What are the differences in Tweeter materials?

Getting back to the OP, I think most people break it down to metal domes, fabric domes or ribbons. There are others exotic ones, such as plasma, but that's not really the issue, IMO. Many people seem to think that metal domes are harsh and silk domes are sweet - after all, it's silk, right? From what I have heard in many years of involvement in this hobby, is that a speaker designer can manipulate the output of a tweeter by padding it down or mounting it in a certain way. So it's more the designer's choices than the tweeter material that will determine the sound. Remember - bright speakers are initially impressive, leading to a quick sale. However, this becomes tiresome at home - hence the endless posts here about bright or harsh systems. The moral is - listen to the speaker as a whole and use your ears. The tweeter or woofer or cabinet material might be intellectually interesting, but ultimately, you have to like listening to the thing.

Metal domes = ear fatigue

Natural fibre dome tweeters silk & textile (usually the same) = sonic bliss

Ribbon tweeters = only minor ear fatigue as well as make your dog a little crazy

Paper tweeters = 1965

Inverted domes = Focal

Diamond tweeters = in vogue in Beverly Hills and parts of Russia not PC due to their impact on the people of South Africa

Poly domes? = toss

helps?

Q

@ Chayro,

I don't think I have come across one metal dome tweeter that I really liked, no matter how well the designer manipulated it to try and give it a smooth sound. Some companies such as Vandersteen seem to do a pretty good job of implementing them though.

@Quad-man

My father still has the original Advent Large speakers that he bought in the 1970's. They use a 3 inch paper driver. I think it sounds great. I don't think any modern day manufacture uses them anymore except Bose.

I keep wondering what is a Textile dome tweeter? What is it made of? How does it differ from cloth domes, poly domes, and synthetic silk domes?

My first speakers were a pair of the original Paradigm 7se's. They used a textile dome tweeter. I always thought textile domes were a little bit harder than soft domes but not metal?

@ zd542,

I'm sorry if I seemed offended by your post. You said, "How come you didn't include camel hair tweeters in you list of soft dome materials?"

Camel hair? I guess I never heard of tweeters being made with camel hair before.

What manufacture uses Camel Hair in their tweeters?

I will be interested to know.