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Tekton speakers with Ribbon / AMT ??

Anyone out there have any Tekton speakers with either ribbon or AMT tweeter?? Uruz owners perhaps?

I have finally decided to order a pair of Encore loudspeakers. Upgrading from the Double Impacts. 

I've been back and forth as to which speaker to order. Encore vs. Moab. vs Ulfberht......Well, I had a chance to talk to Eric at Tekton the other day. I asked about Beryllium tweeter on the Encore and he certainly can make that happen. At that time, he brought up the idea of using a ribbon tweeter.  I have seen zero examples of his larger speakers with that tweeter installed. He seemed very confident in the ability to integrate it into the design. I enjoyed the enthusiasm, so much so that it prompted me to go for it. Experimental blood in my veins I guess. 

That being said, I am curious if there are other individuals out there with Tekton speakers with ribbon tweeters?  and what their take might be. Impressions? Downsides? Yes, I realize the standard design is fantastic. But I'm a tinkerer at heart. Willing to try things unseen, unheard assuming the risk isnt too much. 

Eric said he could use two different brand drivers. Fountek, and Mundorf. Both very linear responses. Both something he felt very east to integrate into the current design. Mundorf being the bees knees, but at an additional cost. 


So, bottom line,  I gave him the green light to go to crazy and use the Mundorf driver and see what kinda unique loudspeaker he could create.  

Also, side note.....I guess a true ribbon tweeter is not exactly AMT?? Casually interchangeable terms? Not exactly sure the specifics as to why thy aren't the same.  

But I'm so damm curious how he can integrate this into his current Encore design that I'm willing to try it out. 

audiophile adventure proceeds
128x128whacky
viber6
2,448 posts
 
As ricevs said, use of Be may be more critical for very HF. But since Be has advantages of high rigidity with low mass, it probably would let the midrange sound more accurate as well as HF. Since midrange is the most critical for musical authenticity, if money is no object, then using Be for all 15 tweeters in the Ulf, Encore, Moab would be best. In the Electron SE, there are only 7 tweeters, so the Be upgrade is cheaper, although the lower freq range cutoff is higher and then below 400-600 Hz, the inferior 5" driver is used. I am just guessing 400-600 Hz as a cutoff for the single array used in the lower models.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,816 posts
 

@asvjerry: For woofers that can "keep pace" with your Heil AMT’s, check out the OB/Dipole Sub offered by GR Research in collaboration with Rythmik Audio. 12" servo-feedback woofers (two or three) mounted in an H-frame (or M-frame if you prefer, in which case for two woofers only), with the Rythmik A370 plate amp into which is installed a dipole-cancellation compensation shelving circuit (which enables the sub to reproduce frequencies into the teens). That the sub shares the dipole radiation characteristics of the Heil driver makes it particularly appropriate for that application. Unlike "normal" subs, usable up to 300Hz. Details on the GR Research and Rythmik Audio websites, discussion about the sub on the AudioCircle GR Research Forum.

Ric Schultz (ricevs above) used that very sub system in the excellent loudspeakers he was offering when all the NEO Magnetic-Planar drivers (Neo3, Neo8, Neo10) were available. Known for their "lean" (none of the all-too common "plumpness" of most subs), clean ("stop-on-a-dime" characteristic), "fast" (return to rest when the signal stops, with no "overshoot") sound quality.

arion's avatar
arion
160 posts
 
Boy, this forum can be decapitating but here goes.

Ribbons, planar magnetic and AMT drivers are not the same. We design and build all three types so we know a thing or two about them. I categorize them as light membrane drivers. Like everything else, there are many variations of each type. To say that all AMT drivers sound the same or that all ribbons sound the same is inaccurate. Not to mention all the different dimensions they are built to. 

The frontal dimensions of a driver and its frequency range influence the dispersion pattern through that range. To substitute a small round driver in the middle of a circular array with a driver that has a very different dispersion pattern is problematic at best and probably the main reason the circular array is replaced with one AMT. A circular array of AMT drivers is unlikely to be unrealized. We have played with multi-directional AMT and planar drivers. Hard to model and measure.

Obviously, we feel that our OB AMT line array is a very elegant approach. Our customers tell us that our dipole (OB) woofer modules are "very fast" and integrate seamlessly with our very accurate AMT line arrays. They are DSP controlled in both the amplitude and time domains. In the near future we plan on releasing stand alone OB subwoofers. They will be a good match for many panel speaker. The upper limit is 200 Hz.



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