Let's talk Tweeters!

I was under the impression that the Pass article was specifically regarding full range single drivers being driven by a solid state voltage source amplifier with a very high damping factor. The so-called resistor trick mimics a lower damping factor which in many cases makes the speaker “think” it’s being driven by a current source. I’m sure there’s a much better technical explanation but this was my takeaway when I read his article several months ago.

The ribbon tweeter festooned speakers didn't work out, but the little single ended amp did. Now I have horn loaded tweeters in Klipsch Heresy IIIs that sound amazingly uncolored and sweet, and image like crazy. Great speakers.

The Heresy speakers were the only klipsch speakers I liked.  Just too small for my needs.  Also, the Dyn Esotar tweeters are pretty good as well.

I'm a horn guy well - for the entire frequency spectrum, that is (currently contemplating a tapped horn subwoofer to augment my main all-horn speakers, that would replace my well-integrated SVS SB16-Ultra) - and prefer horn-loaded compression drivers for tweeter duties. S.P. Tech's waveguide-loaded dome tweeters also sound very good (at one point I owned S.P. Tech's Timepiece model). 

I guess the sonic takeaway from this has to do with how the dome/diaphragm couples with the air "gradually" via the acoustic impedance transformer (the horn or waveguide), how the driver is effectively "relieved" through the horn/waveguide and hereby sporting much higher sensitivity to make for better headroom, dispersion characteristics that involves less early reflections, and not least that a bigger air radiation area is set in motion - one that far exceeds that of the dome/diaphragm itself. 

The cumulative outcome of this and how it's perceived sonically, to my ears, is a more relaxed/effortless, potentially more ingrained (with the midrange), and a more substance-filled, energized or "ignited" sound. It doesn't sound like a tweeter per se in the typical sense (and I believe there is one, a "typical sense"), and that's the whole point; focusing on high frequencies has a tendency of wanting them to "sound like something," almost like a distinct entity, but it comes at the cost coherency and of live, acoustic sound - again, to my ears. I once owned a pair of Raidho Ayra C1.1 speakers, and they sported the perhaps most enjoyable, delicate and intricate sound of the upper frequency span of any speaker I've owned, and as such I couldn't fault them. Ultimately though I found they lacked a real-ness here, which wasn't exclusive to the high frequencies. 

I find it largely fruitless to be brand-specific with tweeters. What matters is the principle and implementation.