Tweeter recommendation close to MDT33

I disagree with Trelja, on the "what is behind a driver is MORE important than the driver itself". This is wrong, but the components upstream of the driver are nearly as important as the driver, they just aren't MORE important.....Also, to Chipster, the treated paper Morel woofers ARE the same ones used in the Eggleston Andra, and I own those woofers as well............Additionally, the MDT-33 is a TRIPLE magnet tweeter, and hence is surpassed in motor strength by only one other 1 inch dome tweeter (and it's NOT the Esotar): it's the Focal unit in the Utopia line. However, I don't consider ANY Focal tweeter to be comparable to any of the soft domes we are discussing here (even the affordable Vifa), because of the Focal's design being inherently undamped, and ringing at 17 kHz, well within the audible range. The motor and structure of the $2000 Focal tweeter is to be admired, however, and if they ever make an edge driven soft dome variant (not likely), I would suddenly get interested in JM Labs...

We have two areas of disagreement, Carl. First, the easy one. The Morel 6" midrange used by Eggleston is polypropylene, not paper. No room for argument on that one. The second point is more a matter of opinion. In my experience, a $25 tweeter(such as the aforementioned Vifa) can easily sound better than the $100+ models by using exotic quality parts behind it, coupled with good crossover design. Those parts would include film(polystyrene or teflon) and foil(aluminum, tin, copper, or silver) capacitors(haven't tried oil filled), silicone wire wound resistors, and reference quality wire. How many loudspeakers use these capacitors or resistors? I guarantee you it is an incredibly short list. And usually they will only use those caps to bypass a cheaper(but still good) one. That being said, the more expensive tweeter with those same exotic parts will be superior to the cheaper tweeter. No disagreement there.

I have owned the MDT33 and the Dynaudio Esotar and they are virtually constructed the same. Their technical info. sheets reveal them alost indistinguishable. Physically the Dynaudioa are much larger due to the mounting baffle which they claim acts as a heat sink. Though in my listening experience, the dynaudios infact sound better. I have no clue as to why they do.

I should clarify one of the arguments I have been making. You CANNOT use any $25 tweeter to get the kind of results I was speaking of. In fact, of all of the drivers I have come across, only a scant few are capable of excellent performance. Most sound like $25 tweeters. I do not like metal dome tweeters in most instances(and they usually dominate this price point). To my ears, they are much too prone to harshness, distortion, and ringing than a soft dome. Most of these drivers have to be compensated for at some stage of the game(in the crossover, electronics, or interconnect/speaker cable), and that to me is just not right. I find the silk dome Vifa D27TG to be an aberration. 95% of the performance of the expensive tweeters we have been discussing, for 20%(or less) of the price. I used to dabble in some Vifa(among others) tweeters, and thought they were competant, but not outstanding. Just very commendable performance, especially for the price. But the D27TG line redefines what one can expect and hear. I do agree with Carl(as we have both stated here many times) that the Focal tweeters are horrendous. Whether they be Ti, TiO2, or Kevlar, they always send me running as fast as I can away from them. I have not heard the expensive JMLabs line, but I have heard some mighty expensive products that use these tweeters and wondered how anyone could ever buy them.

I have been using the Vifa D27TG-45-06 tweeter in a pair of custom speakers for over a year, and have been extremely pleased with their performance. This model is the bulged faced version of the 27TG series. I can honestly say that they are without a doubt the best soft dome tweeter, for the price, on the market. The resolve very well, and with a good crossover can "compete" with the greats. Obviously there are better tweeters, but not at this price. I have never heard the Morels, so I cannot give you a comparison. Try the vifa's you will not be sorry.