ribbon vs dome tweeters
 

hello all, i have a simple question that will probably tern in to a flame war but here goes...

what is the differance between ribbon/planer tweeter vs a dome tweeter (textile/silk), acoustically?
i would like to know what you ppl think in terms smoothness, response (on and off axis), and a bunch of other things i cant think of right now, cus its 12AM were im at and i should be in bed.

the reason i ask is that all my life i have been exposed to dome,cone, and horn hfd (metal, mylar, paper, ect), you know the usual crap. i do have a pair of seas 25tnf h392-6ohm tweeters and a pair of peerless 850116 6.5 woofers for a project im doing, but im in the planning stages for 7- 2way active speakers for my home theater. and was thinking planer/ribbons would be cool, and sound great. i dont know anyone that has or has heard these types of tweet's and was looking for some feed back here.

if this has been asked before, im sorry, i search and could not find anything that would help answer my question. thanx...

It's anything but a simple question. About the only advice I can offer is to go and listen to them side by side and form your own opinion. We can't tell you which is the way to go. That's why there were 55 views and no replies at this typing.

Let us know when you have listened and what your thoughts are.

Cal

To make your quest more complicated, the ribbon/planar are actually two different drivers. There is a pure ribbon tweeter
like Raven, AC, Fountek, etc. and there is magnetic planars
which are made differently than pure ribbons. Some call these
isodynamic planars. To confuse you more, some
companies call their magnetic planar a ribbon tweeter. /hehe

Pure ribbon example;
http://www.madisound.com/neocd3.0.html

$81, you may call this an entry level ribbon.. I don't know if
there are any others cheaper than this price wise...

Isodynamic planar [magnetic planar] example;

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=275-085

$32, as low as $24 in bulk. This is probably the low cost
you'll find in this category. [note, they call it a ribbon tweeter].

Both types have their own sound... and you already know
what domes sound like so all you need is to try one of each
to get an idea of the sonic character. Even if you don't like
the sound of these entry level drivers, keep in mind there
are better pure ribbons and magnetic planars that cost hundreds
of dollars each and they may have a better sound than the lower cost ones, depends on who is listening.

/hehe

I wonder the same thing. 20+ years ago I used a planar tweeter and liked it a lot. Unfortunately, the one I used was only suitable as a super tweeter, so my more recent systems have used various domes, most recently the Focal T120TD5. link

I'm in the process of building a pair of speakers identical to these except they will use the Fountek JP3 (predecessor to the NEOCD3 mentioned above). Of course the XO will be slightly different, but I'll be able to do a ribbon/dome tweeter comparison. It'll probably take me a couple of months to finish, but I'll post my impressions.

Each in its own place... as part of a system what you are using them with, where you are Xoing them, budget, etc all play a role in determining what is best for your application....

In a no holds barred system, i would probably look 1st to a true ribbon thou.

dave

i plan to do this, what im looking for is other ppl's opinions and feelings so i have an idea what im getting in to. i will be doing a side by side listening test with the woofer, a dome, and 3 or 4 plainer and ribbions.



this i did not know! thank you... i will have to be carefull when selecting.i do plan to spend a lot of money on these speakers, im in the design stage now, and im looking to get parts to prototype for the final setup.


nice!!!!

cant wait to see when you done and read you impression, thanx.


im going to be building 7 active speakers for HT and music, the 2 mains and the 4 surrounds will each have a 6.5 and a tweeter. the center ch speaker mite have a MTM design, but i haven't decided yet. i plane to have an adjustible/bypassable active x-over from 50-110 hz. the internal network im looking at is letting the woofer rolloff naturally @ 5000hz and a 12db x-over at aroung 5kHz as well for the tweeter. the 6.5 will be in its own chamber, the electronics will be in there own chamber and with the x-over and tweet. i plan to use 5/8 mdf with bracing, this is what i got sketched out right now.
i am looking to get the smoothest sound possible, and loudness. any advice, constructive opinions, and links to parts of interest, examples, ect. please post them im all eyes (...eer ears). thanx

You aren't going to have more than a handful of options for a mid that can cover that range. On the plus side, virtually any (non-supertweeter) ribbon will work.

My suggestion is try to find the mid you need and work from there. I would be prepared to go lower on the HP crossover...there are a number of credible mids from 100-3kHz. You are hampered by the fact that you can't use a true mid due to the 100Hz requirement that a two-way design will enforce, and most mid-woofs are not happy above 3k.

Maybe a nice poly cone would be good for HT, although it seems odd to pair a high-detail driver like an aluminum ribbon with a poly cone.

im a fan of composite cones myself, they all seemed to sound the best to me. this is the woofer i plan to use: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=297-308

the 100Hz is just the highest setting on the active x-over im looking at, but that could change, the encloser i was modeling rolled off low at around 50Hz or so. in my experiance, speakers in cabs that try to produce frequency's below the this tend to start to sound distorty and gritty. i will be using a pair of 12' sub's in this system as well. i was just giving the passive x-over some thought, and you mite be right on that one, but ill have to play with settings to see how it sounds. thanx

For the mid-bass you should consider the PHL 1220 , 1230 or 1240.
I havent heard them myself, but are reported to sound great with ribbon tweeters.

Ribbons(good ones) are extremely transparent, i doubt that any normal polycone can keep up with that..
Maybe the Adire Extremis 6.8 could??

Regards,
Peter

I definitely agree sid. It's a good choice and a lot of decent speakers have been built with it.