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Diamond drivers

Out of curiosity I was wondering why diamond speaker units seem to be on the rise. Brands like Marten Design and B&W and many more are selling speakers with diamon tweeters. So what does make a diamond tweeter so good? Or is it just marketing hype. Although I doubt Janzen en Accuton are just making diamond tweeters for marketing reasons.

Yesterday evening I spend two and a half hours listening to the new Raidho D-1 speakers, they use a ribbon tweeter and a diamond mid/bass unit. I have to say this is the best monitor speaker I have ever heard. It is also a 17.000euro monitor speaker so for that price it better be very good.
mordante
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kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Steve Mowry says in the article "The Whole Truth About Beryllium Diaphragms: -

"For a given geometry the first bending (break-up) frequency is proportional to the material Speed Of Sound, where the speed of sound within a material is defined as the square root of the YoungÂ’s Modulus divided by the Mass Density, (m/s); the higher the better. However, the Mass of the diaphragm must also be considered. Then the ratio of the Speed Of Sound to the Mass Density can be used as the materialsÂ’ acoustic figure of merit, (m4/kg/s); the higher the better."

After that he shows values of "Acoustic Figure of Merit" for different material (higher the better)in m4/kg/s

Berillum - 6.97
Diamond - 4.92
Aluminum - 1.86
Titanium - 1.13
Steel - 0.63
bo1972's avatar
bo1972
2,789 posts
 
I can give you an example. The 800 diamond series compared to the Monitor Audio Platinum series. The Monitor Audio with there ribbon tweeter let you hear more information than the diamond tweeter of B&W. It makes depth even more easy to get. At the end it is about the quality and resolution you can hear! There is a big difference in filters they use and make.
bhobba's avatar
bhobba
303 posts
 
They are not marketing hype in the sense they have genuinely lower distortion. They probably are in the sense of making an audible difference commensurate with the cost.

A speaker maker I know (and he is not the only one) says the order of priority in what makes a speaker sound good is enclose resonance, crossover quality, then drivers. Most of the time enclosure resonance swamps any advantages in drivers. The best speaker I have ever heard uses the $75.00 HDS tweeter while my speaker uses a $500.00 Morel Supreme. It's a better tweeter and you can hear a slight difference - its a bit darker than the HDS - but the other speaker is way ahead because its lined internally with 1/4 inch copper plate, has 1 inch iron bracing and heaps of copper angle bracing giving it 1/20th the resonance of my speakers which are already lined with steel. It also uses Duelund Cast capacitors instead of VSF Copper. It is way more dynamic and articulate than my speaker.

Thanks
Bill
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