Ribbon tweeters...out of favor these days?


Hi,

Just a quick question about ribbon tweeters on tower speakers. Has the technology with metal dome and fabric dome tweeters produced results that obviate the need for or advantage of ribbon tweeters. I know that some manufactures such as VMPS and Legacy still seem to favor ribbons, at least as a super tweeter.

But I have been researching speakers, and it seems most of the mid to upper line brands such as B&W, Thiel, Vandersteen, Eggleston, and others employ some type of dome tweeter.

What are the relative advantages/disavantages of each type for a 50/50 mix of music and home theater?
mtrot
still lots of us with Magnepan's, don't think think they are getting any less popular in the Audiophile community
I finally found a metal dome tweeter that equals or beats the metal dome tweeter in my Avalon Avatars, the Berrylium tweeter in my new Usher BE 718s.
These speakers both sound great, to me.
Neither speaker can re-create the thunderstorm at the beginning of Wings "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", as convincingly as my Apogee Mini Grands could. This is my reference track for any new speaker I get, as far as dynamics go.
You just need to understand no point source tweeter (like a dome) can deliver the energy a line source (like a ribbon) is capable of reproducing. Ribbons can range from an inch to 6 feet, or more.
You'll see some manufacturers using many point source tweeters to try to increase hi frequency output. This is complicated & expensive, because all the tweeters should be matched in output as closely as possible.
I'd say it all comes down to personal preference. Some listeners just get spoiled by large ribbon speakers.
Unfortunately, the best ones need room to breathe & are very sensative to the quality of all components upstream of the speakers...
I have used ribbons, Leak 3090, Apogee Duetta Signatures, They are fine but hard to integrate with cones and very expensive if used for all drivers. I actually like the older fabric domes better than the new metal ones, for me the question is how the whole range of the speaker works together. Each type of driver has advantages, you just have to decide what set of virtues appeals to you the most.
I prefer the ribbon tweeter combo like on my Dali Helicon 300 and Ascendo C8 Renaissance.
Thanks, I am only asking about dome vs ribbon tweeters on conventional cone type tower speakers. I'm not considering full ribbon speakers. I guess I am surprised that more manufacturers don't employ the ribbon tweeter or super tweeter. I always thought they were supposed to be faster and provide more HF extension without distortion than dome tweeters. But I see all these esoteric brands are going with metal or fabric domes. Hence, my question as to whether domes have essentially caught up or surpassed ribbons in overall sound quality.