Ribbon Tweeters with Scanspeak Revelator 15W or Seas Excel W15?

[cotdt]

How well would the sound of ribbons pair with paper cones like the Scanspeak Revelators? How about poly cones? I've only heard ribbon tweeters with metal cones and they sound great, but I prefer the paper cones for my midrange. Just wondering if anyone has any experience using ribbons with paper.

Which sounds better: the coated or uncoated Revelators? How about the Seas Excel Nextels (W15LY, M15)? Too bad Seas Nextels are too expensive for me, so I go with the cheaper Revelators instead.

[LaMa]

Of the revelators I prefer the uncoated one, it's more transparent in the midband. The nextel is even more neutral when compared to the Scanspeaks, though it lacks the characteristic mid-bass weight of the Scan (this is a typical scanspeak coloration, if you ask me).

I would seriously consider the SB-acoustics drivers, as those offer a very modern motor design, low inductance, low distortion, together with a reed cone. I.e. a Seas reed cone with a better motor. My guess is that these drivers' sound is inbetween the Seas reed cone and the Seas nextel at a very competitive price. However, I did not hear/measure those yet.

My experience with ribbons is a bit limited, I only used ribbons/planars which could be crossed <2 kHz. That eases the combination with a midbass considerably.

[cotdt]

Thanks for your delightful response LaMa. I've seen the distortion measurements on the SB Acoustics (both the 5.5" and 7") and the bass distortion seems too high compared to the Revelators and Excel Nextels. But as long as they sound good, I will give them a try. I'm looking for a large soundstage, and excellent midrange clarity.

Using ribbons, of course I will be crossing high at around 3kHz.

[cotdt]

Thanks everyone for responding. I have now heard all the midranges in question except for the Excel Nextel (but have heard the 7" version and liked it) and will be going with the uncoated version of the Revelator 15W.

[LaMa]

The 15W can easily manage 3 kHz, in my opinion, however, crossing lower will yield better sounding results. As you want to cross to a ribbon this isn't possible, so I would advice to take care of the shelving in the FR and deal with the bafflestep at once by choosing a rather large series inductor, You can shape the roll of with an additional series LCR in parallel with the 15W. Also, you need a zobel to ensure proper filter functions with this simple filter. Together this will yield appr. 3th order acoustic LP on the 15W. In my experience this will sound much better than 2nd order electrical or even higher order electrical xo implementations (at the expense of more cross-over components ~6 on the LP).

[cotdt]

Originally posted by LaMa
The 15W can easily manage 3 kHz, in my opinion, however, crossing lower will yield better sounding results. As you want to cross to a ribbon this isn't possible, so I would advice to take care of the shelving in the FR and deal with the bafflestep at once by choosing a rather large series inductor, You can shape the roll of with an additional series LCR in parallel with the 15W. Also, you need a zobel to ensure proper filter functions with this simple filter. Together this will yield appr. 3th order acoustic LP on the 15W. In my experience this will sound much better than 2nd order electrical or even higher order electrical xo implementations (at the expense of more cross-over components ~6 on the LP).

Yes what I like about the Scanspeaks is that you can take care of the shelving and baffle step in one stroke. Thank you for the advice. Usually I use very low crossover points for more precise imaging and larger soundstage, but I want to use my DIY ribbons this time around. What tweeter did you pair yours with? Is your uncoated Scanspeak 15W the one with the small or large magnet? I got the super extra large one with two additional bucking magnets. The motors are bigger than the one in my 12" subwoofer haha.

[LaMa]

I don't use them anymore. I used coated/uncoated with small and larger magnet, though not with additional bucking magnets. Have used drivers with dome or ringradiator tweeters from Scanspeak/Vifa.