from Seas costs around $7K each. Ouch but I wish I could get my hands on a pair :-).

If not, then a high end soft dome from ScanSpeak or Seas can be very good. Good soft domes nowaday (those costing at least $200 or more) really offer the best of both worlds - speed, detail, but with the sweetness that we usually associate with typical soft domes. The ScanSpeak AirCir or Seas Crescendo are actually some of the best in the world. The Crescendo is a bout $350 each and the AirCir is about $200 - $350 depending on specific variation.

Ceramic tweeters may have a lot of details and may have less distortion but I don’t think they have the speed of the soft domes.

I haven’t heard Be dome personally but yeah people say they can have too much detail if not implemented properly.

A good tweeter can elevate the sound to another level.  Of course make sure you have some decent caps for the tweeter xover.
richopp
760 posts
 
Change to Maggies and you will feel much better at the bar, I promise!
erik_squires OP
17,577 posts
 
@andy2

I have not heard a high end diamond tweeter, but in terms of distortion, dynamic range, lack of stored energy and smooth frequency response, the top end AMTs are world class in my mind.

I've also heard horrible AMTs so YMMV.


I doubt if you can tell one decent tweeter from another


What is the bar for decent?  If most Be are decent, then yeah, I think you can hear the difference between the best and the decent.

andy2
1,619 posts
 
Change to Maggies and you will feel much better at the bar, I promise!

Hm... Interesting  because I've listened to couple of Maggies and they lack the details of the conventional drivers.

larryi
4,615 posts
 
I also like the AMT tweeter in the recent versions I've heard; they seem to integrate well with other drivers, something that is tough to do with ribbon-type tweeters.  

I have recently been wondering about what I really want a tweeter to do in a system.  I've heard some systems with full or extended range drivers with and without a tweeter.  The main benefit of cutting in the tweeter in these systems was not an extension of the frequency range, but primarily a smoothing out of the overall frequency response.

I have been listening to old and new (reproductions) versions of field coil compression tweeters (Western Electric 597) and I have been taken by how little one actually notices the tweeter--one just hears a smooth and natural sound.  It is not a tweeter that adds much obvious sparkle on top, but the systems I've heard just sound better with this tweeter.  The really bad news is the cost.  These things go from about $13k a pair to near $60k (souped up G.I.P. version), and they also need a power supply for the electromagnets.
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