Horn loaded ribbon tweeter

[Mikael Abdellah]

A company called Hifi-kit in Sweden, has a ribbon called Gamma VLD 13. It's a horn loaded ribbon tweeter, which has a very good reputation going back to the early 70's, I think. The problem is I can't seem to find any info on it other than on their site (and a few other swedish sites). Therefore I'm beginning to suspect that the real name isn't Gamma. All I know is that it's manufactured in Bulgaria. Do you have any idea what I'm looking at here?

http://www.hifikit.se/show_prod.asp?id=143

I'm planning to build a 2-way spekaer with this and a Fostex FE166E. Would that make a nice speaker for my low-power tube-amp???

[thylantyr]

An alternative maybe something like this for your
low powered tube amp.

103db sens.
http://www.stageaccompany.com/cdload.html

It also comes with a waveguide option for 107db sens.

great tweeters, my favorite.

cons -> expensive, mechanically not as user
friendly as other tweeters.

[woody]

Just how expensive is the Stageaccompant ribbon?

[Variac]

You might search here on "Stage Accompany"
It has been discussed

Last I heard they cost $650 EACH

TAD (pioneer) makes a high end efficient ribbon also-very good reputation. $450 ea I think not sure

[cocolino]

Therefore I'm beginning to suspect that the real name isn't Gamma. All I know is that it's manufactured in Bulgaria. Do you have any idea what I'm looking at here?

Hi Mikael,

This driver was formerly known as Jordanow VLD13 ribbon.
Actually it`s manufactored in Bulgaria.

I had such a tweeter - it looked exactly like the one from the link You provided - just without the horn - I`m sure it is the same thing.

Due to the VERY poor build qualtity I would NOT recommend buying this tweeter when it is still built the same way as it was in former times (what I assume).
The ribbon diaphragm mounting fixture is a bad joke and therefore contacts (as well as correct placement of the ribbon in the magnetic field) are very unreliable.
Note that a true ribbon tweeter has a very low resistance which needs a step-up transformer (built-in in the Jordanow) to be connected to usual power-amps. Any only very small additional resistance (a few milliohms are enough) after the transformer secundary winding due to poor contacts will srew the performance completly.

I fiddled around some days to substantially modify that ribbon in order to get more reliable contacts but gave up finally and I JUST THREW IT AWAY (and usually I`m very patient and get things working when I want - but this just was not worth the effort!).
It`s not worth to bother with this kind of crap!!

IMHO there are much better and more reliable true ribbon tweeters nowadays:
For example check this site for Expolinear ribbon tweeters -
they have fine magnetostatic types also (foil types) :
http://www.expolinear.de/

or ESG-ribbons:
http://www.e-speakers.com/products/ESg-ribbon.html

or "google" for Raven Tweeters

hope this helps

[thylantyr]

Originally posted by Variac
You might search here on "Stage Accompany"
It has been discussed

Last I heard they cost $650 EACH

TAD (pioneer) makes a high end efficient ribbon also-very good reputation. $450 ea I think not sure

$600 for tweeter.

A machine shop is building me a "perty" 1/4" thick
aluminum polished chrome enclosure for each tweeter
so I can mount the tweeter inside it, plus exta
magentic shielding inside... then mount the whole
assembly in the speaker box.

Enclosure cost is $280 ea.

$880 for a tweeter inna chrome box.



I have five tweeters, need three more to finish
my neverending quest that started almost 3 years ago.

[Pjotr]

Hello Mikael,

That Swedish unit looks like a copy of the famous Kelly ribbon tweeter. The Kelly’s originate from 50 years ago. It was later produced by Decca to the end 70ties, known as the Decca DK30.




http://www.xs4all.nl/~rabruil/ribbon.html


I own a pair of these DK30’s and they sound tremendously good. That does not mean the Swedish copies sound also good, I never heard or have seen them.

I do not know what these Swedish units cost, but the DK 30 did cost around $125 25 years ago. Second hand DK30’s are available for around $100 sometimes.

[cocolino]

That Swedish unit looks like a copy of the famous Kelly ribbon tweeter. The Kelly’s originate from 50 years ago. It was later produced by Decca to the end 70ties, known as the Decca DK30.

Pjotr,
from what I can see from the pictures from Your link, this is not an exact copy of a Kelly/Decca ribbon. Of course it looks very similar as any true ribbon tweeter use the same ingredients basically.
Never had a Kelly or Decca ribbon in my hands but I cannot imagine that they were made in such a crude manner as the Jordanow.

I own a pair of these DK30’s and they sound tremendously good. That does not mean the Swedish copies sound also good, I never heard or have seen them.

The Jordanow also sound very good WHEN it works properly but as I said, this units are very unreliable and to service them (new diaphragm) is a pain (if not impossible) in the a.....

I do not know what these Swedish units cost, but the DK 30 did cost around $125 25 years ago. Second hand DK30’s are available for around $100 sometimes.

I wasted about DM 175.-/unit for the Jordanow 15 years ago.

[Pjotr]

Oops Cocolino,

I wrote copy, but “imitation” is maybe more appropriate. The DK30 horn has a very particular flair. This gives this speaker a quite wide dispersion. And funny enough the dispersion is wider over the long side.

Concerning the Jordanows, I have never seen these with a horn similar to the DK30’s. Do these exits? Just curious about.

When I bought the DK30’s brand new, some of the screws holding the magnet were loose. I had to fix that myself. When I complained at the shop I bought them, the man at the shop told me: “Well there are two kinds of DK30’s. Ones that were finished before the tea and ones that were finished after the tea. Your ones are clearly finished after the tea”

But anyway it is one of those speakers I will never dispose of.

Here a more clear picture of the original DK30’s:

http://users.argonet.co.uk/business/hsdawson/kelly.html

Cheers

[cocolino]

Concerning the Jordanows, I have never seen these with a horn similar to the DK30’s. Do these exits? Just curious about.

Pjotr,
When I remember correctly the Jordanows were avaible with a horn (diecast aluminium I believe) as well - very similar to that of the DK30.
They could be used either way - with the usual flat front-plate or with the horn srcewed in front of for increased sensivity.

When I bought the DK30’s brand new, some of the screws holding the magnet were loose. I had to fix that myself. When I complained at the shop I bought them, the man at the shop told me: “Well there are two kinds of DK30’s. Ones that were finished before the tea and ones that were finished after the tea. Your ones are clearly finished after the tea”

The Jordanows appear like they were designed and constructed without ANY tea

Thanks for the link!