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ribbons vs domes and sibilance

I came upon a thread from the DiyAudio site titled "Can you have sparkling treble but without sibilance?" from 2011. The discussion is very technical and as such, completely over my head but one participant asserted that ribbons are far less prone to sibilance than domes. 

Here's an excerpt for the technically minded: :

... the middle of the dome basically flops about doing it's own thing at high frequencies as it's only very loosely coupled to the edge because of it's own less than infinite stiffness. Thus any distortion or resonances that occur due to the middle of the dome bending and moving in non-piston ways are not reflected back to the amplifier via back EMF... when the ribbon is only 8mm wide compared to a 25mm dome, there is far less narrowing of dispersion with increasing frequency than a dome. The directivity control is achieved with a wave-guide instead. This is why a wave-guide loaded ribbon can achieve an almost constant 90 degree horizontal dispersion from 2Khz right up to 20Khz - the ribbon element itself is far less directional horizontally at high frequencies than a dome, with the wave-guide then adding in a constant directivity control.

I'm wondering whether any forum members have compared speakers with domes and ribbons in regard to sibilance and arrived at any conclusions. 

stuartk
tonywinga's avatar
tonywinga
844 posts
 

One more comment and then I‘ll stop.  Promise.

This is about my room.  I just thought of this.  True story:  The Heating and Air guy was here the other day to service my heat pump.  He saw my listening room and took an interest in the room treatments.  We were standing in the “Zone“, ie right in front of my listening position.  I said to him, “Listen to my voice.  Note how clear and crisp my voice sounds.  This is not like a typical room that has some echo that would smear the sound of my voice.“. Then I clapped my hands a couple of times and I told him to remember how that sounds.  So when we were outside, I clapped my hands again so he could hear how similar it sounded to the clap in my listening room.  

stuartk OP
2,355 posts
 

@tonywinga 

Thanks for going into detail. You provide percentages for contribution of room, electronics and cables. What percentage would you guess is associated with power conditioning? 

@nonoise 

Good to know. 

 

 

tonywinga's avatar
tonywinga
844 posts
 

Well, the Niagara had a pretty good effect on the highs. I remember that. I lump it into electronics because I‘m struggling to remember that level of detail. One thing that was disappointing really- I believed that I didn‘t need better power cords for the DAC, Streamer, and preamps since I had the Niagara. That turned out not to be the case. Better power cords still lowered the noise floor on these front end components.

Some people report little to no change with power conditioners. I had a good experience. I brought the Niagara home from Hifi Buys in Atlanta. I could have returned it easily enough if I hadn‘t heard a significant improvement.  I also have two dedicated circuits.  The amps are on one circuit with no power conditioning but with really good power cords.

stuartk OP
2,355 posts
 

@tonywinga 

Thanks. 

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