I gre out of Be Tweeters


I was at a bar the other day (well probably yesterday .... hahahah)


In any event, I was discussing how much my taste in beer has changed. I started with lagers, especially Mexican brands. Then I became a Guiness snob, and then I went over to IPAs and Belgian Abbey-style ales. Now while I can tolerate a lager, I can't stand a Belgian white at all. 


What makes me think of this here is tweeters. There was a short period of time when I thought I loved Be tweeters. I've grown completely out of them. I don't particularly like the "affordable" diamond tweeters either. I'm done.


What about you? Is there a technology you liked  earlier in this hobby and now have turned completely against?
erik_squires
@andy2

I have not heard a high end diamond tweeter, but in terms of distortion, dynamic range, lack of stored energy and smooth frequency response, the top end AMTs are world class in my mind.

I've also heard horrible AMTs so YMMV.


I doubt if you can tell one decent tweeter from another


What is the bar for decent?  If most Be are decent, then yeah, I think you can hear the difference between the best and the decent.

Change to Maggies and you will feel much better at the bar, I promise!

Hm... Interesting  because I've listened to couple of Maggies and they lack the details of the conventional drivers.

I also like the AMT tweeter in the recent versions I've heard; they seem to integrate well with other drivers, something that is tough to do with ribbon-type tweeters.  

I have recently been wondering about what I really want a tweeter to do in a system.  I've heard some systems with full or extended range drivers with and without a tweeter.  The main benefit of cutting in the tweeter in these systems was not an extension of the frequency range, but primarily a smoothing out of the overall frequency response.

I have been listening to old and new (reproductions) versions of field coil compression tweeters (Western Electric 597) and I have been taken by how little one actually notices the tweeter--one just hears a smooth and natural sound.  It is not a tweeter that adds much obvious sparkle on top, but the systems I've heard just sound better with this tweeter.  The really bad news is the cost.  These things go from about $13k a pair to near $60k (souped up G.I.P. version), and they also need a power supply for the electromagnets.
I hate all modern hard and light material tweeters including beryllium, diamond, Spendor LPZ, Tannoy super-tweeters ...
All of them sound not natural, scratchy, itchy, intrusively, whistling, tiresome.