The best tweeter design

In your opinion, where does an HVFR (High Velocity Folded Ribbon) rank in the pecking order? To my understanding, second (to the Plasma at #1).

Depending on lightness of the diaphragm, and the motor that drives it, I would perhaps rate it at No4.

Cheers George 

One utilizing the voice box of an actual small bird. Creepy but effective.

The plasma is very fine tweeter, the Lansche Speakers don't feel emotionally engaging to me, i find them very accurate and would love to put them in a studio.

Well, just my opinion of course but...

The best tweeter/high end I’ve ever heard is still the MBL radialstrahler
omni design.

I still distinctly remember first encountering them at CES in 2000, wandering the grounds I suddenly heard for the first time what really sounded like live music coming from a room. I entered and the MBL 101Ds were playing some jazz. Aside from the obvious imaging and clarity, what struck me was the realism of the drum cymbals - they were actually full, big, round, dimensional and shimmered in the air like real drum cymbals. In contrast, every other speaker at that show, or that I’d ever heard before, sounded squeezed, like "tweeters."

Subsequently I heard various iterations of the 101s in better conditions and that aspect of their sound reproduction always impressed me. I finally got hold of a pair of MBL 121 monitors several years ago, which I keep around even as I go through other high end full range speakers. Every time I play the MBLs they just embarrass just about everything I’ve heard in terms of natural high frequencies - the most effortless, natural detail I’ve ever heard.  I know Jonathan Valin of AS touted the MBL tweeter as the best he'd heard for quite a long time (though I think he's described some new speakers as even better).

(I recently auditioned Raidho speakers, thinking of buying a pair, and their high end was indeed smooth, but overall they didn’t impress me as much as the MBLs).

Implementation is everything.

Integration with the speaker and the room second.

The material of the tweeter, or technology, a close 3rd.

And I like the best AMT's over the best ribbons, and certainly over the plasma tweets. 

True horns.... in the right place. There are real trade-offs when you go that route, including the size of the best makes them harder to live with.

Best,


E