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What is your favorite type of tweeter?

It seems to me that 98% of speakers under $1000/pr use dome tweeters, 95% of speakers under $5000/pr use domes, 92% of speakers under $10000/pr use domes, and 90% of speakers over $10000/pr use domes. Do those stats seem reasonable?

If a manufacturer were designing a new loudspeaker at a $5K or $10K price point, would there be a bias in favor of domes, in order to stick with a known, familiar entity, or a bias away from domes, in order to create interest and set oneself apart from the competition?

This forum does not have a "Poll" function, so I can't ask everyone to vote for their favorite type of tweeter. But I will be grateful for any comments.
javachip
paul_goldstone
6 posts
 
I have metal dome tweeters from 2-5k and the Acapella Ion plasma tweeters above that. I like them without exception far better than any other tweeter I've ever heard, and fortunately, no, they don't smell :-). If anyone is curious about these I will be happy to share my experience with them.
Paul
martykl
3,563 posts
 
I always suspected that the Gallo tweeter would be a great candidate for a Walsh type omni system in the price range specified by the OP. These drivers match up nicely with >300 degree horizontal dispersion and their extended bandwidth and power handling capability means that they can be crossed at (virtually) any frequency you'd be inclined to choose with a simple network. They also sound great.

Marty
ojgalli
165 posts
 
There's something enticing about ribbons, as long as they aren't pushed below about 3-5 kHz, or too long, or too wide, or too delicate. (Would love to hear a plasma tweeter.)

All things considered, it's hard to beat a well made soft dome. They might be ordinary, common, ubiquitous, inexpensive, and unimpressive, but impressive tweeters alway get tiresome.
johnnyb53
3,490 posts
 
I like the Mirage titanium dome with cloth surround--the Pure Titanium Hybrid, or PTH tweeter. It may not challenge the outer performance edge of the really expensive exotics using diamonds or ceramic, but it's a very nice tweeter--very natural sounding, fast, yet not etched or tipped up. The cloth surround mitigates the ringing common to metal dome tweeters, and the titanium brings a superior stiffness-to-weight ratio.
bobbyapalkovic
729 posts
 
javachip, a great tweeter is still only as good as the circuit design and components that precede it.
best,
bobby@merlin
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