It's not the meat, it's the motion.
soft dome versus hard dome tweeters
As my internet window shopping continues, I was reading on some speakers that listed for the tweeter textile dome and also silk dome.
So then I used the 'search discussion' function on this site on the subject of soft versus hard dome tweeters and it seemed as if most of the members who offered opinions used that "harsh" and "fatiguing" and "ringing" to describe how they felt about hard dome speakers. In the admittedly short time that I spent reading, I was not picking up a lot of love for hard dome tweeters.
But there are reputable speaker manufacturers that seem to have gone the extra mile to make their hard dome tweeters as hard as possible using, for example, beryllium or artificial(?) diamond dust.
I wouldn't expect a consensus on much of anything audio, but did I just by luck to find responses by mostly people who prefer soft dome tweeters? Because if they really sound that bad (harsh/fatiguing/ringing) in comparison, why would reputable manufacturers choose this route? And I do realize that appreciation of a sonic effect is subjective, so did I just happen on responses by members who had mostly the same subjective perception?
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Agree with what @knotscott has posted here. I have some possibly unique additional input. My favorite speakers are Scientific Fidelity Teslas (I also own Von Schweikert, PSB, Maggneplanar, and B&W, and I’ve heard several others in my listening space). But the Teslas date from the late 1980s, and I’ve had to have the 6.5 inch mid-woofers rebuilt by Millersound. The tweeters are aluminum dome by Vifa that employ waveguides. Since I had to mess around with the other drivers, I consulted with some knowledgable folks I trust, and acquired a pair of Seas textile dome tweeters that closely matched the Vifas w/r/t crossover point, efficiency and frequency response to see if the Teslas might sound even better so equipped. (The only issue I had with the Vifas was a slight stridency in the high midrange: certain female voices and a part of the violin’s range was a bit harsh to my ears.) Well, as @knotscott put it, the textile dome was "less revealing," and maybe a little less strident...but also less exciting, and instrumental timbre seemed to me slightly less accurate. Of course, that’s just comparing two specific incarnations of aluminum vs. textile dome tweeters. I wouldn’t claim this observation must apply to all such comparisons that are possible. Still, it’s a direct comparison of these two technologies in the very same speaker, matched as closely as possible. BTW, although I’ve never had problems with the Vifa aluminum domes, they were as old as the speakers, and ferro fluid filled (which can degrade over time), so when I found an unused pair for sale on eBay with a more recent date code, I snatched them up and installed them. The Teslas sound like new now. |
horn loaded titanium compression driver Klipsch Forte, RPM 160. also have a pair of vintage Infinity CS with EMIT tweeter. The Vienna Acoustics are the “warmest” with very sweet clear treble. Focals are neutral midrange, tight warm base and clear, clean, crisp twinkling treble. Not harsh or fatiguing. Infinity have surprisingly good treble extension and sparkle driven by a vintage Crown DC300A. All other speakers are driven by various tube amps, KT-88, 300b, EL34 and 845. The Klipsch are least “warm” but have incredible dynamic presence, soundstage, less base thump than Focals, with detailed, slightly forward midrange and treble extension to past 20kHz. Klipsch are my #1 go-to for immersive sound. |
There are many drivers of all sorts of design, soft dome, hard dome, compression drivers, ribbon, heil, etc. that sound good. One of my favorites is ancient—the Western Electric 597 fieldcoil compression tweeter. I heard the souped up G.I.P. Laboratories currently manufactured version of that driver in killer systems; that driver costs $60k per pair and require a power supply (and good ones don’t come cheap). |
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