Best dome tweeter? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff_Wi]

Can anyone recommend some of the best dome tweeters? I am only interested in sound quality.

 

[ScottCHI]

do you mean just the tweeters only? or are you interested in speakers with "dome tweeters"?

and why are you only interested in "dome tweeters"? other factors, like what the dome is made of, for example, can have more of an influence on a tweeter's sound than simply the fact that it's a "dome". why only "dome tweeters"?

btw, asking what the "best" dome tweeter is is like asking what's the best flavor ice cream.

 

[Jeff_Wi]

Yeah, I suppose it is a pretty loose question. I am just interested in what tweeters sound the most natural. It seems that I hear a lot of systems that don't reproduce cymbals very naturally. Often times sounding harsh, metallic, tinny, etc.. I know there are a number of situations that can cause this including poor recordings. I guess it doesn't have to be a dome, but am not interested in horn loaded or paper cones.

 

[ScottCHI]

i'd be careful with those sorts of generalizations relating the sound to the tweeter's type or even it's material. it really comes down to personal preference. what sounds perfect to one person, sounds harsh to someone else, etc., regardless of the details. i know that one generalization people try and make is that metal domes are more harsh, but more articulate, than silk domes. this may be very loosely true, but i wouldn't let that alone determine which speakers i was interested in purchasing.

my advice is listen, listen, listen. try and NOT bias yourself regarding details about the speaker's construction, like domed tweeter or not, etc... the speaker you're looking for may indeed have a horn-loaded tweeter. just don't limit your choices. who knows? you may be surprised.

 

[Jeff_Wi]

I agree with all of your points. Maybe I should narrow it down. What is the genereal opinion about Vifa tweeteres? If you are building a speaker system, how do you select a tweeter or any other driver component withut being able to hear it first? Electrical specs are great, but as mentioned elsewhere, they don't tell you how they sound.

 

[ScottCHI]

did you try the DIY forum, perhaps? there are some great books available, too.

yes, getting the components right is what makes the speaker; that's the whole art. one thing you could do is look at some of the kits that are available from places like parts express and see what driver combos they are selling in their kits. these are "tried-and-true" combos, so to speak. this can provide some guidance.

vifa tweeters are very highly regarded around here. speakers that are spec'd with those (that come to mind) are the Polk LSi series and the higher end Rockets.

 

[Robert_Dufresne]

Jeff

Definitely METAL DOME, no less than 1 inch . How can I make such a statement ???. Just look at the flagship models from the most respected speaker makers.

Scott

There are good drivers and bad drivers. It is not a matter of personal preference . A drivers ability to accurately reproduce a wave form without coloration is what dictates its quality or lack thereof. It has nothing to do with your or my preferences.

 

[ScottCHI]

sure it does. everyone hears things completely differently. what sounds great to me might sound like crap to you. it has EVERYTHING to do with yours or my preferences. why do you think Jeff_Wi has so many choices when he goes looking for a tweeter?

btw, everyone knows ben and jerry's coconut almond fudge is the best.

 

[Jeff_Wi]

Nah, Rocky Road!!!

 

[Marcelo T]

Well, from my experience, I'd go with a soft dome for natural sound, and the best I ever heard was the dynaudio esotar2 tweeter. Dynaudio speakers are the few that can reproduce the true sound of a cymbal (I play bass in a rock band, and IMHO, I know how a real cymbal sounds like )

 

[Blkout]

Dynaudio sounds dull and lifeless.


JM Labs inverted titanium domes sound fantastic.

 

[Marcelo T]

Well, the fantastic for one is the bright/metallic for others. , never heard this jmlab, but I'm yet to hear a metal tweeter that is so natural as the dynauido Esotar. Anyway, this is like discusting your favorite color, no right answer.

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

Some of this might be the inherent defect in the codec used to make CD's- sample rate is just too low for for the highest frequencies. Really good tweeters will reproduce the slightly clipped data faithfully and perhaps worsen the problem. Try SACD or DVD-A and see if you still notice this problem.

 

[ScottCHI]

no! not dynaudio! coconut almond fudge!

 

[John Garcia]

The crossover is just as important when it comes to the sound of a speaker, particularly the tweeter, and if you plan to build great sounding speakers, you are going to need to do a LOT of experimentation. You already answered most of your own question: You CAN'T pick a tweeter based on specs alone.

In general, I have always preferred soft dome tweeters. For music, they are simply the most natural.

I agree that the JM Labs inverted "tioxid" dome tweeters sound pretty darn good; with the right x-over, they sound almost like soft domes.

My bedroom speakers, Mordaunt Short 902s, use aluminum domes and they sound so clean sounding that I can't believe they are metal domes sometimes.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I use ths Vifa XT25 in my DIY speakers but when I get the money i'll be upgrading to the Scanspecks D2904/9800

 

[Robert_Dufresne]

OK One more time

The better speaker is the one that reproduces music with the most fidelity without coloration. They don't call it HiFi for nothing.

The ultimate speaker (and system) reproduces source material exactly the way it was recorded. Not warmer, brighter or more metallic . It has nothing to do with yours or my preferences .

Warm, bright, metallic are all subjective adjectives that we use to describe how we perceive the sound reproduced from a speaker . One person may prefer a speaker that has a warmer sound and another a speaker that is brighter. However they can't both be true to the source.

What kind of music you like is a matter of taste. Its accurate reproduction is not.

 

[ScottCHI]

yeah, and which one is that? how do you measure which one produces music with the most fidelity? how do you measure the coloration? a flat frequency response is meaningless in describing what a speaker will sound like for it's but one characteristic of a speaker.

why don't we all use this one single "best speaker" that you speak of? my point, exactly.

i could have a silk dome and a metal dome that are indistingishable by any scientific measurements available yet they'd sound distinctly different from one another when reproducing music.

those "colorations" are what distinguish one speaker from another. as far as i know, there is no perfect speaker.

theoretically, of course, what you're saying must be true. but it's neither verifiable, testable, nor provable.

 

[Sam A]

"i could have a silk dome and a metal dome that are indistingishable by any scientific measurements available yet they'd sound distinctly different from one another when reproducing music." then why do i read that a well designed ported sub will sound just as good as a sealed sub.

isnt it based on sound wave energy radiation? if tweeter A makes sound waves equal to tweeter B then they are the same right? or am I missing aomething? or is the scientbific comunity cmissinge somethingf?

 

[John Garcia]

Whether you like the way a particular speaker sounds or not is a personal thing. I completely agree with ScottCHI, it is those slight colorations that make a certain speaker appeal to someone. Flat response alone DOES NOT guarantee a good sounding speaker.