soft dome versus hard dome tweeters


As my internet window shopping continues, I was reading on some speakers that listed for the tweeter textile dome and also silk dome.

So then I used the 'search discussion' function on this site on the subject of soft versus hard dome tweeters and it seemed as if most of the members who offered opinions used that "harsh" and "fatiguing" and "ringing" to describe how they felt about hard dome speakers. In the admittedly short time that I spent reading, I was not picking up a lot of love for hard dome tweeters.

But there are reputable speaker manufacturers that seem to have gone the extra mile to make their hard dome tweeters as hard as possible using, for example, beryllium or artificial(?) diamond dust.

I wouldn't expect a consensus on much of anything audio, but did I just by luck to find responses by mostly people who prefer soft dome tweeters?  Because if they really sound that bad (harsh/fatiguing/ringing) in comparison, why would reputable manufacturers choose this route?  And I do realize that appreciation of a sonic effect is subjective, so did I just happen on responses by members who had mostly the same subjective perception?

immatthewj

Those who denigrate hard domes and lump them all into the same category haven’t heard any quality ones. A good quality beryllium, diamond or carbon tweeter will outperform nearly any soft dome and sound less fatiguing in the process. Even the $300+ soft domes from Seas and Scanspeak do not sound as extended and realistic as a good beryllium to my ears. And most manufacturers are not employing soft domes near the caliber of a $350 Seas Excel. 

Even the $60 anodized aluminum tweeter from SB Acoustics outperforms a lot of pricier soft domes. 

I run a set of Linkwitz Orions I put together in 2006.  They use the SEAS millennium tweeter.  In fact, being an open baffle design, they use 4 of them.  Two facing the front and two facing the rear.  I believe theyʻre crossover at 1000 hz.  Very expense, but thatʻs because they have exceptional power handling.

They have a mid-range that I find to be unsurpassed on acoustic piano, voices and acoustic instruments.  Just incredible. 

That same tweeter is used in any number of hi-end commercial systems, not the least of which are the $14,000+ designs from Joseph Audio.

I canʻt speak to the hard dome tweeters youʻre mentioning, but the SEAS millennium tweeter is just amazing.  Not cheap though...

I really like ribbon tweeters. The ribbon tweeter in the ProAc speakers are exceptional. That said the the Dynaudio Esotar 3 is the best tweeter I’ve ever heard.

Personally I prefer soft domes. Have had both .

And,  I also enjoy Ribbon Tweeters

I found hard domes could be fatiguing after an hour and or played loudly .They did seem to have slightly more clarity and precision. Just not my cup of tea over the long haul.

YMMV as expected

Application Application Application

The best sounding tweeter I have ever owned was in a speaker made by Harbeth, it used a Seas aluminum dome with ferrofluid cooling. Cymbals had a magical shimmer to them, midrange had additional detail and the integration between woofer and tweeter was seamless and coherent.

Aluminum domes often take more work and crossover parts to make them sound so exceptional- namely the need for low pass filters on the very top end to squelch any rising breakup distortion.

Get them right and they are hard to beat. Get them wrong and they are impossible to listen to.